Jim Skea is currently the Co-chair of Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Working Group III covers the mitigation of climate change, i.e. methods for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and enhancing atmospheric sinks. Jim is supported by the Working Group III Technical Support Unit which is based at the Centre for Environmental Policy and the University of Ahmedabad, India. Working Group III is responsible for the one of the three main IPCC reports due in 2021/22, managed the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land published in 2019 and contributed to the scientific leadership of the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C published in 2018.

From 2018 to 2021 he chaired the Scottish Just Transition Commission which made recommendations on how to make a fair and equitable transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland.

From 2012 to 2017, Jim was Research Councils UK Energy Strategy Fellow. The Fellowship was established in response to recommendations from the International Review of Energy Research undertaken by the Research Councils in 2010. There were two roles: the synthesis of a Prospectus to explore research, skills and training needs across the energy landscape; and a related research programme focusing on the effectiveness of systems of energy innovation internationally. The Prospectus was launched in November 2013. A book based on the research programme, Energy Innovation for the 21st century: Accelerating the Energy Revolution, was published by Edward Elgar in September 2019.

Until 2012, Jim was Research Director of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC). He led the UKERC Phase I Energy 2050 project which led to publication of the book Energy 2050: Making the transition to a secure low-carbon energy system. He has also published recently on indicators for assessing energy innovation, the impact of intermittent renewables on electricity generation, security of gas supply and UK, Japanese and German responses to the Fukushima accident.

Jim has particular research interests in energy, climate change and technological innovation. He has always worked in interdisciplinary settings and has previously been Director of the Policy Studies Institute, Director of the Economic and Social Research Council's Global Environmental Change Programme, Professorial Fellow at the Science Policy Research Unit, Sussex University and Visiting Assistant Professor at the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie-Mellon University. He was appointed Professor of Sustainable Energy at Imperial College London in 2009.

Jim has strong links to policy processes. He was a founding member of the UK's Committee on Climate Change. In the past, he was a member of the Commission on Environmental Markets and Economic Performance and acted as Launch Director for the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership.

He was President of the Energy Institute from 2015 to 2017. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation,Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh.

He was awarded an OBE for services to sustainable transport in 2004 and a CBE for services to sustainable energy in 2013.