Jacques Prescott

Founding Partner and Chief Sustainability & ESG Officer CarbonConnect, Quebec, Canada

Jacques Prescott is Chief Sustainability and ESG officer for CarbonConnect. Jacques advises companies and governments in their strategic planning and analyzes the sustainability of policies and programs. As an expert advisor for UNDP, FAO, IUCN, EU and OIF, he worked in dozens of countries in Africa. He coordinated a number of national biodiversity strategies as well as Quebec’s and Algeria’s first sustainable development strategies. He is the author of several articles and international methodology guidebooks on biodiversity and sustainable development planning. Jacques is Associate Professor and Chair in eco-consulting at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi.

Mr. Prescott is an internationally recognized specialist in the field of biodiversity, sustainable development and governance. As a director in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, he reviewed the environmental performance of federal entities and trained auditors in the consideration of environmental issues in performance audits.

Jacques started his career as curator and director of the Quebec Zoo, managing all aspects of the institution and positioning himself as a leader in this field. He then joined the Quebec Department of Environment to coordinate the implementation of the UN Biodiversity Convention and the development of the province’s sustainable development framework and strategy. He also managed the endangered species program. In 2007 he joined the Commissioner of the Environment office in Ottawa as a director.

Jacques has always been actively involved in non-government organizations. He chaired IUCN Canada, Nature Canada, NatureServe Canada, the Quebec Biologist Association, and the Union for Sustainable Development. He also served on the board of the Royal Society of Canada’s Global Change Program and advised The Nature Conservancy and WWF Canada. For nearly 20 years he reviewed the environmental performance of private corporations and advised Desjardins Credit Union for responsible investment purposes.

A well-known author, Jacques published books and articles on zoology, biodiversity, environmental issues and sustainable development. He organized workshops, conferences and lectured internationally, sharing his experience in more than 40 countries. In 2017, he opened the Animalium, a zoological museum in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec.

His recent projects include the development of CarbonConnect-Institutional Carbon Offset Scaling Solutions; coordination of Algeria National Sustainable Development Strategy; training experts from Algeria National Economic and Social Council on the sustainability analysis of national policies; development of Egypt and Seychelles National Biodiversity Strategies; senior advisor on a sustainable food production and consumption research project with Laval University; associate professor to the Chair on Eco-advising, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. He holds a master’s degree in biology and a management certificate.