James Richardson

James Richardson is Chief Economist at the Climate Change Committee (CCC). The CCC is the UK’s official, independent advisor to Government on climate change. It also advises Parliament on progress by government against climate objectives.

James oversees the CCC’s analytical teams covering both Net Zero and Adaptation. James led the CCC’s work on the Seventh Carbon Budget advice to the UK Government, and parallel advice to the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments. He also led the work on the CCC’s independent advice on the fourth Climate Change Risk Assessment, and the A Well Adapted UK report.

Background

James has a PhD in economics from the LSE.

James was Chief Economist at the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) from 2016 to 2023. The NIC was the UK’s independent advisor on infrastructure. James led work on the first and second National Infrastructure Assessments as well as government commissioned reports on issues such as economic regulation, resilience and rail infrastructure needs. Prior to this, James worked at HM Treasury including as Deputy Chief Economic Adviser, Director, Fiscal and Director, Public Spending.

Research interests

• Costs and benefits of the economic transition to Net Zero
• Macroeconomic impacts of Net Zero
• Estimates of loss and damage
• Costs and benefits of adaptation 
• Innovation and technology diffusion
• Modelling and distributional analysis