Ref.
2025/TSTIGBPIP/13440
Job offer type
Experts
Type of contract
Service contract
Activity sectors
Public resource mobilisation, management and accountability
Deadline date
2025/08/31 16:05
Duration of the assignment
Long term
Contract
Freelancer
Duration
30 months
Technical support to implement green budgeting practices in Portugal (M/W)
Département Gouvernance - GOUV > Pôle Transparence, Gestion et Redevabilité
Published on : 2025/06/26
CONTINENTAL EUROPE
PORTUGAL
Mission description
In the framework of the project Implementing Effective Green Budgeting practices, Expertise France is recruiting an expert in Environmental and Climate Economics, Green Budget Tagging, with strong knowledge of Portugal´s Public Financial Management (PFM) context, environmental objectives, and experience/knowledge of latest policy developments at EU level, namely Do No Significant Harm, green budgeting developments at EU level.
The expert will provide technical support to officials at the Portuguese Ministry of Finance by: refining and testing the methodology for assessing and reporting climate-relevant expenditures, providing tailored recommendations for effective governance and coordination of green budgeting practices, and designing and implementing training on methods for conducting ex-post environmental assessment of budgetary measures (policies, programs, or projects).
The expert will collaborate with officials from the Ministry of Finance and focal points from relevant line ministries, along with Expertise France´s Project Management team, policy officers from the Task Force for Reform and Investment (SG REFORM), and technical experts from the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC).
Deliverables and work plan
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Outputs and estimated timeframe |
Activities |
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Technical Report of the Inception phase
July- September 2025 |
Producing a technical country report where the country-specific analyses and points of actions are captured and specific recommendations provided. To produce this Output, the designated expert will collaborate closely with the Green Budgeting team in the Portuguese Ministry of Finance and relevant technical staff from other line ministries in the following activities
· Conduct consultations and desk-research to understand the budgetary process, structure and legal framework of Portugal’s national budget, as well as to get a clear overview of the current green budget tagging methodology, EIA practices, relevant RRF deliverables, climate and environmental policy objectives and other EU and national legislation related to Green Budgeting, including relating to the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) principle
· Provide technical support to improve and finalise the draft tagging methodology in accordance with international best practices and with the environmental objectives of the EU Taxonomy. Particularly, the expert will review and provide recommendations on the scope (sectors/measures and budget items); coverage (environmental or climate related axes); definition of green and brown budget items; rating method; scientific sources; task-force group, and tools used for conducting the tagging (excel or other suitable and available tool). In addition, the expert shall agree with the team on the timeline and technical staff to be involved in the pilot implementation of the methodology
· Identify the existing knowledge gaps in methods in green budget tagging and ex-post environmental impact assessment.
· Participate in the kick-off event of the project
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Technical Report of the Tagging Methodology
September 2025- June 2026 |
Produce a technical report including: the refined version of the methodology ( if needed after the inception phase revision) , analysis and summary of the application of the pilot methodology including strengths and areas of improvement, technical guidance on how to use the tagging methodology, recommendations on how to integrate green budget in the budget process, a roadmap to develop a permanent task-force that involves all relevant line ministries, agencies, and parliamentary representatives. In addition, an inter-ministerial communication plan to obtain information on budget lines from line ministries or directorates, and templates for improving monitoring and reporting, and an overview of the tagged budget items in an easily accessible manner that ensures transparency in presenting findings to policymakers. To produce this Output, the designated expert will collaborate with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Environment and relevant technical staff from other line ministries in the following activities:
· Conducting one or two workshops with the relevant technical staff to prepare for the tagging implementation · Conducting a pilot tagging for State Budget 2027 across key sectors · Developing a comprehensive report of the tagging results · During the drafting of the Output, the expert shall ensure continuous feedback from the Green Budgeting team in the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Environment and relevant technical staff from other line ministries
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Report with guidelines on methods to conduct ex-post EIA of budgetary measures
June- October 2026 |
Produce a technical report with guidelines on methods for ex-post EIA and linking green budget tagging with EIA of budgetary measures. the designated will produce Output 4.2, which shall contain a report with guidelines on methods for conducting ex-post environmental assessment of budgetary measures (policies, programs, or projects). Based on the knowledge gaps identified in the inception phase, the designated expert will develop a training curriculum with at least 4 thematic training modules. The content of the training modules shall focus on brief theoretical content and significant practical content, e.g., case studies, exercises, discussions, and other hands-on activities. To produce the Output, the designated expert shall implement the following activities:
· Draft the report with guidelines and recommendations on how Portugal can improve EIA and link it with green budget tagging
· Deliver training on the implementation of the guidelines that would entail to:
§ Develop the training curriculum and identify relevant training participants § Implement the training sessions at the Ministry of Finance or online § Evaluate training satisfaction |
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Contribution to peer exchanges
Through the whole project duration |
Accompanying the Portuguese officials to workshops and discussions with peers from other EU Member States and reporting good practices that could be replicable or adaptable to the Portuguese context |
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Contribution to capitalisation material
Through the whole project duration |
Providing input to publications or other material, e.g. information on key findings and best practices from the Tagging Methodology and Guidelines on other Green Budgeting Practices. The aim of the capitalisation material is to disseminate potential common approaches or frameworks that can guide coherent and effective green budgeting implementation across Member States. |
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Final report and final conference
September 2027-December 2027 |
Reporting on the key achievements, challenges, and lessons learned from the green budgeting technical support provided. Participate in the final conference by presenting the progress on Green Budgeting practices achieved in Portugal |
Note: the precise dates for the activities will be agreed between the selected Expert and the project team.
Project or context description
General context
Expertise France is a public agency that designs and implements international technical cooperation projects and is a member of the French Development Agency Group.
The Agency operates in four priority areas:
- democratic, economic and financial governance
- peace, stability and security
- climate, agriculture and sustainable development
- health and human development.
In these areas, Expertise France engineers and implements capacity-building projects, mobilises technical expertise and acts as a project coordinator, bringing together public expertise and private know-how.
With a turnover of 450 million euros in 2024 and more than 350 projects underway in 140 countries, Expertise France is the benchmark public agency for French international technical cooperation.
The portfolio of intra-European projects is growing, in particular projects financed by the European Commission's SG REFORM (European Commission's Reform and Investment Task Force).
Project description
Project and Country-specific context:
Green Budgeting aims to align national budgets with sustainability objectives by systematically identifying, assessing, and reporting expenditures and revenues that impact climate and environmental goals. This reform initiative enhances transparency, policy coherence, and informed decision-making, supporting the transition to a sustainable and resilient economy.
The reformed EU Economic Governance Framework, which entered into force in April 2024, aims to ensure sound and sustainable public finances while promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth. The reform introduces medium-term fiscal structural plans, requiring Member States to outline fiscal, structural, and investment policies over a 4–5-year horizon, with a macroeconomic outlook spanning up to seven years for reforms and investments. This framework aligns public finances with country-specific challenges and EU priorities, including the European Green Deal.
The recently adopted EU Directive 2024/1265[1] and the new EU Economic Governance Framework emphasize the importance of aligning fiscal policies with sustainability and climate objectives. The Directive requires Member States to report on macro-fiscal risks arising from climate change, climate-related contingent liabilities, and fiscal costs of disasters.
The Green Deal Communication, the Fit for 55 package[2], and the reformed EU Economic Governance Framework set an ambitious policy context for addressing climate change, emphasizing the need to align public finances with climate and environmental objectives. Green Budgeting is critical to achieving these goals.
Between 2021 and 2024, the Commission implemented the Green Budgeting Training Programme[3], a multi-country technical support project under the Technical Support Instrument (TSI). This program, based on the European Union Green Budgeting Reference Framework, provided capacity-building in Green Budgeting to 23 Member States. It consisted of four modules covering foundational principles, tagging methodologies, environmental impact assessments, and peer-to-peer exchanges. The program:
· Trained approximately 1,200 participants.
· Enabled Member States to develop and implement Green Budgeting frameworks at the national level.
· Fostered cross-border collaboration and established a community of Green Budgeting Practitioners among public officials across the EU.
Implementing Effective Green Budgeting practices
These technical support needs shall be addressed in the framework of this new project for Implementing Effective Green Budgeting practices. The Beneficiary Authorities are facing unique challenges in implementing green budgeting practices. Each country has its own specific challenges, such as developing tagging methodologies, institutionalizing green budgeting, and integrating environmental impact assessments into budgeting processes. Despite progress made, each country require technical support to address gaps in capacity, governance, and data management, and to refine methodologies for identifying and categorizing green expenditures. The countries will benefit from the action through tailored support as well as common activities to share experiences, develop and strengthen methodologies, and foster cross-border collaboration.
Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Ireland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain have requested support from the European Commission under Regulation (EU) 2021/240 establishing a Technical Support Instrument ("TSI Regulation"). The request for technical support was assessed by the European Commission in accordance with the criteria and principles referred to in Article 9 of the TSI Regulation and was selected for funding.
The national authorities that requested technical support and will benefit from this Project are:
· Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Croatia (Ministarstvo financija)
· Ministry of Finance of Cyprus
· Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic (Ministerstvo financí České republiky)
· Ministry of Finance of Denmark (Finansministeriet)
· General Direction for Public Finances and Budget Directorate, Ministry of Economics, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty (Direction Générale des Finances Publiques (DGFiP) and Direction du Budget (Ministère de l’Économie, des Finances et de l’Industrie)
· Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Department of Finance of Ireland (An Roinn Caiteachais Phoiblí, Bonneagair, Seirbhísí Poiblí, Athchóirithe agus Digiteachaithe)
· Office for Economic Policy and International Affairs, Ministry of Finance (Gabinete de Planeamento, Estratégia, Avaliação e Relações Internacionais (GPEARI) – Ministério das Finanças)
· Ministry of Environment of Slovakia (Ministerstvo životného prostredia Slovenskej republiky)
· Ministry of Finance of Slovenia (Ministrstvo za finance)
· Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge of Spain (Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico)
This project has two strands of technical support:
- Five Standalone Requests: These focus on tailored technical support for implementing Green Budgeting practices at the national level in Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, France (sub-national), and Portugal. The support includes developing methodologies for tagging climate-relevant expenditures, enhancing governance frameworks, and building capacity within national ministries.
- Civil Servants Exchange: This component facilitates knowledge-sharing and capacity-building among Member States. It includes participation from the five standalone project beneficiaries (Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, France, and Portugal) as well as Croatia, Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.
Portugal
Portugal has made initial progress in green budgeting by introducing a basic tagging methodology in its 2024 State Budget, focusing on three key sectors: environment, agriculture, and infrastructure. This methodology was developed in the framework of the Green Budgeting Training Programme, particularly with the knowledge gained through Module 1, 2, and 3, and with feedback from peers during exchanges with France and Greece. To continue with the improvement of the methodology and ensure full integration of green budgeting into fiscal planning, Portugal is expanding this methodology across all ministries and budget programs in 2025
Portugal aims at improving green budgeting practices by:
· Further developing tagging practices for assessing and reporting on diverse expenditure types, including operational costs, tax expenditures, and revenues.
· Integrating of green budgeting into the full budget cycle to improve transparency and policy alignment.
· Building skills on ex-post environmental impact assessments to evaluate the effectiveness of green expenditures
· Strengthening governance coordination between the Ministry of Finance, line ministries, and other public institutions, leading to inconsistent implementation.
Required profile
Desired profile
- Master’s or PhD in Environmental and/or Climate economics, Environmental fiscal policy, Green Public Financial Management, other relevant fields with at least 7 years of professional experience in the outlined areas;
- Knowledge of Portugal´s climate and environmental legislation, and fiscal policy;
- Track record of providing technical support to the development and implementation of Green PFM tools or climate finance, as well as experience in executing capacity building activities;
- Track record in strategic engagement with multidisciplinary teams, and with senior-level government, private sector, and/or international cooperation partners;
- Fluency in English. Fluency or good level of Portuguese is an asset.
- Experience with providing technical support in projects financed by the European Commission is an asset.
Additional information
Duty station: remote
Contract type: service contract
Duration: 30 months
Total number of working days: 210
Financing Authority: Task Force for Reform and Investment (SG REFORM) of the European Commission.
Implementing Partner: Expertise France
Deadline for application is: 30 August 2025
Selection criteria for applications
The selection process for candidates will be based on the following criteria :
- Candidate’s skills linked with the expert mission
- Candidate’s experiences linked with the expert mission
- Candidate's knowledges related to local context (country or region intervention)
Deadline for application : 2025/08/31 16:05
File(s) attached : ToR Portugal national expert_TSI Green Budgeting_v1.docx
Expertise France is the public agency for designing and implementing international technical cooperation projects. The agency operates around four key priorities :
- democratic, economic, and financial governance ;
- peace, stability, and security ;
- climate, agriculture, and sustainable development ;
- health and human development ;
In these areas, Expertise France conducts capacity-building initiatives and manages project implementation, leveraging technical expertise and acting as a project coordinator. This involves combining public sector expertise with private sector skills to drive impactful results.