Ashfaq Khalfan
@ashfaqkhalfan.bsky.social
Director, Sustainability Regulation Observatory, London School of Economics
I spoke at the Mahfil Ali mosque on who should end carbon pollution. My focus was on governments' responsibility to do this through regulation and taxation. There were excellent questions, and an interesting discussion followed that's worth listening to.
Friday 3 July 2026 - Who should be responsible for ending carbon pollution?
YouTube video by SICM Mahfil Ali
youtube.com
Deadly wildfires like those now gripping France and Spain are often cited as evidence of the need to tackle climate change. But do these events lead to real political change? @timwapps.bsky.social @antvalentim.bsky.social @heikekluever.bsky.social @lstoetze.bsky.social @lseeuroppblog.bsky.social
There is little evidence extreme weather events spur political action on climate change - LSE European Politics
There is no evidence of a shift in the political attention paid to the environment in the aftermath of extreme weather events like flooding and wildfires.
blogs.lse.ac.uk
Corporate sustainability due diligence went on trial at LSE. Our jury of 65 found it guilty of being "too little", but cleared it of being a distraction or harmful to economies.
How can respect for human rights respond to the global challenge? The African Court's existing case law on environmental protection can serve as a good basis for an answer of this question says Hon. Judge Duncan Gaswaga (African Court of Human & Peoples Rights). @cisdl.bsky.social #SDLaw26
Closing of the Human Rights in the Global Climate Emergency panel - What are the links between HR and climate change, and how can respect for human rights respond to the global threat of climate change? How are HR courts rising to the challenge of this historical moment? @cisdl.bsky.social #SDLaw26
Start of the Global Experts Plenary I on Linking HRs & Climate Change chaired by @ashfaqkhalfan.bsky.social and Ayman Cherkaoui with Profes. Sumudu Atapattu, Marcel Szabo, Payam Akhavan, Tenia Kyriazi, David Boyd and @unsrclimatehrights.bsky.social Elisa Morgera @cisdl.bsky.social #SDLaw26
Climate action is increasingly translated into legal obligation and the future is implementation says Prof. Tenia Kyriazi, here with Profes. David Boyd ( @ires.ubc.ca), Elisa Morgera ( @unsrclimatehrights.bsky.social / @durham.ac.uk) and Dr @ashfaqkhalfan.bsky.social @cisdl.bsky.social #SDLaw26
“Cases brought to resist regulatory rollbacks, funding freezes and the dismantling of existing climate rules, now constitute around 20% of climate cases filed in the US in 2025” according to analysis published today by the Grantham Research Institute.
Global trends in climate change litigation: 2026 snapshot - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment
An exploration of key trends and evolutions in global climate change litigation from the calendar year 2025, plus important new developments through to May 2026.
lse.ac.uk
New report out: Who Pays for Climate Breakdown? Banks, Financed Emissions, and the Road to Climate Accountability — from the LSE Sustainability Law and Policy Clinic, part of @gsos-lse.bsky.social in partnership with @clientearth.bsky.social and @granthamlse.bsky.social anthamlse.bsky.social
Banks, Financed Emissions, and the Road to Climate Accountability – A Collaboration with ClientEarth’s Accountable Finance Team
lse.ac.uk
NEW: Tax is a powerful tool for improving our lives – a social superpower, even. But the world loses around half a trillion dollars every year through crossborder tax abuse. @alexcobham.bsky.social @taxjustice.net argues for stronger international tax frameworks ahead of his #LSEFestival event.
Stronger tax frameworks can make a fairer world - LSE Review of Books
Alex Cobham argues that fairer rules, progressive taxation and a new UN tax framework could ensure more accountability and better public services worldwide.
blogs.lse.ac.uk
In despair about 'strongmen' rolling back environmental rules and economic justice? Don't be. Join me Wed 17 June, 1 pm BST online/in-person with people making law work: @tessakhan.bsky.social on oil & gas limits sivathambisetty.bsky.social on protecting nature @alexcobham.bsky.social on global tax
Oil and gas profits are booming, and there is unprecedented attention to taxation on fossil fuel companies seen at the Santa Marta Conference on phasing out fossil fuels. There is a political path for new permanent higher taxes on fossil fuel companies.
LSE Blogs@lseblogs.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe spike in oil & gas prices from the US-Israel war on Iran has raised the idea of taxing fossil fuel companies. @ashfaqkhalfan.bsky.social @gsos-lse.bsky.social argues this is the moment to enact permanent rather than windfall taxes to incentivise investment in renewable energy @lsebr.bsky.social
Ok, I'm bundling professional announcements again (since I clearly *love* doing them?👎😅) First, very excited to be joining the Sustainability Regulation Observatory (SRO) @ @gsos-lse.bsky.social as part of the brand new policy team; co hosted by @granthamlse.bsky.social & @lselaw.bsky.social 🏭💚
As Open Society President Binaifer Nowrojee @nowrojeeosf.bsky.social writes in @theguardian.com, these hatreds cannot be defeated apart. That’s why we recently announced a $30 million initiative to counter both antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate and keep communities safe across faiths. Read more:
Anti-Muslim hate and antisemitism are twin crises. We must confront them together | Binairfer Nowrojee
The two hatreds have rarely been seen as related dangers. But they overlap even as Muslim and Jewish communities are pitted against each other
theguardian.com
How do you turn people off the green transition and deliver them to the far right? Through #ClimateAuthoritarianism. The government seeks to coerce, not to persuade. And it's turning a planning system based on consent into one based on decree. This week's column.🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Britain’s green transition should belong to everyone. Why is Labour so intent on stopping us having our say? | George Monbiot
Tearing up planning and using protest laws to criminalise local people – this isn’t how to build the broad consent needed, says the Guardian columnist George Monbiot
theguardian.com
A deeply concerning analysis by @richardjmurphy.bsky.social I'm not qualified to assess its merits, but it sounds as if we should at least be highly alert to the possibilities he raises. www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2026/05...
This could be as bad as 1929, and maybe very much worse
As Katie Martin has noted in the FT this morning, there is something exceptionally strange going on in the world's financial markets at the moment, and we should be taking note. Since 30th March this...
taxresearch.org.uk
⚖️ Due Diligence on Trial — a mock trial event from @gsos-lse.bsky.social's Sustainability Regulation Observatory What can corporate sustainability due diligence actually deliver? 📅 20 May | 6:30pm | LSE Marshall Building and online | Reception to follow Registration link in replies
A new working paper by Simon Dietz and Nikolaus Hastreiter finds little evidence of large immediate emissions cuts after firms adopt net zero targets, but some signs of gradual emissions reductions and stronger strategic climate management and governance practices.
Corporate net zero targets: have they achieved anything? - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment
In this paper, the authors examine whether firms that adopt long-term net zero targets subsequently reduce their carbon emissions or strengthen their climate-related management and governance.
lse.ac.uk
Glad to see the MCB statement on the appalling Golders Green attack. mcb.org.uk/mcb-statemen...
MCB Statement on Golders Green Stabbing Attack | Muslim Council of Britain
The Muslim Council of Britain shares our deepest concerns and prayers with the Jewish community following the horrific stabbing attack on two Jewish men in Golders Green this morning taking place in f...
mcb.org.uk
Join us next Wednesday 29 April 2–3:15 PM BST online and in person at LSE for a exciting panel on climate litigation. César Rodríguez-Garavito presents his new book Climate Change on Trial, with Joana Setzer, Eoin Jackson @granthamlse.bsky.social and Vesselina Newman @clientearth.bsky.social
Climate Change on Trial - Book Talk by César Rodríguez-Garavito - LSE Law School Events
Please join us for an event where Professor César Rodríguez-Garavito will speak about his book Climate Change on Trial: Mobilizing Human Rights Litigation to Accelerate Climate Action (Cambridge Unive...
lselaw.events
$30m an hour: big oil reaping huge Iran war windfall from consumers, analysis finds Exclusive: Climate action blockers including Saudi Arabia, Russia and major fossil fuel firms set to make extra $234bn by end of 2026 @globalwitness.org #rystadenergy Story by me www.theguardian.com/environment/...
$30m an hour: big oil reaping huge war windfall from consumers, analysis finds
Exclusive: Climate action blockers including Saudi Arabia, Russia and major fossil fuel firms set to make extra $234bn by end of 2026
theguardian.com
New from @Oxfam and Shared Planet: a first-of-its-kind mapping of where 62 countries, the EU, and the African Group stand on making fossil fuel companies pay -- through higher corporate taxes, financial penalties, or levies on extraction. Available: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Fossil fuel profit taxes country position mapping .xlsx
docs.google.com
💥 5 countries ask the #EU to tax the obscene #windfall profits of #fossilfuel companies. At @350.org, we calculate 100bn+ has been transferred in excess costs to these companies just in 1st month of war. The countries: Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. www.politico.eu/article/aust...
5 countries ask Brussels to tax energy companies benefitting from Iran crisis
Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain want extra corporate profits generated during the Mideast conflict to be distributed fairly.
politico.eu
At least one head of government did NOT breathe a sigh of relief when the ceasefire was announced. Netanyahu's office immediately declared it does not cover Lebanon, contradicting the Pakistani mediators who said it covered all fronts. Israeli strikes on Lebanon continued.
Oxfam will be among the many who demand that anyone who orders these attacks be held accountable.
Trump has threatened that 'a whole civilization will die tonight' in Iran. Governments worldwide must state that destroying Iran's power plants is unacceptable and will carry real costs: Economic sanctions on the US, suspension of military cooperation & boycotts of US sports and cultural events.
MeidasTouch@meidastouch.com · 4mo agoThis is the most horrifying, psychotic, grotesque message Trump has ever posted—openly threatening to commit genocide. This is beyond reckless. It’s dangerous, dehumanizing, and utterly unfit for any leader.
An important message of solidarity and rationality: www.jewishnews.co.uk/voice-of-the...
VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS: In defence of praying during Iftar in Trafalgar Square
The question here is not one of whether such prayer is an attempt to “dominate”. It is about whether one has the right to publicly express their religious identity in this country.
jewishnews.co.uk
An incredible breakdown of what was lost when USAID was dismantled and attacked by the Trump administration, who was responsible, how the impact of this on people has been dire. Thank you @lastweektonight.com👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 youtu.be/tU8S13xYJNM?...
