Professor Chris Harrop OBE

Professor Chris Harrop OBE is one of the UK’s most experienced business voices on sustainability, Net Zero and responsible business. He is Visiting Professor of Sustainable Business at the University of Huddersfield Business School, where his work focuses on translating complex sustainability into practical business strategy, competitive advantage and measurable impact.

Chris brings a rare combination of board-level commercial experience, sustainability leadership, academic research and public purpose. Over more than two decades, he held senior executive roles at Marshalls plc, including Group Marketing and Sustainability Director, helping to embed sustainability into corporate strategy, product development and business performance.

He was closely involved in the early development of product carbon measurement and was a member of the group that developed PAS 2050, one of the world’s pioneering standards for calculating the carbon footprint of products. He subsequently led the carbon footprinting of more than 5,000 building materials and products, translating complex environmental information into commercial and operational decisions.

Chris was awarded an OBE for services to the prevention of modern slavery, reflecting his long-standing commitment to responsible business, transparency and systemic change.

His wider leadership experience includes serving as Chair of the United Nations Global Compact UK Network and as a former Non-Executive Director of the Ethical Trading Initiative. He is Founding Chair of Made in Britain, Vice Chair of the Fair Tax Foundation, Founding Partner of The Human Centre,and Chair ofthe judging panel for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Sustainable Excellence Awards.

Chris is the author of 13 books addressing sustainability, Net Zero, trust, modern slavery, organisationalchange, resilience and competitive advantage. His academic and applied research is published through ResearchGate and includes a series of original models designed to help businesses understand and respond to complex economic, environmental and social challenges.

His Tax Funded Impact Model provides a new way of understanding how responsible tax behaviour creates measurable social and economic value. His Belief Conditioned Change Model examines why evidence alone is often insufficient to change attitudes or behaviour. He also developed the 4Ms of Sustainability-washing, which distinguishes between misleading sustainability claims caused by Mistakes, Misunderstanding, Manipulation and Malice. His research on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals explores how businesses can identify the Goals where they possess both meaningful operational control and a measurable pathway to competitive advantage.

Chris’s recent work has focused on the next frontier of climate strategy: The Human Adaptation Economy. In his keynote address to the International Symposium on Green and Low-Carbon Development, Beyond Net Zero: The Human Adaptation Economy, he argued that mitigation alone is no longer sufficient. Businesses must also create the products, services and systems that help people and communities and as the physical and emotional consequences of climate change intensify.

In 2017, Chris completed an expedition to the North Pole, an experience that reinforced his personal commitment to climate action, resilience and leadership.