Founding Partner & Executive Chairman of Volans (2008 to date), John was also Co-founder of SustainAbility (1987-2008, where he remains a non-executive member of the Board) and of Environmental Data Services (ENDS, 1978), He is considered to be a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. In 2004, BusinessWeek described him as "a dean of the corporate responsibility movement for three decades." His first involvement in the field: raising money for the newly formed World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 1961, aged 11.

In 2008, The Evening Standard named John among the '1000 Most Influential People' in London, describing him as "a true green business guru," and as "an evangelist for corporate social and environmental responsibility long before it was fashionable."

In 2009, a CSR International survey of the Top 100 CSR leaders placed John fourth: after Al Gore, Barack Obama and the late Anita Roddick of the Body Shop, and alongside Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank. In August 2001, John was named among the '100 Global Sustain Ability Leaders for 2011' by ABC Carbon and the Sustain Ability Showcase Asia, based on nominations and recommendations received from around the globe.

Volans, launched in April 2008, is a future-focused business working at the intersection of the sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation movements. Volans applies thought leadership and global networks across these areas to develop solutions for entrepreneurs, businesses, governments and investors.

In terms of other hats, John is a Visiting Professor at the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at the Cranfield School of Management and (from June 2012) at the UCL Energy Institute.

In 2011 John was awarded the Spencer Hutchens, Jr. Medal by the American Society for Quality (ASQ) primarily for his outstanding leadership, as an advocate for social responsibility, and for bringing about positive social change.  John has completed a Fellowship at the Bellagio Centre awarded to him by The Rockefeller Foundation.

He has written or co-authored 17 books, including 1988's million-selling Green Consumer Guide (Victor Gollancz; co-authored with SustainAbility co-founder Julia Hailes), 1997's Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business (Capstone/John Wiley; the book which brought his triple bottom line concept and agenda to a wider audience) and 2008's The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World, (Harvard Business School Press), co-authored with Volans co-founder Pamela Hartigan.

John's Who's Who entry lists his recreations as: "playing with ideas, thinking around corners, conversations with unreasonable people, reading an Alpine range of books (history to science fiction) and business and science magazines, risking life and limb as a London cyclist, catch-it-as-you-can photography, art and design, writing all hours, pre-1944 aircraft, New World wines, 20th century popular music and Johann Strauss II."