James Beard

James Beard leads the ECF’s efforts to clean up the aviation sector across Europe. This follows two years of managing the ECF’s broader transport activities in the UK, which largely focused on accelerating the phase-out of petrol and diesel vehicles.

James’ roots are in Sheffield and Sunderland, he grew up in Devon, studied in Paris and Oxford, and currently lives in London. A seasoned climate campaigner, James has previously held comms, advocacy and corporate engagement roles for various NGOs and trade bodies – including a previous stint on aviation policy at WWF.

James is passionate about accelerating the transition to net zero emissions because of how unfair it is that people around the world who’ve done the least to cause the climate crisis stand to suffer the most from it. The scale of the challenge can be overwhelming, but it’s reassuring to remember that positive change can often happen much faster than we expect. This is one reason for James’ fierce but pragmatic optimism that a sustainable future is within our reach, along with the passion and energy that young people are bringing to the climate debate.

In his free time, James enjoys football, going to gigs, a nice walk to a country pub (ideally with a pool table), and a quiet night in with a good book, film or video game. He’s always working at living a greener lifestyle – successfully cutting down on meat, milk and flying, but continually struggling with cheese.