John Kellenberg Joins Sustainability Frameworks, LLP
Sustainability Frameworks is proud to welcome John Kellenberg as a new partner. An environmental economist with expertise spanning environmental and social policy, grievance redress, climate change, clean energy, resource efficiency, biodiversity conservation, natural capital accounting, and sustainability, Kellenberg brings three decades of experience at the highest levels of international development finance to the firm.
Kellenberg spent thirty years with the World Bank Group, including sixteen years in management positions across the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. At the World Bank, he led the corporate launch of the Environmental and Social Framework — one of the most significant reforms to the Bank's approach to E&S risk management in its history — and later rebuilt and directed the World Bank's Grievance Redress Service, providing communities and individuals with a direct avenue to raise concerns about adverse project impacts. At IFC, he managed a global advisory team of more than 85 professionals overseeing a $120 million program in energy and resource efficiency, and previously led IFC's Sustainable Business Advisory, directing over 180 operations across six regions with a focus on clean energy, sustainable supply chains, and ESG standards. Earlier in his career, he directed environment and natural resource management programs across Latin America and Europe and Central Asia, including assignment based in Mexico City and Costa Rica.
Beyond his World Bank Group career, Kellenberg has advised governments, international financial institutions, UN agencies, and bilateral organizations on E&S matters, and has served as a Visiting Fellow and Professor of the Practice at the University of Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics from the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering and an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. Having lived more than a decade in Latin America, John is a native English speaker with fluency in Spanish.
The addition of John — whose career focused on building and reforming the frameworks that govern E&S risk at the world's leading development institutions — brings further depth to Sustainability Frameworks' capacity to advise clients on complex ESG challenges. His firsthand experience leading institutional reform, managing grievance mechanisms, and advancing clean energy and natural resource programs across multiple regions is a powerful asset for the governments, companies, and international financial institutions we serve.
Background
Sustainability Frameworks, LLP was launched in April 2017 as a vehicle to provide advice and support in strategic and technical areas of sustainability to IFIs and private sector clients. Clients of our Partners and Senior Associates, including in their individual capacity, comprise Adaptation Fund, Asian Development Bank, Brazilian Biodiversity Fund, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Global Environment Facility, Grammercy Bank, InterAmerican Development Bank, Norsk Hydro, MGM Innova Capital, Reunion Gold, International Centre for Hydropower and World Bank.