James Roaf

James Roaf currently serves as an Assistant Director in the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department, where he has taken on the crucial role of Climate Change Policy Coordinator since 2020. In this position, he leads a specialized team of experts and oversees an expanding portfolio of work focused on developing fiscal policies to address climate change challenges. His distinguished career at the IMF includes significant roles as mission chief for both Russia and Serbia, where he helped shape economic policies and reforms. Roaf has been instrumental in crafting policy responses to major global economic challenges, including the global financial crisis and the eurozone crisis. His expertise extends to developing policies for reserve adequacy and sovereign debt restructuring, and he has worked on critical crisis cases in Russia, Argentina, and Greece. Before joining the IMF, he gained valuable experience at the UK Treasury, and his IMF career has included important overseas assignments in Poland and Bulgaria. Under his leadership, the IMF has significantly expanded its engagement on climate-related policy challenges, integrating climate considerations into the Fund's core activities and country consultations