James is a Hallsworth Research Fellow at the School of Social Sciences (SOSS) and the Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI). He is currently a lecturer and module convenor of the Environmental Politics (level two undergraduate) module at the Politics department. A political economist with a focus on the intersection of fiscal, monetary and climate policy, his work explored numerous issues related to the political economy of the green transition.

He is a member of the Politics Department's Environmental Political Group and the Manchester China Institute (MCI). Outside of Manchester, James is a co-convenor of the Political Studies Association (PSA) Environmental Politics Specialist Group. He is also a visiting professor at the School of International Studies at Peking University in China, where he explores China's role in the global green transition and its relationship to the UK. He also has a visiting role at the University of Ottawa, Canada, where he currently holds an SSHRC Insight Grant alongside Professor Ryan Katz-Rosene to explore the subject of climateflation in the global political economy. This is the subject of a forthcoming book with Cambridge University Press. 

James joined Manchester after completing his PhD at the University of Sheffield and the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI). He has held visiting positions at the University of Bergen (2022), the University of Toronto (2023), the University of Melbourne (2024), the University of Ottawa (2025) and Peking University (2025). 

His work has been published in various leading journals, including Review of International Political Economy, Climate Policy, New Political Economy, Global Environmental Politics, Environmental Politics, Energy Research & Social Science, Competition and Change and Journal of Cleaner Production, amongst others. 

James' research has several strands, which he has published. These include:

The political economy of the green transition, with a particular emphasis on the electric vehicle (EV) transition. His research had previously focused on the Global North, particularly Australia, Canada, Europe, the Nordics and the UK, but is now focused on the Global South, particularly China, Brazil, India and the BRICS countries.

Green monetary policy and the role of central banks in the transition to Net Zero and their relationship with the state and the financial system.

Climate/nature-related financial risks (C/NRFRs) to financial stability and the financialisation of nature, with particular reference to green finance. 

The climate and environmental impacts of football and sport more broadly.

James is the author of four forthcoming books: The first is a co-authored monograph on the environmental unsustainability of European Men's football with Manchester University Press to be published in 2027. The second is a single-authored monograph on the international political economy of the EV transition with Cambridge University Press to be published in 2027. The third is a co-authored monograph on Multi-Level Climate Governance to be published with Oxford University Press in 2027. Finally, the fourth is on climateflation and the inflationary impacts of climate change, to be published with Cambridge University Press to be published in 2028.