Environment

Governance and policies

We have an environmental policy and environmental management system (EMS) which demonstrate best practice. Our EMS is audited annually by Bureau Veritas and our environmental policy is guided by our international environment committee. The London office achieved certification to ISO14001 (the international standard for environmental management) in March 2010, and it is planned for all offices to become certified to ISO14001 within three years of London.

As an external measure and endorsement of our environmental commitment, we are a member of the Legal Sector Alliance and have joined the mayor of London’s Green 500 initiative, winning a Green 500 Gold Award for our environmental programmes in London throughout 2008.

Carbon Neutral status

We are proud to have been the first international law firm to achieve Carbon Neutral status across all of its offices worldwide. We choose to offset our greenhouse gas emissions with carbon credits sourced from technology based projects. In the last year we invested in four carbon saving projects in India, China and Germany to continue to off-set our international carbon footprint of 10,018 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent (CO2e).

Awareness raising

We participate in the World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour event and hold an annual environment week to coincide with the United Nations’ World Environment Day, raising awareness and reminding our people of the firm’s impact on the environment and their responsibility to minimise it.

Monitoring and measurement 

In London we consumed 27% less energy in 2008/09 compared to 2005/06, a saving equivalent to more than £100k per annum. The Hong Kong office reduced their energy consumption by 22% by changing behaviour and encouraging staff to switch off their pcs, screens, printers and lights.