Ahmad Rafay Alam is a Pakistani environmental lawyer and activist. He is a founding partner of Saleem, Alam & Co., a firm that specializes in the energy, water, natural resources, and urban infrastructure sectors. As one of Pakistan’s leading environment lawyers, Rafay regularly advises the federal and provincial governments, INGOs and NOGs on issues of policy and strategy in these sectors, and he provides corporate clients strategic sustainability insights.
Familiar with how government functions in Pakistan, Rafay has served as Chairman of the Board of two public sector utilities: the Lahore Electric Supply Company and the Lahore Waste Management Company; and as founding Vice-President of the Urban Unit he oversaw the growth of the Punjab’s only public sector urban think-tank. Rafay has also served as a Member of the Pakistan Climate Change Council and the Punjab Environment Protection Council and currently serves a Member of the Hisaar Foundation’s Tank on the Rational Use of Water, and as Advisor to Air Quality Asia.
He is a passionate advocate for climate action, air quality improvement, and food sovereignty, and he works with a number of local, regional and international civil society organizations to carry this agenda forward. In September 2019, he and his family helped organize #ClimateStrike marches in over 45 cities throughout Pakistan.