Insetting and Beyond Value Chain Mitigation Consultancy for LandScale

Request for Proposals (RFP)Insetting and Beyond Value Chain Mitigation Consultancy for LandScaleThe Rainforest Alliance is seeking proposals for a consultancy on developing LandScale's offering to landscape initiatives and corporate supporters in relation to climate mitigationSummary Information

RA Department: LandScale

Location(s): Remote

Desired start date and duration: 22nd September, 2-3 months

Under direction of: Corporate Services Manager LandScale

About the Rainforest Alliance

The Rainforest Alliance (RA) is an international nonprofit organisation working at the intersection of business, agriculture, and forests to make responsible business the new normal. We are building an alliance to protect forests, improve the livelihoods of farmers and forest communities, promote their human rights, and help them mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. We envision a world where people and nature thrive in harmony.

The Rainforest Alliance is creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities.

For more information, please visit http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/about.

Overview

LandScale is an innovative global initiative co-led by the Rainforest Alliance and Conservation International, aimed at driving improvements in sustainability at landscape scale. To do this, LandScale offers an online platform to assess and communicate credible information about landscape sustainability. The platform features an assessment framework, guidance, and data resources, which are complemented by technical support and a validation service. Launched in April 2022, the LandScale platform and validation service have facilitated assessments in over 30 landscape initiatives across 20 countries. Beyond increasing adoption of the LandScale system by landscape initiatives, the initiative seeks to enable supply chain companies, investors, and donors to engage with relevant and effective landscape initiatives, driving improvements in sustainability at landscape scale.

LandScale is seeking a qualified consultancy or freelancer to advise and work with the team in calibrating our approach to supporting interventions and claims connected to insetting and carbon projects at a landscape level. The aim would be to enable landscape initiatives to capitalise on funding opportunities associated with carbon markets and insetting-related interventions, while catering to the data and claims needs of corporate supporters. This engagement will last for a period of up to three months, during which the selected partner will support the LandScale team in articulating our role, informing our strategy and developing guidance for landscape initiatives.

Consultancy Scope of WorkMain Objectives and Activities

The selected consultant will provide expert guidance on how LandScale can strategically support landscape initiatives in designing and implementing climate mitigation interventions, while enabling corporate supporters to make robust claims about GHG-related and non-GHG related to climate mitigation. We recognise the risks and complexities of entering the carbon space, and are seeking to scope out our best-fit role—one that helps unlock funding for local initiatives and elevates the importance of credibly monitoring co-benefits alongside carbon, while avoiding displacement risks at the landscape-level. Ensuring strong alignment with best practice and established reporting principles such as SBTi, FLAG, Oxford Principles and Conservation International's High Integrity Insetting Principles will therefore be key.

The activities within the scope of the consultancy will include:

1) Developing guidance for landscape initiatives on our platform who wish to attract corporate funding based on climate mitigation-related interventions, outlining:

• How landscape-level contextualisation and engagement (following LandScale assessment and robust Integrated Landscape Management ILM) can support identification of better carbon projects (avoiding leakage & displacement risks, maximizing co-benefits and strengthening local community engagement).

• How to assess the feasibility, cost and commercial potential of such interventions.

• Key information on credible carbon certification standards, climate impact verifiers and other partners to support with the development of carbon projects or other climate mitigation-related interventions.

• Key requirements to ensure robust MRV processes and signposting to external verifiers of carbon sequestration outcomes.

2) Support LandScale in building out its corporate services related to climate mitigation at a landscape level:

• Propose a roadmap for a claims validation process at LandScale, focusing on highlighting the co-benefits of climate-related interventions and avoided leakage/ displacement risks through landscape contextualisation and engagement.
  For added context: LandScale focuses on process validation and signposts to external result verifiers.

• Advise LandScale on defining the general scope of its offerings to enable corporate supporters to make credible validated GHG- and non-GHG related claims in connection to both insetting and beyond value chain mitigation (BVCM).

3) Advise LandScale on how to position itself in this space based on market research and on the needs of the private sector with regard to insetting and BVCM projects at a landscape level:

• Market research on promising strategies for addressing challenges associated to insetting (attribution, leakage etc.) at a landscape level and solution providers supporting companies with developing such strategies.

• Advice on analytic approaches to leverage our current indicator framework in order to highlight co-benefits of climate-related interventions, and on the necessity to develop a separate climate-related indicator package.

• Advice on how to articulate the added value of LandScale assessments to external stakeholders in this context.

4) Provide trainings:

• Focused on capacity building for landscape initiatives with connection to the guidance on climate mitigation interventions described under 1., and

• For LandScale, to enable staff to disseminate knowledge on the guidance in their interaction landscape initiatives and supporters.

Deliverables

• A guidance document for landscape initiatives outlining:

1. How landscape-level contextualisation and engagement (following LandScale assessment and robust Integrated Landscape Management ILM) can support identification of better carbon projects (avoiding leakage & displacement risks, maximizing co-benefits and strengthening local community engagement).

2. Approaches and partners for assessing the feasibility, cost and commercialisation strategy for climate-related interventions in a given landscape.

3. Approaches and partners for developing projects focused on climate mitigation, with reference to established credible standards for carbon projects and for insetting.

4. What a robust MRV process would look like, signposting to external verifiers in various regions.

• Training for the LandScale team and landscape initiatives on the guidance described above.

  • A report containing:

1. Recommendations for the role and scope of services provided by LandScale with reference to current corporate approaches to insetting, BVCM and to broader market needs; ideas on articulating the added value of LandScale assessments in this space.

2. A roadmap for claim validation centred around the co-benefits and landscape contextualisation of climate mitigation interventions.

3. Recommendations on analytic approaches to leverage our existing framework in order to highlight co-benefits of climate mitigation interventions across other areas as well as on the need to develop an additional climate-related indicator package

• Presentation of findings and recommendations to the LandScale team.

General Terms and Conditions for Request for Proposal

• Applicants must provide all requisite information under this RFP and clearly and concisely respond to all points set out in this RFP. Any proposal, which does not fully and comprehensively address this RFP, may be rejected.

• Proposals and/or any additional information received after the submission time and date are subject to rejection by RA.

• Incomplete proposals may be rejected by RA at its discretion.

• RA reserves the right to request additional information at any time during the procurement process.

• RA is at liberty to make multiple or no selections as part of the proposal process. RA also reserves the right to cancel the procurement.

• All proposal costs shall be borne by the applicant and will not be reimbursed by RA.

• It is the responsibility of every bidder to identify any information of a confidential or proprietary nature contained in its proposal so that it may be handled accordingly. However, RA cannot guarantee confidentiality.

Selection Criteria and qualifications

The consultant or consultant firm should comply with the following minimum qualifications:

Selection of the consultant or consultant firm is based on the following criteria:

Proposal Process and Format

Interested consultants or consultant firms should submit their proposal including the following:

1) Statutory Requirements: Upon request, the consultant should supply all required legal documents as may be required by RA and/or local law, e.g. work permit, bank details, registration details, tax documents etc. When opportunity is restricted to a specific location, only candidates authorised to work in the location will be considered.

2) Proposal requirements:

1. Cover letter summarizing relevant experience.

2. Approach and Methodology: Outline of how you would approach the project and key deliverables.

3. Work Plan with estimated timeline and key milestones.

4. Consultant/Team Bios highlighting relevant expertise.

5. Budget Breakdown detailing the total project cost.

All proposals must be submitted through this platform as an integrated PDF document (only one file). If you experience problems loading information on the platform, try opening it with different browsers. Proposals received after the deadline stated above will not be evaluated.

Finalists will be notified of their selection for interview by approx. 22 August 2025.

Contact persons for questions:

• Izabela Bajalska (ibajalska@ra.org)

• Heather Elgar (helgar@ra.org)

Deadline for submission of proposals

• 15 August 2025

Thank you for your interest in working with the Rainforest Alliance

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