Recent highlights: Climate change and the environment

'The firm's CSR policy was something that really impressed me about Freshfields when I was applying – in particular the carbon neutral status and the community work in east London.'
Tom Dye, new recruit

As a result of our efforts to reduce our firmwide impact on climate change, from 2005/06-2007/08 we have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by 4.6 per cent per person who works at the firm.
We have reduced our electricity use across the firm by over 2m kilowatts in the past year. Since 2004, 85 per cent of our electricity supply in London has come from renewable sources. Our offices in Brussels, Milan and Rome switched in 2008 to low-carbon energy supplies.
The activities of our 'green teams' comprising a wide cross-section of the people in our offices, and our environmental working group, are helping us achieve our environmental commitments. Notable achievements include our green conference guide and the development of green guides in our offices in Italy, Spain and Vietnam, as well as London.
By offsetting the greenhouse gases we produce through energy use, business travel and other activities we have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. As a result we have been certified CarbonNeutral® by The CarbonNeutral Company across our firm.
We have shared our experience of collecting international data on our greenhouse gas emissions since 2005/06 with other members of the Legal Sector Alliance, helping to develop a carbon footprinting tool for the legal sector in the UK. Our Frankfurt office is part of a working group centred on environmental responsibilities, following the presentation of our environmental and sustainability policy to 60 German companies.
The establishment of our carbon economy team to help businesses prepare for a low-carbon international economy.
Our second firmwide vote saw the participation of over 2,600 people who helped choose how we offset our greenhouse gas emissions.
Over 2,200 people voted to select our first firmwide charity of the year. WaterAid has received a donation as part of our first international festive e-card in December 2008 and additional funds are being raised through other activities. The funds are helping to provide a supply of safe water, effective sanitation and hygiene education to communities in Mozambique, where over 60 per cent of people do not have safe water to drink. This is part of our contribution to the UN Millennium Development Goals.
In 2008 our Italian, London, Paris, Spanish and US offices supported UN Environment Day with a variety of initiatives designed to involve people in our environmental activities. Our support is part of our contribution towards achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals – eight targets to be achieved by 2015 focused on reducing poverty, improving the quality of lives, ensuring environmental sustainability and building partnerships to ensure that globalisation becomes a more positive force for all the world's people.
Our continued financial support for the Carbon Capture Legal programme at University College London's Centre for Law and the Environment. The programme provides information on carbon capture and storage, which has been identified by the Stern Report and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as potentially playing a significant role in tackling climate change by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases associated with the use of fossil fuels.
Successive Clean City Awards since 1999 for the London office. These show we have reduced our impact on the environment by: reusing and recycling resources; minimising waste; using renewable energy; and encouraging the use of public transport and cycling.