Sarah Finch is a writer, editor, and climate campaigner who won a landmark climate case in the UK Supreme Court in 2024.

On behalf of the Weald Action Group, Sarah fought a five-year legal battle over plans to drill for oil in Surrey. Her eventual victory established that fossil fuel projects cannot be approved without a comprehensive assessment of their full climate impact – a big step forward in environmental decision-making.

Thanks to Sarah’s tenacious campaigning, fossil fuel companies can no longer get away with hiding the enormous harm they are doing to the climate by opening new projects. A number of fossil fuel developments have been found unlawful, including what would have been the first new coal mine in decades, and government was forced to rethink its approach to the environmental assessment of new oil and gas fields. Beyond oil and gas, the judgment is influencing decisions on intensive animal farming, aviation and more.

Sarah was on the TIME100 list of the 100 most influential leaders driving climate action in 2024, and also won the Campaigner of the Year Award from the Sheila McKechnie Foundation.

When not campaigning, Sarah writes and edits reports, briefings and articles for NGOs, think tanks and academic organisations, mostly on environment and economic justice issues.