Binding the Future: How to Prevent Backsliding in AI and Climate Governance

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Governing intergenerational social dilemmas, from climate change and biodiversity loss to artificial intelligence (AI) safety, poses a distinctive credibility problem. Current leaders in governments and corporations can make long-term promises that existing institutions cannot reliably enforce over time. Whether the promise is a government’s climate plan or a company’s net-zero pledge, the recurring question is the same: How can we make commitments credible?  

This talk brings together insights from behavioural economics, corporate governance, and AI governance to explore how commitment devices can “bind the future” when reciprocity, punishment, and formal compliance mechanisms are weak or absent. It presents evidence that individuals are willing to invest in binding mechanisms, foregoing personal gain to benefit not only the next generation but also more distant ones, reflecting “long-sighted altruism.” It further explores how commitment devices can convert aspirational pledges into enforceable obligations, from contractual instruments in sustainable finance to technological mechanisms such as AI “kill switches.” Finally, it examines the limits and risks of binding the future. The talk is based on research published in npj climate action and Ecology Law Quarterly.  

Speaker: Professor Oren Perez is a Professor of Law at Bar-Ilan University Law Faculty and Director of the Center for Environmental and Climate Law. He previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Law (2017–2022). He holds an LL.B. from Tel Aviv University, a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of London (2015), and an LL.M. and Ph.D. from LSE. His research focuses on environmental and climate governance, transnational regulation, and law-and-networks. Recent publications include:  Algorithmic Constitutionalism, 30 Ind. J. Glob. Legal Stud. 81 (2023) (with N. Wimer); Making Climate Pledges Stick: A Private Ordering Mechanism for Climate Commitments, 50 Ecology L.Q. 683 (2023) (with M. Vandenbergh); Binding the Future Boosts Intergenerational Sustainability, 4 npj Climate Action 15 (2025) (with E. Halali); Network Interactions and Mutual Dependence in the Global Sustainability Governance System, Transnat’l Env’t L. (forthcoming 2026) (with O. Stegmann). 

Chair: Professor Veerle Heyveart is a Professor at LSE Law School and founding Editor-in-Chief of Transnational Environmental Law. She is also Associate Dean of LSE Law School. She teaches environmental law and European law. She has an LL.M. from Harvard Law School and a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence (It). In 1998-1999, she was the inaugural Sir Peter North Fellow at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies and Keble College, Oxford. She has published extensively on issues of transnational environmental law and risk regulation, including books on Transnational Environmental Regulation and Governance. Purpose, Strategies and Principles (CUP, 2019) and European Environmental Law (CUP, 2017, with S. Kingston & A Čavoški). 

Discussant: Dr Ashfaq Khalfan  is the Director of the Sustainability Regulation Observatory (SRO) at LSE. He was previously Climate Justice Director at Oxfam America and Law and Policy Director at Amnesty International. He has led research, advocacy and policy development on energy transition, climate finance, climate inequality, tax and climate policy, strategic litigation and economic, social and cultural rights. He holds a doctorate in law from Merton College, Oxford University and degrees in common law, civil law, and political science from McGill University. 

This event is organised by the Sustainability Regulation Observatory which critically analyses sustainability regulation and generates insights into more effective design that advances human rights, social justice and sustainability. It is part of the Global School of Sustainability at LSE (GSoS), the interdisciplinary centre for sustainability impact at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). GSoS works in partnerships to advance pioneering sustainability research, global policy engagement and world-leading educational opportunities at LSE. Grounded in LSE’s interdisciplinary excellence across the social sciences, GSoS’s global networks target the systemic challenges to sustainability embedded in the world’s economies, politics and societies. Follow GSoS on LinkedIn for the latest news and updates.

Please note, although this event is ticketed, attendance will operate on a first-come, first-serve basis.