ASSHETON L. STEWART CARTER, Ph.D. is Head of Performance and Risk at Ecosphere
Capital Partners LLP, a mission driven asset management firm focusing on blended-value
investing in Africa and emerging markets; Corporate Vice President at Equitable Origin, a
new eco-certification and certificate trading enterprise for the oil and gas industry; and,
board advisor to natural resource companies and a number of luxury jewelry and
fashion brands on their sustainability and sourcing strategies.
Over the last 25 years Dr. Carter has built a track record for designing and leading crosssector initiatives and supporting responsible business ventures and social enterprises
that demonstrate the power of business to have positive social impact. He believes that
business school gurus and civil society advocates continue to overlook the opportunity
for society to prosper from investments and innovations that address our fundamental
environmental and social problems. A systems thinker, Carter focuses on ‘purpose’ as
the key factor determining in achieving economic and social sustainability.
Many emerging economies are largely dependent upon natural resource development;
consequently, Dr Carter has launched and led standard setting and “best practices”
initiatives with the oil, gas and mining industries. He has built two successful advisory
and public-private partnering practices providing services to companies in the precious
metals and gems value chain from extractive industries in the field to helping luxury
brand companies to de-risk their supply chains and capture the value of the CSR
commitments in positioning their products.
Working with the largest retailer in the world, Dr.
Carter conceived the first fully traceable line of gold
and diamond jewelry. His success in bringing
together suppliers, mining companies and civil
society partners enabled Wal-Mart to bring its Love, Earth line to market in 2008. This
pioneering effort led to engagements with luxury brands, such as Cartier, Chopard and
John Hardy, to source
precious metals from
“ethical” mines. Dr. Carter
designed a responsibly
recycled line of jewelry for a
major retailer which
included developing a new standard for responsibly sources of recycled silver and gold.
From 2009 to 2011 Carter built a program to assure the physical traceability of ‘conflictfree’ metals from the Congo for use by electronics manufacturers in the U.S.A. and
signed on behalf of civil society a groundbreaking public private alliance with the U.S.
Department of State, the electronics industry and representatives of government from
East Africa.
He brought to market two standard systems for incorporating
biodiversity conservation into business practices of oil, gas and
mining companies - the Energy and Biodiversity Initiative and
the
Business and Biodiversity Offset Program, which built the first
system for industry to compensate for ecological loss at their
project. As well, he designed and launched the open-source
Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool for developers and investors to understand and
manage their impacts on important ecosystems using the combined data and analysis
from the world’s biggest conservation groups.
He is Chair of AccountAbility Standards, sits on the technical committee of the
Responsible Jewelry Council and the Stakeholder Council for the Better Coal Initiative.
He has contributed to the development of standards and best practices through
participation in the Alliance for Responsible Mining; International Council on Mining and
Metals; International Union for the Conservation of Nature; IPIECA - the global oil and
gas industry association for environmental and social issues; the Global Reporting
Initiative; the Global Compact; the Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition; the
Aluminium Stewardship Council; the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance; and
the Voluntary Principles of Security of Human Rights. Currently he is working with social
enterprise start-up Equitable Origin to build a new B2B exchange for ethical oil from
Amazon Rain Forest.
He has enabled companies as diverse as Disney, Fiji Water, Marriott and United Airlines
to develop corporate environmental and forest-based carbon offset strategies. Dr.
Carter established and led REDD+ programs at two NGOs, which set out to incorporate
community rights and development into forest-based carbon storage projects through
working with developers and influencing policy makers.
He has established a wide sphere of influence by publishing more than 20 articles and
book chapters on business and sustainable development. He has been quoted in and
written for a number of international papers including the Financial Times, the
Washington Post and the Guardian. He has served on the advisory boards to large-scale
extractive projects in Ghana (submerged timber), Iceland (aluminum), Madagascar
(mineral sands), Honduras (Gold), Peru (copper), Canada (Oil Sands) and on non-profit,
corporate advisory and editorial boards.
Dr. Carter has lived in the United States, United
Kingdom, Thailand, Peru and Spain. His work has
taken him to more than 60 countries. He has
participated in missions to promote best practices for
resource management and human and economic
development to the political leadership of Ghana,
Iceland, Madagascar, Peru and Suriname.
Dr. Carter draws on a background that encompasses financial management, CSR
strategy consulting, standard setting, and non-profit management in international
development and conservation. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Strategy and Sustainability
from the University of Bath, School of Management, United Kingdom.