Edge Rewrite
everything Source code View original
// HTMLRewriter · presentation

This page was redesigned at the edge.

Cloudflare fetched the original article and streamed it through HTMLRewriter to apply an entirely new visual system without rebuilding the source page.

// request.cf · coarse context

A page that knows where it met you.

Only coarse request metadata is shown. This demo does not display or persist visitor IP addresses.

Country
US
Cloudflare location
CMH
Connection
HTTP/2
Language
Not provided

Ray ID: a275c6d1aa6248fc

Jump to content

// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs Tessa Khan a great leader? Khan she lead?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tessa Khan
EducationUniversity of Western Australia (LLB, BA)
University of Oxford (BCL)
OccupationsLawyer, campaigner
Known forFounder of Uplift
Co-founder of Climate Litigation Network
AwardsClimate Breakthrough Award (2018)
Websiteupliftuk.org

Tessa Khan (born January 1983)[1] is an environmental lawyer who lives in the United Kingdom.

She founded and is the executive director of Uplift, a research and advocacy organisation that works towards a just transition from oil and gas production in the UK.

She co-founded and was co-director of the Climate Litigation Network, which supports legal cases related to climate change mitigation and climate justice – and has argued that national governments have knowingly profited from raising carbon dioxide levels and caused environmental damage – including as part of Climate Case Ireland.

Early life and education

[edit]

Khan grew up in Perth, Australia where her family settled after emigrating from Bangladesh.[2][3]

She has spoken of the influence of her Bangladeshi heritage on her commitment to climate justice, noting Bangladesh's status as one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.[3]

Khan holds a bachelor of laws and a bachelor of arts from the University of Western Australia – and a (master's level) bachelor of civil law with distinction from the University of Oxford,[4] where she published articles through the Oxford Human Rights Hub.[5]

Career history

[edit]

Early career

[edit]

Khan has been involved in human rights law and advocacy campaigning. In Thailand, she coordinated the international advocacy programme of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development in Chiang Mai.[6] Whilst there in 2015, she learnt of a court ruling at The Hague ordering the Netherlands to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.[7] Inspired by the case, Khan moved to London to join the Urgenda Foundation's legal team in 2016.[8]

Climate Litigation Network

[edit]

Khan co-founded the Climate Litigation Network with the Urgenda Foundation to support climate change cases around the world, acting as the network's co-director. Through the organisation, she successfully helped activist groups sue their national governments, supporting cases in Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan and South Korea.[9] She worked on cases in The Netherlands and Ireland that successfully challenged the adequacy of government plans to reduce emissions.[10]

Urgenda Foundation v State of the Netherlands

[edit]

In December 2019, in Urgenda Foundation v State of the Netherlands case, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands ordered the Dutch government to scale back the capacity of coal-fired power stations and oversee around €3 billion in investment for cutting carbon emissions. The victory was described by The Guardian as "the most successful climate lawsuit to date" at the time.[11]

Friends of the Irish Environment v Ireland

[edit]

In August 2020, in what is known as the Climate Case Ireland, the Supreme Court of Ireland ruled that the Irish government must make a new, more ambitious plan to cut carbon.[12] Ireland ranks third in greenhouse gas emissions per capita among European Union member states.[9]

Uplift

[edit]
A "Stop Rosebank" protest at Jubilee Gardens, Lambeth, London (November 2022)
A "Stop Rosebank" protest at Jubilee Gardens, Lambeth (November 2022)

Khan is the founder and executive director of Uplift,[2] an organisation she founded in 2020 that works towards a just transition away from oil and gas production, coordinates the Stop Rosebank campaign against the Rosebank oil field,[13] and acts as secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change (Climate APPG).[14][15]

Writing in The Guardian in July 2024, Khan argued that wealthy nations' governments that position themselves as "climate leaders" – namely the USA, Canada, Australia, Norway and Britain – are as culpable for climate damage as the petrostates by refusing to end oil and gas production.[16]

Uplift and Greenpeace UK v Secretary of State and North Sea Transition Authority

[edit]

In 2025, Uplift and Greenpeace UK challenged the UK government's approval of the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas developments in the Court of Session.[17][18] The court ruled that the original consents were unlawful.[19]

Other roles

[edit]

Khan has acted as an expert adviser to United Nations human rights bodies and national governments[20] and has spoken at the United Nations[21] and events convened by The Financial Times, The Economist, The Guardian, LSE and UK Environmental Law Association.[22][23][24]

She has also given two TED talks on climate change and fossil fuels[25][26] – and served as a trustee of Global Greengrants Fund UK and on the steering committee of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative.[27] Khan has also spoken at the Greenbelt Festival[28] and at a National Emergency Briefing at Westminster Central Hall.[29]

Recognition

[edit]

Khan received the Climate Breakthrough Award in 2018[4] and joined the board of directors of Climate Breakthrough in 2023.[4] In 2019, Time magazine included Khan in a list of women leading the fight against climate change[7] and The ENDS Report named her in its Power List each year between 2022–26.[30]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Officers of Uplift Research and Advocacy Limited (company number 17234169)". Companies House. UK Government. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  2. 1 2 Mureithi, Anita (6 September 2024). "Q&A: Tessa Khan, climate change lawyer and founder of Uplift". Hyphen. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  3. 1 2 Cleland, Lucy (12 November 2021). "Women in Climate Change: Tessa Khan". Country and Town House. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 "Tessa Khan". Climate Breakthrough. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  5. ↑ Khan, Tessa (2 August 2014). "Charting the future of development: A tale of two agendas". Faculty of Law. Oxford Human Rights Hub. University of Oxford. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  6. ↑ "Tessa Khan". Oxford Human Rights Hub, University of Oxford. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
  7. 1 2 "Meet 15 women leading the fight against climate change". TIME. Archived from the original on 22 July 2025. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  8. ↑ Timperley, Jocelyn (8 July 2020). "The law that could make climate change illegal". Future Planet. BBC Future. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  9. 1 2 Kusmer, Anna (13 August 2020). "Activists took the Irish government to court over its national climate plan — and won". The World. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  10. ↑ Khan, Tessa (16 August 2020). "Litigation is a powerful tool in the environmental crisis". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  11. ↑ Watts, Jonathan (24 April 2021). "Dutch officials reveal measures to cut emissions after court ruling". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  12. ↑ Kaminski, Isabella (31 July 2020). "Ireland forced to strengthen climate plan in Supreme Court win for campaigners". Climate Home News. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  13. ↑ Kirka, Danica; Lawless, Jill (27 September 2023). "Britain approves new North Sea oil drilling". PBS. Associated Press. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  14. ↑ "All-Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change". Register of All-Party Parliamentary Groups. UK Parliament. 23 February 2026. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  15. ↑ "Climate APPG: Who we are". Climate APPG. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  16. ↑ Khan, Tessa (24 July 2024). "It's easy to blame petrostates – but self-proclaimed 'climate leaders' like the US and UK are driving the crisis". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  17. ↑ "Government backs new oil and gas to safeguard UK and grow the economy". Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. UK Government. 27 September 2023. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  18. ↑ "Shell's Jackdaw gas field given go-ahead by regulators". BBC News. 1 June 2022. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  19. ↑ Cook, James (30 January 2025). "New oil and gas field consent was unlawful – judge". BBC News. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  20. ↑ "Tessa Khan". Law Society of Scotland. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
  21. ↑ "2019 UN Forum on Business and Human Rights". UN Forum on Business and Human Rights. 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  22. ↑ "The alternative manifesto: Shaping a green future". Guardian Patrons. Guardian News & Media. 12 March 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  23. ↑ "How the right laws can save the planet: Enactment and implementation". London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  24. ↑ "Keynote speakers at UKELA 2025 Conference". UK Environmental Law Association. Back to the future: Environmental law in a new era. 2025. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  25. ↑ "The next frontier in the fight against climate change". TEDxUCLWomen. TED. 2 January 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  26. ↑ "How can we escape soaring energy bills? Stop using fossil fuels". TED Countdown. Dilemma series. TED. December 2022. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  27. ↑ "Right here, right now". University of Colorado Boulder. Global Climate Summit. 3 December 2022. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
  28. ↑ "Tessa Khan". Greenbelt Festival. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  29. ↑ "Energy transition". National Emergency Briefing. YouTube. 10 December 2025. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
  30. ↑ "Power List 2026: Tessa Khan". The ENDS Report. Haymarket Media Group. 2 June 2026. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tessa_Khan&oldid=1364884950"