With thanks to Miriam Heale, Allen & York

Savills, the international property firm, has appointed Lizzie Batchelor as sustainability manager.

Batchelor’s first job was at the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group in Northallerton, which she followed with a conservation role at the Global Volunteer Network in New Zealand.
“I started my work within the commercial world at AMEC Earth and Environmental,” she says. “In 2007, I began a new role at AECOM as a sustainability consultant, where I stayed for four years delivering on a range of energy and sustainability projects.”

Batchelor then developed her built environment experience with a role at PRP Architects, before moving to Land Securities as environment manager. “I’ve had a passion for preserving our natural environment for as long as I can remember,” says Batchelor. “I am keen to develop my role working across Savills property management portfolio throughout the UK, identifying where legislative changes and enforcements will have an impact.”

Batchelor will also advise on the Savills UK Sustainability Strategy, supporting the delivery of corporate targets and initiatives associated with this.

Pascal Canfin has joined global research organisation the World Resources Institute (WRI) as senior advisor for international climate affairs. Canfin will contribute to the Institute’s work to secure an international climate agreement, focusing on challenges countries will be addressing in the lead-up to the UNFCCC climate negotiations in Paris in 2015.

In the late 1990s, Canfin worked for the French trade union CFDT, training union sections in various companies. “As a young guy having just graduated in political science, it was very formative to be confronted by real situations, in real companies, with real people,” he says.

Canfin joins WRI from the French government. “Before being the French minister for development, I was a member of the European Parliament in charge of banking regulation and monetary policies,” he says. “Being a member of the Green party I have always been interested in climate affairs. That’s why I was very committed to the preparation of Cop21 in Paris with [French foreign minister] Laurent Fabius. After a coalition reshuffling, I left the government, but remain very committed to the success of Paris 2015.”

Canfin is optimistic about his new role. “Thanks to my different backgrounds, I’m able to discuss development issues but also financing ones, keeping always in mind the geopolitical context of this negotiation,” he says. “WRI offers the ideal platform for these issues and to bring new ideas to the table that could help design the first-ever universal agreement on climate.”

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has appointed Tuulia Syvänen as chief of staff. Syvänen has worked for more than 15 years promoting international fair trade and environmental education.
She started her career as a journalist and sub-editor, before moving to Fairtrade as a communications officer in Finland in 1999. While there, she held various positions, ending up as an executive director. “I also took international roles, including on the Certification Committee and the board of Fairtrade International,” she explains. Syvänen joined Fairtrade International in Germany 2009 and served for five years as executive operating officer, including 10 months as interim chief executive.

“I have been involved with environmental NGOs since the age of 16 and it was not a big jump to work on international development and sustainability full-time,” she says. “I am motivated to help drive change.”

The chief of staff function is a new position within GRI. In this role, Syvänen will coordinate strategy development and monitoring, as well as operational management.
“I want to ensure that sustainability reporting becomes standard practice for all organisations in all sectors worldwide and that we continue the push towards a more sustainable global economy,” she says.

Appointment of the Month

Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, has been appointed by United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon as his special envoy for climate change. Robinson will engage heads of state and governments around the world in order to mobilise political will and action in advance of the 2014 Climate Summit that the secretary-general is hosting in New York on 23 September 2014. She will also provide strategic advice to the secretary-general based on her consultations.

Robinson will continue to serve as president of the Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice. She will work closely with special envoys John Kufuor and Michael Bloomberg in her new role.
In asking Robinson to take on this mandate, the secretary-general commended her for her work as special envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, in particular for her efforts in bringing cohesion and international awareness to the challenges in the region. Robinson served as UN high commissioner for human rights from 1997 to 2002.

Newly created asset management company Woodford Investment Management (WIM) has appointed Jonathan Smith as head of corporate social responsibility. Smith joined WIM on a part-time basis on 1 July and he will spend six months developing the company’s CSR strategy before becoming full time in January 2015. He has been a director of a number of smaller organisations and is closely involved with Business in the Community. In 2012, he was appointed by the charity’s president, the Prince of Wales, as his business ambassador in Wales.

Mamadou-Abou Sarr is the new global head of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing at Northern Trust Asset Management. Sarr has more than 10 years of investment experience, including roles at HSBC Global Asset Management and Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Based in Abu-Dhabi, he will lead ESG innovation and product development across Northern Trust’s asset classes. Northern Trust has about $58.4bn in assets under management across a globally diverse set of ESG-screened strategies.

James Watson has been appointed chief executive of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association. Watson joins from Weber Shandwick, where he was director of public affairs.

Consulting firm Mercer has hired Alexis Cheang as senior responsible investment (RI) consultant within its responsible investment team. Mercer has 13 RI consultants worldwide. Cheang, who is based in Sydney, was most recently director, governance and sustainable investments at UK-listed asset management firm F&C.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has appointed designer, thought leader and sustainable growth pioneer William McDonough as chair of its Meta-Council on the Circular Economy. The newly formed Council is the WEF’s multi-sector initiative to accelerate business-driven innovation to scale the circular economy. McDonough, who formerly served as the special advisor on sustainable development to President Clinton, has advised corporations such as Walmart and Waste Management, among others.

Alastair Fischbacher is the new director of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI), a coalition of companies from across the global shipping industry focused on driving commercial growth through sustainable practices. Until his retirement from Rio Tinto in May 2014, where he was general manager, fleet management, Fischbacher represented the company on the SSI’s board of trustees.

Global logistics company UPS has hired Rhonda Clark as chief sustainability officer and Amy Whitley as chief diversity and inclusion officer. Clark most recently served as vice-president of plant engineering for UPS Airlines, where she was responsible for the firm’s sustainability initiatives. Whitley has had a 31-year UPS career, holding a variety of positions in operations, human resources, airlines and supply chain solutions. She created and successfully implemented the company’s Women's Leadership Development Program.

Siemens has appointed Janina Kugel as its new chief diversity officer. Kugel retains her previous responsibilities as head of personnel strategy and executive development.
Diversity will, in future, have the status of a corporate function within Siemens.

The Global Reporting Initiative has appointed Rashmi van de Loenhorst as its new director marketing and communications. Van de Loenhorst was formerly global sustainable business manager for Unilever in London, and more recently sustainability campaigns manager for Unilever UK and Ireland.

The International Initiative of Impact Evaluation (3ie) has named Emmanuel Jimenez as its executive director. Jimenez, who is expected to take up the position early next year, has spent 30 years at the World Bank Group, where he provided technical expertise and strategic leadership in a number of research and operational positions.

UK-based design company Carnegie Orr has appointed Neil Gilbert as head of digital and sustainability. Gilbert previously ran the corporate communications team at Honey, an integrated brand and communications agency. Before that, he led the sustainability and innovation team at the Design Council.

Martin Zabka has joined O2 Czech Republic as manager for communications and corporate social responsibility. Zabka joins O2 from Siemens.

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