Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons says it wants to cut absolute carbon emissions by a minimum of 50% by 2030, “as it continues to reduce its environmental impact and support clients in tackling the climate crisis.”
The firm said the targets, which are among the first law firm targets to be verified by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi), commit to reducing absolute global greenhouse gas emissions by FY2030, from a base year of FY2019.
The SBTi defines and promotes best practice in science-based target setting and independently assesses companies’ targets, it added in a statement.
The SBTi has approved an additional target for the firm to source 100% renewable electricity across its global estate by 2030. Currently, 100% of the electricity purchased in the UK, Republic of Ireland and France is from renewable sources.
“As a firm that advises on ground breaking low carbon projects and supports clients as they navigate sustainability and climate concerns, implementing our own science-based targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Agreement was a natural next step for us,” said John Cleland, managing partner, Pinsent Masons. “We recognise that operating a 26 office global network with a 3,600 workforce has significant environmental implications and want to implement real, tangible changes that have a positive impact. We are proud of the progress we have made to date, but we know we cannot become complacent and remain committed to playing our part in mitigating climate risk. This helps us focus us efforts in order to achieve this.”
Pinsent Masons explained that it undertook a rigorous 12-month audit of its entire greenhouse gas inventory to calculate its global carbon footprint and science-based targets in-line with SBTi methodology. The SBTi is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
The firm believes it has made significant progress in reducing its environmental impact over a number of years, in areas such as energy consumption, business travel, use of resources and waste. Prior to the pandemic it achieved a 30% reduction in energy consumption across its UK offices via the implementation of technology-backed solutions and the firm’s transformation to agile working.
In 2020, Pinsent Masons launched its Climate Change Mitigation & Sustainability platform, to coordinate internal and market-facing climate change initiatives in order to reduce the firm’s own environmental impacts, but to also support clients in their bids to address and deal with the effects of climate change and working with third parties to influence positive change.