Founder and Chief Executive

Joachim Monkelbaan is the founder and Chief Executive of Trade4SDGs. Previously, he worked with organizations such as UN Environment, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), WHO, and Climate-KIC. He was a team leader for several Sustainability Impact Assessments for the European Commission (DG Trade), notably the Green Goods Initiative, the EU-Myanmar Investment Protection Agreement, and the EU-Philippines Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Earlier, he coordinated the Sustainability Impact Assessment of the Switzerland-China FTA.

 

Dr. Monkelbaan also lectures and does research at the University of Geneva, where he obtained a PhD in governance for sustainable development. Subsequently, he did postdoctoral research at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and at the Institute for Developing Economies (IDE) in Tokyo, Japan. His book on governance for the SDGs has been published in Springer’s ‘Sustainable Development Goals series’.

 

Dr. Monkelbaan is co-founder of the Sustainability Leadership Lab, a training institute and consultancy focused on behavioural change and mindshifts based on understanding complex adaptive systems and leadership development. He is chair of the board of the Denominator Group, a non-profit start-up which uses technologies such as blockchain for sustainability applications (currently tracking vaccines supply chains in Kenya).