James received his training in industrial ecology and green design from Yale University, where he focused on closing the loop in business supply chains to move towards a more circular economy. He joined Metabolic as a Sustainability Consultant in 2018, and he now leads the company’s work on circular products and services. His projects include waste to resource innovation, industrial symbiosis across supply chains, and using material flow analysis to visualize resource consumption and to identify intervention points for sustainable and circular operations. He specializes in assessing and communicating the environmental, social, and economic benefits of implementing circular interventions and business models across the value chain. He has managed a range of projects with major global players, including leaders in circular electronics and manufacturers of household consumer goods.

James is from Virginia in the US, where he studied environmental and social sustainability for his undergraduate degree, with minors in biology, economics, international development, and photography. He previously worked for environmental organizations in Pittsburgh and Washington DC focused on urban sustainability and food waste reduction. He also worked for a year as a photojournalist in Burkina Faso, where he documented farmers adapting to a changing climate.

At Metabolic, he is excited about applying a systems thinking framework to shift our world toward a sustainable and circular economy.