Deadline for application: 29 May 2023

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is the premier global, CEO-led community of over 200 of the world’s leading sustainable businesses working collectively to accelerate the system transformations needed for a net zero, nature-positive and more equitable future.

We share a vision of a world in which more than 9 billion people are able to live well, within planetary boundaries, by 2050. To achieve this vision, we must collectively accelerate the required transformation of businesses, their value chains, and the systems in which they operate to limit the impact of the climate crisis, restore nature and tackle inequality.

How our community works

Our community leads positive change through our imperatives work by building the infrastructure of a better world through climate, nature and equity action. In our distinct pathways, we outline the critical transitions required in some of the significant areas of business activity to profoundly shift the systems we work in and transform them towards a better future. Together we succeed when our collective effort is rewarded through a lower cost of capital, which is the scope of our redefining value work; helping companies measure and manage risk, gain competitive advantage and seize new opportunities by understanding environmental, social and governance (ESG) information.

WBCSD’s contribution

WBCSD stimulates progress by ideating & level-setting new best practices and trends from different expertise & sectors. By improving performance, we enable standards and protocols supported by tools and technology to solidify businesses’ sustainability competence. We build partnerships by bringing together members and external partners to create coalitions and partnerships and build scale into change. Finally, we drive the policy agenda by amplifying the voice of positive business and shaping policies collaboratively to transform the systems we work in.

Our work aims to empower business leaders to raise their ambition to achieve a better world, deliver action at speed and scale in their operations and value chains, and sharpen the accountability of their performance.

About the Greenhouse Gas Protocol

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the world’s leading authority and international standard setter on corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting. Over 92% of Fortune 500 companies that report emissions data to CDP use the GHG Protocol to do so. Building on a 20-year partnership between World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), GHG Protocol works with governments, industry associations, NGOs, businesses and other organizations. The GHG Protocol also provides standards, tools and online training to help countries and cities track progress towards their climate goals.

Job Overview

To respond to the increasing needs, the GHG Protocol is currently scaling for impact. We are launching a Greenhouse Gas Protocol Center and increasing staff capacity to deliver the following areas:

• Develop new and revise current GHG Protocol standards and guidance, incl. Corporate Reporting, Scope 2, Scope 3, Land Sector and Removals as well as market-based approaches
• Empower users to implement standards and guidance, incl. training, technical support and build-on mark tools
• Engage core stakeholders in the carbon accounting ecosystem to ensure alignment and harmonization
• Further evolve governance structures and processes increasing integrity, efficiency and transparency of the GHG Protocol work.

We are now looking for a Director, Business Engagement, with a focus on working closely with the WRI leadership team to bring the business-user perspective to this next phase of the GHG Protocol, contributing towards the creation of high-integrity, high-quality and easy-to-implement standards.

Responsibilities and duties

• Lead the GHG Protocol Center on the WBCSD side, in close collaboration with WRI’s GHG Protocol Director
• Co-lead and instigate an organizational change in the GHG Protocol Center, enabling it to deliver on its mission, vision and strategy
• Develop strategy and oversee delivery for business-user engagement on standards and guidance development and support services, ensuring integrity and usability, in particular
  • Scale up widespread implementation, use and uptake of new and revised GHG Protocol standards and guidance among the global business community
  • Review and further develop GHG Protocol’s build on mark with the objective to ensure consistent appliance of GHG Protocol standards across sectors and geographies
• Set objectives for the Business Engagement and Support Services teams, nurture team members and manage reports of GHG Protocol staff and secondees; oversee relationships with external partners engage in support of delivery of the new GHG Protocol strategy
• Engage with stakeholders across the wider ecosystem to ensure alignment and foster collaboration

Represent GHG Protocol Centre within the climate ecosystem and business community.

Qualifications Skills and Experience

• Background: Master’s Degree in business, environmental science, or related fields
• Experience:
  • Highly experienced leader with significant professional background related to strategy definition and implementation, e.g. in consultancy, auditing, corporate
  • Deep understanding of the current “state of play” of corporate decarbonization and the implementation challenges within global companies
• Strategy & Project management:
  • Action orientation with evidence of mobilizing internal and external stakeholders to find effective solutions for topics that are volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous and driven by competing agendas
  • Capacity to ensure the design and implementation of long-term strategic plans and ability to translate strategy into success factors and concrete actions
  • Clear vision of where the GHG Protocol organization should be heading and the individual role to be played to influence this direction as well as capability and responsibility to convince others of the how and why
  • Evidence of successful project steering and delivery and effective facilitation of different perspectives towards a common objective, in particular in complex settings and involving management of teams
  • Capacity to manage competing priorities, identify and proactively address problems and work to deadlines
• Communication, facilitation and stakeholder engagement
  • Excellent communication skills, ability to connect and interact with senior decision-makers within organizations, multi-stakeholder management and facilitation of different perspectives towards a common objective. The position has a key role towards the most sophisticated audiences, on the most complex matters. Those actions have a critical impact on the activities and development of the organization and its image
  • Excellent analytical, writing and presentation skills
• Leading and supervising
  • Authentic and empathetic leader with the ability to further build and nurture the team and work effectively across both hosting organization WBCSD and WRI, as well as well with a variety of external partners
  • Strong organizational skills
• Language skills: Fluency in written and spoken English, other languages welcome.

The position is full-time for an initial period of 2 years and is based in WBCSD’s Amsterdam, Geneva or London offices.

WBCSD is hiring for this position. The individual will be seconded into the virtual GHG P Center, hosted by WRI and WBCSD.

WBCSD is a purpose driven, forward-thinking and action-oriented organization, characterized by diversity of gender, nationalities and work experiences.

The Work Environment

WBCSD offers a competitive, modern, and flexible working arrangement:

• Geneva-based organization with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, London, New York and Singapore
• Competitive compensation and benefits
• State-of-the-art facilities and ICT-enabled working tools
• Flex-time and part-time possibilities
• Dynamic working atmosphere
• Open culture encouraging interaction and sharing of ideas and opinions
• International relocation support
• Sustainable commuting incentives

By applying to this position, the candidates consent that the information they provide (e.g. personal information, cover letter, CV) will be shared with WRI.

Please also note that WBCSD will only respond to candidates selected for the interview process.