James Cooper Jr., PE, is an Assistant Vice President at WSP, leading the Apparel and Retail practice for the Sustainability, Energy and Climate Change team. In the role, James guides corporate sustainability program initiatives and strategies, including GHG accounting calculation and assurance, ESG disclosures, climate and biodiversity risk, life cycle assessments, decarbonization roadmaps, circularity, etc. Before WSP, he led on developing and implementing corporate sustainability strategies at multiple companies, having seen the evolution of continued, and necessary, pressure for more robust corporate responsibility and disclosures.

James teaches Sustainable Organizational Management, where he challenges students to leverage systematic approaches to the evolving sustainability challenges for organizations of all types. The course introduces various subjects, including the GHG Protocol, science based targets, environmental justice, climate and biodiversity risk, and LCAs. Furthermore, the course is designed to provide insights into sustainability-focused careers as well, with guest speakers from multi-national corporations, government, and nonprofits.

James holds a BS in chemical engineering, a MS in environmental engineering and is a proud graduate (MA ‘19) of the Wake Forest Sustainability Graduate Program.