Turner & Townsend has appointed James Hardy as a director in its UK advisory team as the business eyes further growth in its sustainability offer.

Hardy was previously head of climate change and energy at the Greater London Authority (GLA), where he helped drive the capital’s efforts on net-zero and fuel poverty alleviation over the last eight years. 

Under his leadership, the GLA team implemented many of the city’s major sustainability programmes, including the mayor’s retrofit accelerators, warmer homes, solar together London, London power and the London community energy fund. 

During Hardy’s tenure, his team developed and launched the mayor’s London Environment Strategy, the first of the city’s strategies integrating approaches to challenges including air quality, green infrastructure, climate change mitigation and waste. The team also secured £250m in government funding to support the decarbonisation of the capital’s homes and public buildings.

Before joining the GLA, Hardy worked for the UK government as a senior strategist on energy and climate change and Head of International Climate Change Strategy within the UK delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Between 2006 and 2008, he was also a key architect of the UK Climate Change Act and created the UK’s watchdog – the Climate Change Committee. 

Hardy will now support the expansion of Turner & Townsend’s sustainability team as it meets growing demand from clients shaping strategies to support net zero goals. 

Peter McGettrick, Turner & Townsend managing director, advisory, said: “As we create a leading proposition in this market and build on Turner & Townsend’s reputation as a centre for excellence in net zero, we are harnessing the best minds inside and outside our business. James has extensive knowledge of and experience in the sustainability sector and will play a key role in transforming the performance for our clients’ projects and programmes.”

Looking forward to his new role, Hardy said: “I am delighted to be joining Turner & Townsend at such a crucial time of green business growth, and look forward to helping our clients put net zero at the heart of their strategies. The company has a clear ambition to help drive the UK’s sustainability agenda and become the go-to consultancy for such advice; something I’m very much looking forward to being a part of.”