2024 marks the third year The Legal 500 will be researching firms’ dedication to sustainability matters and contributions to a green transition. With preparations for the next round of Green Guide editions underway, the depth of information gathered to date presents a unique opportunity to look back, review the results of our efforts, and examine the current state of play with regards to law firms, sustainability and their climate action.
The past year has seen another push towards acknowledging the impact of climate change on lawyers, the role of lawyers in addressing the climate crisis, and the need to work towards climate conscious legal practice. In the UK, in March 2023, a group of lawyers signed a declaration of conscience, ‘Lawyers are Responsible’, calling on legal professionals to act urgently to address the climate and ecological crises, advance a just transition, and withhold services supporting new fossil fuel projects. In April 2023, this was shortly followed by the Law Society issuing guidance for solicitors on incorporating climate change considerations into their practice. Not long after in June 2023, a group of law firms in the UK launched the Legal Charter 1.5, a landmark initiative urging and supporting firms to respond meaningfully to the climate crisis. Similar actions have sprung up elsewhere around Europe and further afield.
