We recognise the current climate and ecological crisis and the need to take urgent action to protect the natural world on which we all depend. We aim to take action for an environmentally sustainable future that positively impacts our community.
We aim to minimise our environmental impact and pursue sustainable solutions, considering the environment in terms of transport and travel, our office buildings, energy and climate, and natural resources.
Respect for the environment is integral to our responsible business commitments and a key part of stakeholder expectations, with our people and our clients. We are a well-respected leader for legal advice in supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy, having an established a Net Zero Services cross-sector team to assist its clients in driving decarbonisation in key sectors. We take our environmental stewardship seriously.
Our Environmental Management System is ISO certified and establishes a structure for continual improvement. Our Environment Committee sets the direction and monitors progress. We also have an internal network of environmental champions known as BSustainable who develop initiatives which encourage our people to help us achieve our environmental objectives, to raise environmental awareness and foster positive behaviours. We engage our people through monthly publications on a variety of sustainability topics, volunteering opportunities and an annual ‘Green Week’. Green Week encapsulates a variety of activities and communications that promote environmental awareness and positive action and builds relationships with community projects.
We support community farms and wildlife trusts, and our people have the opportunity to participate in conservation and biodiversity projects through our volunteering programme.
In addition to measuring, managing and reporting on our Scope 1 and 2 emissions since 2008, we have undertaken detailed analysis of our Scope 3 emissions and are focussed on tackling emissions associated with our business travel and commuting and in our supply chain including operating a responsible procurement policy in which we seek to exert influence suppliers on many issues including environmental performance.
We work closely with our suppliers and favour local sourcing and Fair Trade. All our paper and print production is FSC sourced. Reducing all types of waste and improving recycling also remain high on our agenda.
Our offices in Bristol, Edinburgh and London were all awarded an ‘Excellent’ rating against BREEAM for energy consumption and incorporate some of the most sustainable technologies available.. We have pledged our support to the Legal Renewables Initiative and we have achieved 100% renewable electricity in our UK offices.
We are founding members of the Legal Sustainability Alliance, underpinning our commitment to transparency in carbon reporting and providing leadership within the legal sector.
Net Zero is a key focus both in terms of our operations and our legal expertise. We are founding members of the New Zero Lawyers Alliance and we also participate in the Chancery Lane Project which is a pro-bono legal sector initiative, encouraging collaborative working to develop new clauses and model laws which help tackle climate change.
Since 2016, we have achieved a year-on-year reduction in our carbon footprint. We are now working towards our approved science based target to reduce our carbon emissions by 50% across scope 1,2 and 3 by 2030 (against our 2019 baseline), which reflects our commitment to limit global warming to 1.5°C. As a near term target, in November 2020 we announced a net zero target date of 2026 which will be achieved through a combination of continued energy reductions and efficiency gains, and for unavoidable residual emissions, we will continue to invest in high-quality carbon offsetting projects.
Our environmental policy can be viewed here:
- To view our Environmental Policy, please click here.
- To view our ISO 14001:2015 certification, please click here.