In 2019 John founded his sustainability consultancy and advisory business – The Environmental Edge.  He works closely with clients to develop pragmatic sustainable business strategies and practical actions aligned to their strategy, business model, stakeholder expectations, risk management, reporting and future ambitions. John supports executive teams to identify the material sustainability issues in their value chains and then focus on strategies to create business value.  With a particular climate change expertise, he provides organisations with the tools and capacity to navigate the challenges of climate governance, strategy, risk and greenhouse gas measurement, metrics and targets.  With a collaborative and engaging approach, John guides clients through the often confusing sustainability arena, finding the signals within the noise that lead to more a sustainable and successful organisation over the longer term.

Prior to setting up his own business, John was Head of Group Sustainability at DCC plc, an Irish FTSE100 company.  Over his 20 year career with DCC, he led the development and implementation of corporate programmes to address DCC’s material sustainability issues, focused on climate change and health and safety.  In his role, John engaged with boards and management teams across multiple geographies and divisions (including energy, environmental services, technology distribution, healthcare and food) on both strategy development and execution.  Responsibilities included the implementation of GHG accounting processes, a Group wide EHS audit programme, compliance with regulatory reporting, regular reporting to the executive management team and the DCC Board, environmental due diligence for acquisitions, development of best practice guidance and standards and the completion of external corporate sustainability reporting in line with, for example, CDP and GRI voluntary reporting frameworks.

John’s primary degree is in Natural Sciences (Trinity College, University of Dublin).  He has also completed a Diploma in Business Studies at the Michael Smurfit School of Business and has a Masters in Environmental Management from Yale University. John has successfully combined his scientific knowledge and business experience to support organisations at varying stages on their sustainability journey. He recently received a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors.

John is currently a non-executive director of The Nature Trust - a not-for-profit with a vision for the future of Ireland in which nature thrives. It’s mission is to plant native woodlands at scale across the country and manage them on a non-commercial basis for the benefit of the climate, nature, local communities and wider society.