WWF is an international organization for the protection of nature with the mission to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.

As problems of governance, scarcity, degradation and pollution of ecosystems have spread and intensified, approaches in protecting our natural resources have diversified and have started to bring government, the public, businesses and investors together to jointly tackle some of the major impacts of economic development on natural capital.

The Green Finance Team

Finance forms the foundation of our economic system, and enables all types of economic activities, with both positive and negative impacts on nature. At the same time, nature loss can result in significant financial implications, as also recently recognized by a group of 120 financial supervisors and central banks. The financial sector has, therefore, a crucial role to play in addressing the climate and biodiversity crisis. WWF globally recognizes the finance sector as a key driver for change and WWF-NL identified two key programmatic focus strategies to (i) Financing Green, and (ii) Greening in the Dutch financial sector.

The Financing Green pillar currently spans across two initiatives, the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD) and Mobilizing More for Climate (MoMo4C). Within these initiatives WWF-NL works in consortia with financial institutions and NGOs to originate and develop Bankable Nature Solutions (BNS) with companies in the Global South and support these companies finding investments to bring their business ideas to scale.

The Greening Finance pillar aims to encourage a meaningful shift in financial flows away from nature-negative outcomes and towards nature-positive ones by promoting integration of nature into all financial decision by Dutch financial institutions.

WWF-NL aims to deliver this by encouraging leadership and best practice, as well as raising the bar through activities directed at policy and regulation. In the past years WWF-NL has established partnerships with Rabobank and Robeco to test how nature can be integrated into decision-making processes within banks and asset managers using the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures framework as a guiding principle.

The internship

The Green Finance team at WWF-NL is looking for an intern to support the team in the proper functioning of its partnerships, programs and projects.

Activities:

• Support the Pillar leads with the implementation of Financing Green strategy and Greening Finance strategy, including partnerships.
• Support the Green Finance projects and programs – such as Mobilising More For Climate (MoMo4c) and NatureWise.
• Support the Head of Green Finance with the monthly reporting of Green Finance and regular project reporting.
• Support the Head of Green Finance in the planning of Green Finance on-site meetings and days.

Student profile

We are looking for a master’s student with a relevant academic background and affinity with sustainability, international development and environmental studies. You should be able to work independently and have excellent organizational, analytical and English communication skills.

The internship is full-time (40 hours per week). The student must be based in the Netherlands and available to work 2-3 days per week in person at the WWF-NL office in Zeist. 

What do we offer?

• An internship from February until July 2025.
• € 550,- allowance per month, based on full time work.
• An office surrounded by nature in Zeist.

Interested?

Please send your cv and motivation letter before January 3rd, 2025, to Chayanika Perera (cperera@wwf.nl) and Natascha Zwaal (nzwaal@wwf.nl). Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.