Duncan’s career has seen him move between the corporate and non-profit sectors. He has an honours degree in forestry and first worked for a variety of forest companies; including spending nine years with Shell, firstly in their London head office, then in Chile and Uruguay. He worked in planning and operational roles setting up world scale greenfield forest and pulpmill projects.

He then spent almost ten years with WWF International, in the Forests for Life Programme and then as the Director responsible for WWF’s global conservation work on energy, water, forests, species, oceans and policy. Duncan helped build WWF’s capability to work with business, involving both collaborative partnerships and campaigning approaches.

In 2010 Duncan joined Nestlé, where he worked to embed sustainability across the different functions, businesses and markets.

He led and supported the development of programmes on responsible sourcing, rural development & livelihoods, climate, biodiversity, plastic packaging, food systems, and new ways of measuring societal value creation.

An important aspect of the role was to develop and enhance relationships with governments and stakeholders (NGO, investors, and corporate platforms). Collaborating with stakeholders became part of Nestlé’s operational strategy.

Duncan set up Duncan Pollard & Associates to help companies, civil society, communities and academia in the areas equality and sustainability. Through a combination of paid consultancy and pro-bono work, it helps them to make a difference.