James Shaw

James Shaw is General Manager of Carbon Considerations, Future Considerations' new sister company which helps people to develop low carbon cultures in their organisations. James was previously a top consultant with Future Considerations, where he designed and delivered best-in-class management and leadership development programmes, particularly for Cadbury Schweppes. Much of his work there focused on helping businesses to articulate and implement sustainable development strategies, for example, with Bayer Environmental Services.

James' work integrates his experiences in training and development; organisational change; and sustainability: He has developed specialist learning resources on CSR and sustainable development for Interfaceflor Europe and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO); and organisational behaviour projects to reduce CO2 emissions at Tesco, the Carbon Trust, Department of Work & Pensions and a series of NHS Trusts.

James developed a talent for organisational change while at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Between 1998 and 2001, James was assigned to the firm's strategy team in the Chairman's Office in London and New York, where he used classic "skunk-works" tactics (made necessary by a low budget and strong internal resistance) to develop the firm's strategy to deal with the challenge of sustainable development.

Prior to joining PwC, James spent five years leading teams of staff and volunteers at AIESEC (the world's largest student-run leadership development organisation). His major achievement was to lead a major organisational change of direction at AIESEC New Zealand. He also trained at workshops in 27 countries, and worked in Brussels with AIESEC International to develop their first multi-media learning resource for local offices on 900 campuses in 87 countries.

These experiences taught James a lot about the most effective methods of affecting significant, long-term systemic change - that is, through social networks in which the conditions exist for serendipitous encounters and shared learning between people committed to a common purpose.

His work over the last six years - as a freelance consultant, as a member of the management teams of two start-ups (the World Technology Network and the Inspired Leaders Network), and now with Carbon Considerations - has been an extension of those principles. Between 2003 and 2005 he explored these ideas further, completing an MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice from University of Bath School of Management.

James is originally from Wellington, New Zealand. He is a keen traveller with an ambition to one day take the overland route from the UK back to New Zealand, via Europe, the Middle East and then over the old Spice Road into China and down to South-East Asia.