Senior Advisor
James Griffiths operates as an international sustainability adviser based in Geneva, Switzerland. Forestry and agricultural products and value chains are particular areas of focus. James works with global business and non-business groups on solving challenges and developing opportunities associated with natural resource use including sustainable supply chains, independent performance assessment, stakeholder engagement, public-private partnerships, business strategies and public policies.
Forestry and agricultural products and supply chains are particular areas of focus.
James has a 40-year work history in the government, business and non-government sectors primarily with an international focus, including experience as a global business advocate for sustainable development (Managing Director, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Geneva, Switzerland), trade association executive (Chief Executive, New Zealand Forest Industries Council, Wellington, New Zealand), diplomat (New Zealand Consul & Trade Commissioner, New York, NY, USA), trade negotiator (Executive Officer, Department of Trade & Industry, Wellington, NZ), forest products marketer (Product Manager, New Zealand Forest Products Ltd, Auckland, NZ), assistant lecturer (University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA) and industrial policy adviser (Department of Trade & Industry, Wellington, NZ).
James has degrees in Psychology, Political Science and International Relations from Victoria University (Wellington, NZ) and Political Science from the University of Hawaii (Honolulu, Hawaii, USA). James has been based in Geneva since 2002 and has developed extensive links with many of the UN system organizations, non governmental organizations and global sustainability platforms located there.
Since 2015 he has been an expert member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Commission on Environmental, Economic & Social Policy (CEESP). He was on the Advisory Board of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Bioenergy Sustainability Inter-Task Project (2016-19) and is a member of the Team of Specialists for the UNECE FAO’s Forest Sector Outlook Study (2020-30).
