Bio
James is a recognised and award-winning leader in the global climate change movement.
James has been catalytic in connecting law, policy, finance, and innovation to respond to the challenges of sustainable development.
He understands the systemic nature of the difficulties we face and has the expertise to identify and mobilise effective levers of change in civil society, government, and business.
James is a Senior Advisor to: Howden; Korn Ferry; Pollination Global, Worthwhile Capital Partners;
Non-Executive Chair of PCA (UK); Chair of European Advisory Board for Smart Surfaces Coalition (US); Advisory Board of Sun New Energy holdings (India);
James is Non-Executive Director of Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT PLC), an investment trust (£615m Market Cap); Director of Ignite Power Africa’s fastest growing solar company and receiver of the Zayed Sustainability Prize; Non-Executive Director of Orbital-Energy; Non-Executive Director and former Chairman of energy tech start-up, Verv.
He was the former Chairman of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), 2012 – 2020; Previous Chair and Non-Executive Director of Crown Agents; a member of HM Treasury Infrastructure UK Advisory Council; a member of The Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group in the coalition government of David Cameron and Nick Clegg; a member of the Green Investment Bank Commission and until 2021 was a London Sustainable Development Commissioner (advising both Boris Johnson and Sadiq Khan).
James was Chairman of Climate Change Capital (CCC) until 2015, which he co-founded in 2003 and developed into an investment firm (advisory and asset management) employing 150 people with US$1.6 billion under management.
During his tenure at CCC, James was named Leader of the Year at the 2013 BusinessGreen Leaders Awards. James was formerly a Non-Executive Director of Solarcentury, the UK’s largest distributor of solar power. He helped to found and was Chairman of The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), winner of the Ashden Award in Innovative Finance in 2019 and was former Chairman of Carbon Disclosure Project CDP from 2000 - 2016.
James is a qualified Barrister and was called to the Bar in 1987, practicing from the leading commercial chambers 3 Verulam Buildings, Gray’s Inn, London. He was counsel to Baker & McKenzie where he founded and headed their Global Climate Change and Clean Energy Practice.
He co-founded the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD) and the Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL). James is currently advising Foundation for International Law and for the Environment (FILE) which funds litigation, law reform and policy change.
James has appeared in several leading cases in environment, trade and human rights including the arrest of General Pinochet (House of Lords/Supreme Court), Hinkley Point (Nuclear Planning Inquiry), and the Shrimp/Turtle case at the World Trade Organisation. James has negotiated international agreements including UNFCCC Rio (1992) and Kyoto Protocol (1997) representing AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States - a coalition he helped to build). James is a member of IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) and is a Friend of COP26 (UK) having advised its President on the climate negotiations along with the Presidencies & delegations at COP20 (Peru), COP22 (Morocco) and COP23 (Fiji), COP28 (UAE).
In academia, James is currently an Executive Fellow at Yale University where he is associated with the Yale Centre of Environmental Law and Policy.
James is a member of the following: Development Board of the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment; International Advisory Board at Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute; Policy Board of the Oxford Martin School programme on the post carbon transition; Advisory Board of Undaunted, Imperial College's Centre for Climate Change Innovation; Advisory Board for the Review of European, Comparative, and International Environmental Law (RECIEL).
He is a Fellow of the Colorado School of Mines, Payne Institute for Public Policy; Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Grantham Institute; a Life Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce; Life Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge.