Climate change and the environment

‘Our target is to reduce our impact on the environment by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 10 per cent by April 2008. We recognise that each office will need to respond differently, reflecting their circumstances, but there are certain things we can all do, some of which will require a change in the way we work. This will be challenging but rewarding, and we believe is essential in the light of the deeply worrying problems being caused by climate change.’
John Blain, chair of our environmental working group

We have taken a firm-wide approach to what we recognise to be a global issue and are committed to minimising our impact on the environment by 10 per cent by April 2008.

Since 2005/6, we have seen a small reduction of around 2.5 per cent per person when emissions are normalised by the number of people who work here, and we hope this will continue so we meet our 10 per cent target.

Offsetting our carbon emissions

We have been certified CarbonNeutral® by The CarbonNeutral Company and are offsetting our 2006/7 greenhouse gas emissions by supporting a wind farm project in Turkey, a solar water heating initiative and a mini hydro power project in India, and a methane capture project in three coal mines in Germany that was selected by a firm-wide vote in which nearly 2,200 people participated.

Achieving our target: changing the way we work

We recognise that reducing our environmental impact involves accurately measuring our greenhouse gas emissions and reducing them where we can. In practice, this means changing working practices throughout our offices: cutting down on paper use, reducing our air travel, using video and telephone conferencing wherever possible, and increasing our waste recycling.

To help us achieve our target, we have prioritised reducing business air travel and electricity use, as these contribute 64 per cent of our total greenhouse gas emissions. Our offices, with members of the environmental working group, have also developed individual action plans with the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management.

In addition, we have set up a network of green teams in our offices that include a range of people. The teams are responsible for helping us come up with ideas on how to reduce our impact on the environment, giving us feedback on what we are doing and could be doing, and helping us ensure environmental considerations are taken into account in purchasing decisions and piloting initiatives.

We are reviewing all our offices to see where and when we can switch to low carbon energy supplies. Since 2004, 85 per cent of our electricity supply in London has come from renewable resources. Our German and Italian offices are poised to switch to low carbon energy supplies, and our Paris office has a low carbon electricity supply due to the nuclear component of the French electricity grid.

Our environmental policy is part of our purchasing process, as it is our aim to consider our commitment to reducing our impact on the environment in all our purchasing decisions.

Memberships

We are founding members of the Legal Sector Alliance on sustainability and climate change together with Business in the Community (BITC) and the Law Society. We are also part of BITC’s May Day Network, a group of companies committed to taking action on climate change. Both groups encourage businesses to share their experiences in tackling the issue and to engage suppliers, customers and sector peers to do the same.

All data provided on this page has been independently reviewed by the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management.