ToR: Assessing the impact of aid cuts on climate and nature action

According to preliminary data collected by the OECD, international aid from official donors fell in 2024 by 7.1% in real terms compared to 2023, the first drop after five years of consecutive growth. In 2025 we have seen further significant cuts from states such as the USA, Germany, France, Canada and other states.

The immediate impact on humanitarian funding has to some degree been documented, but what is less known, or quantified, is what effect aid cuts will have on action that addresses the triple planetary crisis of climate, nature and pollution.

With a view to informing WWF’s work on development policy, the WWF policy team seeks assistance in getting a more detailed overview of what the ongoing cuts from the most important donors will mean to this type of action, what effects it will have on resilience and preparedness, and potential mitigating measures.

WWF would like to engage a team of consultants to help map out how current aid cuts will affect action that aims to address the triple planetary crisis of climate, nature and pollution. We are particularly interested in how it will affect funding towards the implementation of environmental multilateral agreements such as the Global Biodiversity Framework under the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD), the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the upcoming plastic pollution treaty.

The consultants would provide the WWF policy team with the overview and assessments made and summarize the findings in a technical paper for internal and external use by WWF. The results from this report are to be used for advocacy purposes, we are therefore very interested in figures that can be easily communicated, relevant comparisons to illustrate the impacts and visual presentations that can be shared through, for instance, social media.

This work would thus entail an overview and assessment of:

• Baseline: What did the global funding landscape for development aid that is dedicated to addressing the triple planetary crisis look like before this recent round of cuts? Who are the biggest contributors to what type of funding (climate mitigation, adaptation, loss & damage, biodiversity conservation, restauration, pollution).
• What cuts have been announced from the most important donors of development aid that is dedicated to addressing the nature- and climate crisis? What can be expected as a proportion of overall cuts? What are examples of initiatives that will no longer receive funding or have had their funding severely reduced?
• What will a reduction in such activities mean for states’ ability to be prepared for and withstand the impacts of the nature and climate crisis? What mitigating measures can be taken?

Scope of work:

• The Consultants are tasked with carrying out necessary analysis to answer questions posed by WWF, suggesting methodology, data selection and sources as part of the proposal.

Main deliverables:

WWF envisions that the consultants will deliver in two steps.

1. The data and assessments should be made available to the core team at WWF as soon as possible (for this, we only need the dataset/numbers).
2. The next step for the consultant team should be to summarize the assessments (as described above), in a technical paper, including visual presentation, for use by WWF.

Submission of tender:

Proposals should be sent directly to tender@wwf.no and tsaeteroy@wwf.no by May 9th 2025.

Project timeline:

• Deadline for proposals: May 9th, 2025
• Final paper by End July 2025 at the latest.

Pricing and budget:

The proposal should include a total price, broken down into expected time spent per staff and hourly rates, as well as other costs. If applicable, the proposal should include a suggestion for scaling depending on available budget.

We estimate a budget around 200 000 NOK (≈ 17 000 EUR). The consultant is invited to propose a budget range according to possible delivery for each of included steps to be evaluated by WWF, according to price criteria weighted at 40%.

Proposal:

Based on the contents of assignment described in the Terms of Reference, the candidates are requested to submit the following bidding document, in English, to WWF:

• A proposal describing the approach of the consultant to solving the work as described above, including how it will be presented, no more than 5 pages in length; (notwithstanding content in points below);
• CVs and references;
• The consultant is asked to specify the included staff, an estimate of work hours and a breakdown of the cost for the main elements of the project;
• Proposal should contain project timeline for work.

WWF deems that the main consultants should have the following key qualifications:

• Quantitative modelling
• Data collection

Offers will be evaluated by a project committee in WWF and will be based on the following criteria:

• Quality (Approach/methodology): 40%
• Credentials/Qualifications: 20%
• Price: 40%

Contact and questions:

All questions regarding the proposal should be sent to tsaeteroy@wwf.no and elindebjerg@wwf.no.

3.1 Tenderers must provide information on their legal form and ownership structure.

3.2 Tenderers shall be excluded from participation in a procurement procedure if:

a) they are bankrupt or being wound up, are having their affairs administered by the courts, have entered into an arrangement with creditors, have suspended business activities, are subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations. However, tenderers in this situation may be eligible to participate insofar as the Grant Recipient is able to purchase supplies on particularly advantageous terms from either a supplier which is definitively winding up its business activities, or the receivers or liquidators of a bankruptcy, through an arrangement with creditors, or through a similar procedure under national law;

b) they or persons having powers of representation, decision-making or control over them have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a final judgement;

c) they have been guilty of grave professional misconduct; proven by any means which the Grant Recipient can justify;

d) they have not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which they are established, or with those of the country of the Grant Recipient or those of the country where the contract is to be performed;

e) they or persons having powers of representation, decision-making or control over them have been convicted for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation or money laundering by a final judgement;

f) they make use of child labour or forced labour and/or practise discrimination, and/or do not respect the right to freedom of association and the right to organise and engage in collective bargaining pursuant to the core conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

3.3 Tenderers shall confirm in writing that they are not in any of the situations listed above. Even if such confirmation is given by a tenderer, the Grant Recipient shall investigate any of the situations listed above if it has reasonable grounds to doubt the contents of such confirmation.

3.4 Contracts shall not be awarded to tenderers which, during the procurement procedure:

a) are subject to a conflict of interests;

b) are guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the Grant Recipient as a condition of participation in the tender procedure, or fail to supply this information.