Sara Hayat

Sara is a lawyer and consultant specializing in climate change law and policy, and works with the government and international organizations.

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She is currently advising the government on preparing Pakistan’s revised Nationally Determined Contributions to share with the UNFCCC. Sara has worked on climate change induced displacement in Sindh and recommended revisions to the pending Sindh Climate Change Policy. Alongside having designed Pakistan’s first climate change narrative, including a localised vocabulary on climate change, in both Urdu and English for Amnesty International, Sara is also working on highlighting the nexus between climate change and human rights in the country.

She is a main member of Climate Action Pakistan which organised the first climate strikes in Pakistan and raised a wave of climate activism and awareness. Sara is routinely invited as a guest speaker and climate expert to raise awareness on climate change and dispel common misconceptions on the same. She takes special interest in the impacts of climate change on women in Pakistan and brings their plight to the forefront through continued discourse.



Sara completed her LLB from Lahore before going for her first LLM to Durham University, UK. She then practiced law in Pakistan for over 6 years before going for a second LLM to the University of Michigan, US, to study climate change law and environmental justice.



She is The Asia Foundation Development Fellow for Pakistan for her work in the field of climate change.

Sara writes on climate change for leading publications and is Vice Chairperson for the Lahore High Court Committee on Air Pollution and Solid Waste Management.