Standard Chartered has appointed Dr John Murton CMG as Senior Sustainability Advisor within its Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) team.
In this capacity, John serves as a senior ambassador for the Bank helping to develop and enhance strategic governmental, civil society and private sector relationships, with a particular focus on public-private partnerships aimed at catalysing sustainable finance in its footprint markets.
John has a distinguished diplomatic career spanning 25 years, including posts in Asia and Africa and with a particular emphasis on the energy transition and climate. He joins Standard Chartered after three successful years in his most recent role as the UK government's COP26 Envoy, coordinating the UK's climate diplomacy for COP26 in Glasgow. As COP Envoy, John oversaw the World Leaders Summit element of COP26, led negotiations for the international community on the USD8.5 billion South African and USD15 billion Vietnamese Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) and spearheaded diplomatic efforts to deliver the 'Clean Energy Transition Partnership', which commits 35 nations to ending all international support for fossil fuels. John was appointed CMG for services to climate change and foreign policy in the recent New Year's Honours list.
Prior to this, John served as the UK Ambassador to six African nations, including DRC, Mauritius and Madagascar, and was the UK's Permanent Representative to the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi. John was previously head of the FCDO's East Asia and Pacific Department, overseeing the UK's diplomatic relations with countries of ASEAN, North East Asia and the Pacific. Earlier in his career, John was also the UK's Energy and Environment Attache in Tokyo.
John completed his undergraduate studies in Geography at the University of Cambridge and went on to do his PhD jointly at the University of Cambridge and University of Nairobi focusing on an economic and environmental analysis of rural Eastern Kenya.
Based in London, John reports directly to Marisa Drew, Chief Sustainability Officer, and is responsible for helping to execute on the Bank's sustainability strategy, including proactively advancing its JETP work and playing a central role in its agenda to support the energy transition and early coal decommissioning in developing markets.
Marisa Drew said: 'I am delighted to welcome John to our growing CSO team. We are proud to be playing leading roles in the recently announced Indonesian and Vietnamese JETPs, and John's deep expertise in sustainability diplomacy and advocacy will help drive progress on these and other cross-sector initiatives to deliver critical energy transition policy-making and financing. John's hire underpins our commitment to sustainability and is testament to Standard Chartered's ability to attract best-in-class talent to accelerate our efforts.'
John Murton commented: 'Successfully tackling climate change requires us to mobilise very significant private sector investment in the low-carbon economy. I'm excited to join Standard Chartered and support the mobilisation of private finance for the JETPs and our net zero goals.'
For further information please contact:
Josephine Wong
Group Media Relations
+65 6981 1514
Standard Chartered
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