SBP appoints new technical director

SBP has today announced the appointment of Nicolas Viart as technical director. Viart will take up the appointment from Jan. 1, 2022.

A senior sustainability professional with extensive agriculture and international supply chain experience, Viart has proven technical and strategic competencies in advancing sustainable agendas. Through the development and management of complex projects, Viart understands the challenge of tackling complex issues, creating momentum, trust and achieving goals for lasting and thriving communities and businesses.

Viart has considerable experience of working with sustainability certification. Prior to joining SBP, Nicolas spent ten years with Bonsucro, a global membership organization promoting sustainable sugarcane production, processing and trade, where he played an instrumental role in the growth of the organization to become the leading certification scheme in the sector.

Viart joined Bonsucro as its head of sustainability and after five years was promoted to the role of director, standards and innovation. Key amongst his responsibilities were overseeing the maintenance of Bonsucro’s three standards, recognition of the standards by the European Commission and the Netherlands’ regulatory body, strengthening the certification and accreditation systems, and developing the impact evaluation and reporting system, in particular in relation to carbon accounting.

Viart started his career in the dairy industry, with a focus on quality management, technical specification and compliance audits, before moving on to the seafood industry, including two years at the Marine Stewardship Council, a leading global certification scheme for sustainable seafood.

Commenting on Nicolas’ appointment, Carsten Huljus, SBP’s chief executive officer, said, “I am delighted to welcome Nicolas to SBP. Nicolas brings with him a wealth of experience that will complement and strengthen the skill set of the secretariat.

“Nicolas joins us at a critical time in the standards development process as we plan the roll-out of our revised standards. I am confident that, amongst other things, Nicolas will be influential in implementing our revised Standards in an efficient and timely manner”.