James David Campbell Walker (born 25 August 1968) is a British former Olympic oarsman and subsequently climate change campaigner from Chester. He was active in international rowing between 1985 and 2000, and currently resides near Durham, North Carolina.
He was a member of the British sculling squad in 1998, was a reserve for the 1999 World Championshipssweep team and also a final trialist for the British team for the 2000 Olympics, where he was ultimately unsuccessful in securing selection for a third Games in Sydney.[8]
Post-sport career
Inspired in part by the work of James Lovelock, after the 1996 Olympics Walker returned to Imperial College to study Environmental Technology, working subsequently for six years in environmental consultancy,[9] the first three of which he combined with seeking selection for the Sydney Olympic Games. He retired from rowing in 2000.
"I love how The Climate Group started, with co-founders Jim Walker and Steve Howard going from working on a borrowed laptop in an office rented using a credit card, to bringing together leaders from around the world to combat climate change" — Sir Richard Branson, Low carbon innovation and leadership, Virgin Group blog, 2014 [10]
Together with Dr. Steve Howard and Alison Lucas, Walker co-founded the international climate change organization The Climate Group in 2004, serving for 10 years as COO in London, Beijing and the United States.[10][11][9] In 2014 he worked as founding CEO to help establish the We Mean Business coalition, a campaign that worked to mobilize business in support of the United NationsParis Agreement on climate.[12]
From 2007 to 2017 he was a final jury member for the annual Dutch Postcode Lottery Green Challenge, one of the world’s biggest sustainability competitions by prize value.[13] Until 2023 he led partnerships and fundraising efforts for the United Nations-affiliated initiative SEforALL, reporting to two successive Special Representatives of the UN Secretary-General.[14][9]
Walker (second from right) with fellow judges Marty Pickett, Coen van Oostrom, former President of Costa Rica José María Figueres and Leila Janah. Postcode Lottery Green Challenge, Amsterdam, September 2012.
