SpecialityPrincipal Consultant, Sustainability & Circular Economy

Cedric Zhao is a Principal Consultant within Ricardo’s Circular Economy and Sustainability team. He has extensive industry experience working with sustainability in product development and supply chain and has deep technical expertise in sustainability strategy, sustainable operations and circular economy. He leads and develops the work on sustainable procurement, supply chain management, and circular economy at Ricardo Energy & Environment. Before Ricardo, Cedric spent six years working with various sustainability roles at the global IKEA head office in Sweden. While at IKEA, Cedric was part of the global sustainability team at Group Procurement and specialised in the circular economy and climate impact topics. He led several circular and sustainability projects with both internal and external stakeholders. He was also responsible for developing procurement toolkits and evaluation frameworks for a wide range of sectors. Originally from Beijing, Cedric has broad international experience and has lived in 5 countries, China, the United States, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. He holds a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and studied for an MSc in Environmental Management & Policy at Lund University, Sweden. While studying at Lund University, Cedric interned with sustainable land use at the United Nations Environment Programme in Geneva, Switzerland.