City firms worst on carbon, first LSA report reveals
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A&O, Lovells, Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have the largest carbon footprints per member of staff, it has emerged.
Allen & Overy (A&O), Lovells, Slaughter and May and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have the largest carbon footprints per member of staff, it emerged today, as 18 top firms published their carbon footprints for the first time.
The figures published by the founding firms of the Legal Sector Alliance’s (LSA), an initiative to tackle climate change, reveal that employees’ carbon emissions at large international firms far outstrip those of staff at smaller regional firms (see table below).
By contrast regional member firms including Burges Salmon, Irwin Mitchell and Dickinson Dees have the lowest emission levels per employee.
The LSA was launched in spring by 18 top UK-based firms (TheLawyer.com, 28 April). Its figures are published voluntarily by members to allow them to benchmark themselves against others and to measure their future carbon reductions.
The majority of firms’ emissions are due to electricity purchased externally, the report showed, although at international firms flights also make up a large proportion of emissions.
At Herbert Smith, for example, flights make up almost 30 per cent of total.
At the launch ceremony last night, LSA patron Prince Charles said: “The importance of what you, the Legal Community are doing, can not be overestimated.” He added that many environmental initiatives had historically been shaped by “legal minds”.
The report also revealed that several firms buy a significant amount of their energy from renewable sources, with Freshfields and Linklaters receiving more than 10,000 tonnes worth of CO2 from green sources.
Slaughters, DLA Piper and Bond Pearce generate 7,033, 4,662 and 2,128 tonnes from renewable sources respectively. Additionally, Bond Pearce, DLA Piper, Freshfields and SJ Berwin have offset between around 2,000 and 13,000 tonnes of carbon each through carbon-offsetting programmes.
Each firm’s carbon footprints are based on approximate calculations conducted by each firm, which were not externally audited.
The LSA’s ultimate aim is for every UK law firm to be a member and to reduce their carbon emissions.
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Readers' comments (4)
Desmond Hudson, Law Society Chief Executive | 11-Dec-2008 5:21 pm
Legal Sector Alliance
This is a very disappointing presentation of an extremely positive move by the LSA which sadly undermines the spirit of transparency and accountability shown by the Founding Members in disclosing the information.
It surely cannot be a surprise that the business model of global firms will result in a greater level and percentage of emissions through flights.
The real significance of the results is that this is an issue which is being taken seriously and firms are committed to understanding what their footprints are and to identifying opportunities and sharing ideas for reduction.
The Protocol, which is freely available on the LSA’s website was specifically developed to support the whole profession in simply measuring its carbon footprint as a first step before developing reduction strategies.
The article fails to mention that any firms joining the Alliance, or using the LSA protocol to calculate their carbon footprints will not be required to publish their results and doesn't give your readers a fair or clear representation of the facts.
By the significant website traffic to the carbon footprint pages of the LSA website to date it is clear that this is a tool which has been welcomed by firms.
The negative tone used in this article is unlikely to encourage the profession to engage with tackling climate change - lets hope that sensible firms will clearly see the benefit and join with us to tackle climate change.
Thankfully the solidarity shown by the firms which have and are continuing to join the LSA shows that it will take more than sensational and simplistic headlines to deter them from tackling this issue.
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C. Windsor | 12-Dec-2008 9:36 am
Last post
I disagree Mr Hudson - if I were at Morgans I'd be pleasantly surprised to be described as a member of a 'top firm'.
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Anonymous | 12-Dec-2008 11:44 am
surprised
I do not sense any negative tone in this article at all - it is clearly well-informed and well documented and if anything it holds the positive message that law firms are doing something about their carbon footprints.
I am slightly surprised to have read exactly the same comment from Mr Hudson on an article by a rival legal publication, which was entirely different to this one.
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Anonymous | 15-Dec-2008 11:27 am
Carbon footprint of the Lawyer?
Does the Lawyer have any idea of what its own carbon footprint is? If not, would it be prepared to calculate it? Would it be preprared to publish it alongside its peers? Would it be prepared to work with its competitors to learn about how to reduce it? Does it have any kind of environmental policy whatsoever?
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