by tess | May 17, 2024 | LSA Insights
Some surprisingly small changes that will make a big difference to your carbon impact to mark World Environment Day 2024.
Click for trees
Switch your browser. It is easy. Ecosia is a not-for-profit search engine that has planted over 206 million trees to date, with high monitoring requirements for all projects. Germany’s first B-Corps allocates 100% of profits to fighting climate change and environmental injustice; with 80% dedicated to tree planting projects and the other 20% invested in renewable energy, regenerative agriculture and grassroots activism.
Ecosia is a steward-owned company, meaning shares can’t be sold at a profit or owned by people outside of the company and no profits can be taken out of the company.
The search engine is powered by the Our Google and Bing algorithm, so whilst your results might not be as numerous as Google, they will likely be good enough to get you where you want to go. And you don’t need to worry about privacy, Ecosia is more privacy conscious than Google. You easily switch through an add on in Google Chrome and Safari for iOS 14. Other browsers that include an option to search with Ecosia include Adblock Browser, Maxthon, and Brave, or just simply download the browser.
Another green hack is to book your trains with Trainhugger. Also a B-Corps, Trainhugger contribute approximately a quarter of revenue to restoring the UK’s natural world, aiming to double UK woodland cover from 13% to 26% by 2025. Working in partnership with the Royal Forestry Society, they promise to plant a tree for every booking.
Like other major platforms, they support split-ticketing to save your budget and have a clean and fast interface, however, Trainhugger charges a flat booking fee of £1.50, of which £0.50 will go towards tree planting, which can make it more expensive than other platforms. For example, Trainline’s fees, based on your chosen journey, the ticket price, and when you’re booking, will currently vary between a minimum of 59p and a maximum of £2.79.
Garden game changers
Ditch the rhododendrons for the foxgloves, lily of the valley and hellebores!
Plant native species to support biodiversity. Plants, animals and insects depend on each other, but most insects will not eat non-native plants, so replace them and you’ll literally be feeding an ecosystem.
Native species will be far more resilient and require less resources, being well-adapted to the local climate, soil and other environmental conditions – using less water, no pesticides and be more resistant to local diseases.
What’s more, many native plants have deep root systems that help to improve soil structure, prevent erosion, and promote water infiltration, adding organic matter to improve your soil quality.
And while we are on gardens, if you have to water your garden during hot spells, do it in the evening to minimise evaporation and make the most of your water!
Keep the planet in mind when queueing for your sandwich
All food needs to be grown and processed, transported, distributed, prepared, consumed, and sometimes disposed of and every step of that journey creates CO2. We know you have heard it all before, but about a third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions is linked to food. You don’t need to go vegan, but what you eat is much more important to your footprint than how far that food has travelled or how much packaging it has.
Transport and packaging typically account for only a small fraction of foods’ greenhouse gas emission, and although single use plastic is clearly to be avoided when possible, when it comes to CO2 the production of the food is key, with red meat and shellfish the biggest offenders.
So, if you are trying to choose between that bean burrito or a prawn mayo wrap, putting the planet into the mix will make all the difference.
Make your money matter 
Switch your pension to a fund that supports the planet. The UK has £3 trillion in pensions, some of which is invested in companies driving deforestation and funding fossil fuels. For every £10 you put in your pension, £2 is linked to deforestation. Check out Make My Money Matter, an organisation founded to help you green your money which has ranked the top 20 UK pension providers on their climate plans.
Tweak the heat
Two easy wins: make sure you turn the heating OFF in the summer, rather than just turning the thermostat down, or your central heating system’s pump will remain running, consuming energy. To avoid this, choose the ‘hot water only’ setting.
While you are at it, switch off all appliances, rather than leaving them on standby. Any why not, in the winter, turn that thermostat down by a degree and grab a nice knit to cosy up with.
Making sure your fridges at home and in the office are at the recommended temperatures, rather than too cold, will also reduce your energy consumption every second of every day. The greenest energy is the energy that we don’t use!
by Beth Salt | Apr 30, 2024 | LSA Insights
‘Antarctica sea ice reaches alarming low for third year in a row’
‘Public transport workers join climate activists for week of strikes across Germany’
‘Cholera: An overlooked outcome of climate change’
The headlines keep coming. And with them, inevitably, comes a spike in our climate anxiety. But when does normal concern tip towards thinking which can negatively impact our mental health, and how do we stop this from happening? And can eco-anxiety be framed as a positive force which brings people together and drives action?
We know that lawyers are under immense stress at work, with evidence suggesting legal professionals are at a higher risk of burnout than the general population. According to research carried out by LawCare, a mental health charity in the sector, over 60 per cent of lawyers reported suffering from anxiety ‘often, very often, or all of the time’ over the preceding 12 months. Despite workplace intervention, the problem is not getting better. The charity reported a 24 per cent increase in contacts in 2023.
So what about lawyers who are working on the front line of sustainability?
Climate anxiety is defined as how we respond psychologically to the climate crisis. Our responses may go beyond anxiety to include grief, anger, overwhelm, betrayal and guilt. It is not a mental health condition in its own right, in fact it could be argued it’s a normal response to an existential crisis. However, an excess of climate anxiety can lead to a range of secondary problems related to mental health, such as panic, insomnia or depression.
It’s an issue impacting a large, and growing, proportion of the population. Youth non-profit organisation Force of Nature found that more than 70 per cent of young people feel hopeless in the face of the climate crisis and as many as 56 per cent believe humanity is doomed. At the same time, only 26 per cent feel that they know how to contribute to solving the problem.
Research carried out by York University showed young people are more likely to feel anger than fear about the climate crisis. But Rowenna Davis, director of the Global Future think tank, says that can be positive: “Fear can make you risk-averse and sometimes it can make you go inwards, but anger is much closer to hope, it’s a motivating force, it forces you to confront, it’s more active.”
Meanwhile, work done by Yale University in the US shows that collective action can form a buffer against climate anxiety. Clinical psychologist Sarah Lowe says her work in this area suggests that engaging in collective action has a multitude of benefits, including social connectedness with people who share similar goals and values.
“We know from a large body of literature that social support is one of the strongest predictors of mental well-being” Sarah said. “We also thought that individuals who engaged in collective action – particularly if they saw those actions as having an impact – could have a stronger sense of self-efficacy and hope for the future. On the other hand, there’s some research that people who engage in activism can be at risk for burnout.”
Most research in this area points to one main principle: the best way to address climate anxiety is to take action. But it’s important to maintain a level of self-care while doing so. Dr Emma Lawrence, mental health innovations fellow at Imperial College London, said: “As individuals and communities, we can work towards a more positive vision of the future. There is a way to take action and create that positive future yourself. But we need to take care of ourselves in the process.”
Some thoughts from the experts:
- Take action – but be kind to yourself
It’s important to avoid burnout. If your job involves these issues allow yourself to step away and switch off in the evenings and at the weekends.
- Acknowledge the truth of the situation, while knowing you are having a positive input
In the face of the news about climate change, it’s understandable to feel anxious. But don’t get stuck in these feelings.
- Forge connections and support others who are taking action
Youth climate activists reported feeling positively connected to a global community.
- Do not hold yourself overly accountable
No one person should feel they have to carry the burden of the climate crisis on their shoulders. The real difference will be made by systemic change, do what you can to support that.
The creation of hope can be an active process, not a passive thing you have to wait for. If you are taking action you are part of the solution.
- Notice and celebrate the actions you are taking towards protecting the planet, however large or small
Everything counts.
This can be balancing and replenishing, helping you to work from the positive. This can help counter feelings of overwhelm.
Record how you are feeling and how you are responding to those feelings. This will give you more insight into knowing when you need to step away and give yourself space.
“We don’t want people to feel stuck in their sadness about the climate crisis,” says Emma. “What can be helpful is when people hold their anger and sadness about wider inaction, and about the losses we face, but alongside this hold that there is hope and a reason to take action.”
The LSA is here to support you in taking action. If you are facing a challenge at work in tackling the climate crisis, we can help. Contact us and we will explore solutions throughout our network. And we would like to celebrate your successes! Email comms@legalsustainabilityalliance.com, we would love to hear from you.
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Blog written by Rachel Millichip, Millichip Media.
by Beth Salt | Apr 29, 2024 | LSA Insights
LSA members are eligible for a 10% discount when booking this new course from The Oxford Sustainable Law Programme at the University of Oxford.
In a world grappling with disruptive climate change and an unprecedented transition of our societies towards net zero, climate-related legal action has emerged as a critical force shaping the future of business, government, and society. For senior leaders and their advisors, understanding the intersection of law and climate change has become paramount. The University of Oxford is proud to introduce its first executive education course specifically designed around these challenges.
LSA Members can claim a 10% discount by registering here.
The Course
This new five-day course – delivered on-site at the historic and picturesque University of Oxford – offers a deep dive into the state of the art and future directions of the law in the context of climate change, studied through the lens of climate-related legal risks and opportunities. Delivered by world-leading Oxford faculty and other world class experts, we will examine and discuss key legal and regulatory developments in the context of climate change against the backdrop of relevant scientific, political, and economic developments. Topics include:
- Current trends and future directions in net zero policy, regulation, and climate litigation
- Understanding international legal frameworks relating to climate change
- Latest advances in scientific understanding of climate change impacts
- State of the art in the science, politics, and economics of net zero
- An economic analysis of legal risks and opportunities resulting from climate-related legal actions.
Whether your work and interests lie in government, law, professional services, business, non-profit advocacy, or elsewhere, this immersive and interactive course will equip you with the knowledge, insight, and connections to understand and navigate the rapidly evolving legal landscape. You will be equipped to anticipate future directions in climate-related legal action, and thrive in a world where climate, economics, policy, and law are increasingly salient and intertwined.
Course Objectives
Throughout the programme participants will:
- Obtain a birds-eye-view of the key trends and future directions of climate-related legal actions and their impacts on society and businesses
- Gain proficiency in analysing and interpreting complex legal issues related to climate change, enabling you to identify and evaluate potential solutions and strategies, and their impacts on businesses, government and non-profit activities
- Dive deep into critical topics at the intersection of climate change, including the latest developments in net zero regulation and policy, climate litigation, and climate science
- Appreciate how climate-related legal actions affect the nature, magnitude, and distribution of financial climate risk exposures – gaining a deep insight into the economic and financial implications of climate-related legal actions that builds on the latest available science
- Build a strong international network of like-minded professionals from diverse backgrounds and industries, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing
- Immerse in a unique academic and cultural environment including traditional Oxford customs such as candlelit college dinners, Oxford Union-style debates, punting on the River Cherwell, and historical city tours
Find out more about the course online here and in the PDF brochure here: Navigating Climate Related Risk Brochure.
by Beth Salt | Mar 25, 2024 | LSA Insights
By Haley Czarnek. Haley served on LSCA’s first National Leadership Committee as a 3L at the University of Alabama, and graduated in May 2022. Haley has since begun developing their role as LSCA’s first National Director, and is excited to support the committee and student organizers as they build a movement to change the culture of the legal profession.
The legal industry benefits tremendously from a lack of transparency. The average person, certainly in the Global North but frequently beyond, has decent familiarity with oil giants like Chevron, Exxon, Shell, BP, and Saudi AramCo. Moreover, many people associate certain companies with specific catastrophes, such as BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010. But even global behemoth Kirkland and Ellis is likely to be known by a relatively small section of the population, given the billions of dollars they rake in annually. Spectacularly bad press about Jones Day’s involvement with some of Donald Trump’s many legal cases stuck in the public eye more strongly than any other BigLaw representation I can recall—but it remains a multi-billion dollar firm.
Law firms are thus able to facilitate many hundreds of billions in fossil fuel transactions with little to no public scrutiny, in spite of the critical role lawyers play in the process of development and extraction. Many law firms also lobby for weaker regulations, and dozens of the largest firms in the world lend their litigation services to defend Big Oil’s profit margins in court, often against communities they’ve poisoned. Of course, this is all in addition to the oil majors’ sizable in-house teams. If every law firm in the world dropped their fossil fuel clients, those companies would still have better access to representation than most frontline communities that have been harmed by dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure—to say nothing of all those suffering from the present-day effects of climate change.
It might seem strange, then, that I belong to an organization, Law Students for Climate Accountability (LSCA), that is focused on getting firms to do exactly that: drop their fossil fuel clients. What’s the point, if those clients will always have representation anyways?
My organizing journey has its roots in Alabama’s labor movement, and I’ve been privileged to know incredible people who are fighting David-and-Goliath style battles every day. Of the many lessons I’ve learned from them, two are particularly relevant here. First, it matters how we do (and don’t!) use our labor. Workers that are very organized can use petitions, pickets, slowdowns, sickouts, and strikes, while even small groups can leverage whistleblowing to hold their management to account for malfeasance. In the legal profession, students can also play a potent role by collectively making it known that they care about their future and understand that firms’ fossil fuel work is endangering that future. Because the product that law firms sell is their talent, law students and associates have more leverage than many of them realize at present.
The second lesson that sticks out to me is the power of a supermajority. Good organizers don’t spend all their time talking to the most hostile segment of the group they’re engaging. Instead, they start by seeking out two categories of people: the individuals that are most primed to join them, and the leaders that are capable of bringing the largest number of people along. If they are successful at recruiting those two groups, hostilities are likely to soften, even if they don’t abate. Regardless, a supermajority can achieve big wins in spite of naysayers. And because the legal industry is incredibly gatekept and elite, a cultural shift is likely to ripple out to every hall of power. It is my firm belief that even this conservative and profit-driven profession can build a supermajority of people who are self-interested in a habitable world, and willing to not just turn down fossil fuels work, but also to tell their peers they shouldn’t spend their valuable time exacerbating climate chaos, either.
These are some of the principles that animate my work with LSCA. The organization grew out of protests in early 2020, with students at Yale, Harvard, NYU and Michigan showing up recruitment events hosted by Paul Weiss calling on them to #DropExxon, which has long been on the firm’s client list. It was unusual in such a risk-averse field and drew media attention, but to date, Paul Weiss has yet to respond.
Determined to keep momentum, a subset of the protestors decided to expand their focus and ultimately created the first Law Firm Climate Change Scorecard as part of a report that outlined the critical role that lawyers play in maintaining and expanding fossil fuel infrastructure. They decided to name the project Law Students for Climate Accountability, but at the time they chose the name, had no idea their work would go farther than that. After its publication in October 2020, the flurry of attention that resulted—drawing the eyes of reporters, academics, activists, and of course law students and lawyers—made it clear that this information was both crucial and not available elsewhere. Thus LSCA was born, and the original crew set out to find a group of student leaders from across the US to formalize the group and chart its course.
Around that time, I was beginning to think much more seriously about the scale of the climate crisis. I was born in California, and the state’s record-setting 2020 wildfire season made it clear to me that climate migration was already occurring, and not just in the Global South. I started to wonder incessantly about the fine line between habitable and uninhabitable land, and how many people were already living in that gray zone but still rebuilding, either out of love for their home or a lack of other options or both. I decided to organize a few virtual panels exploring climate migration, and that ended up being one of the best decisions of my life. It was through that little conference that I met Camila Bustos and Alisa White, both Yale Law students who were beginning to turn the Scorecard into a national organization. I eventually became one of LSCA’s inaugural student leaders, and spent that year working alongside more than a dozen other students to determine what, exactly, LSCA should be.
Over the course of the year, we worked to release a new Scorecard and make it an annual publication; we restructured our student committee and recruited new leaders; and we landed on our mission and vision:
LSCA activates and mobilizes the power of law students to transform the legal industry’s role from exacerbating climate injustice to meaningfully supporting a just transition away from fossil fuels. We aspire to move legal ethics and practice towards a just transition for our planet, in solidarity with frontline communities, to build an equitable and sustainable world in our lifetimes.
That year, we also successfully raised enough funds to expand our work and bring on our first staff person—which, I am incredibly privileged to say, ending up being me. It’s been a whirlwind journey developing my role alongside incredible colleagues who have become my friends. I deeply cherish our commitment to building an internal culture that is strong and supportive enough to counter the hegemonic forces in the legal industry that have long stymied progress in favor of profit. It is that commitment, I believe, that has kept us going for several years now, and has helped us connect with an ever-widening audience, including abroad.
Our strongest international interest has come from the UK, and with support from a number of academics and attorneys, we gathered together a group of students to replicate what the team was doing in the US. Last summer, they produced our first report on UK law firms, and six of those report authors have since stepped up to serve as our first UK student leaders. They are building connections with students and lawyers across the country, and we are excited to turn last year’s report into an annual production. We’re also working with a number of clinics to produce additional research that can be used to spur organizing, and have already had the chance to connect with a number of employees at major law firms. I have been heartened by the reception that our work has received in the UK, and believe our young and growing transcontinental movement is already making waves in the industry—but we need all the people power we can get.
If you’re a current or aspiring legal worker who values a consistent food supply; access to clean water; weather that doesn’t cause many thousands of excess heat deaths; and the prospect of a liveable world for future generations, I hope you’ll join us. Together, we can and will build an equitable and sustainable world in our lifetimes.
by Beth Salt | Mar 20, 2024 | LSA Insights
An interview with Eleanor Maciver, Partner and Sustainability Champion at IP firm Mewburn Ellis.
Why is being sustainable so important to Mewburn Ellis?
At Mewburn Ellis, we recognise that the goal of achieving net-zero by 2050 is both a complex and multifaceted endeavour. Not only do our own people and clients want it but, the planet needs it. We understand that contributing to achieving net-zero is the right thing to do and vital for the world we live in.
Sustainability has been on our agenda for many years with our first public five step climate action plan announced in 2022. Since then, our approach has rapidly developed and matured, and it holds a rightful place on our Board agenda.
What are the main features of your sustainability strategy?
As a service-based industry, we recognised that our carbon use would be a key area for us in understanding and improving the sustainability of our business. One of the first key steps we took was to measure and understand our energy use and carbon emissions. We first formally reported our carbon emissions in 2022 for the previous financial year. We now have two years of formal data, have greatly increased our understanding and matured our approach to carbon accounting implementing measures internally that will have the biggest impact. Thus far, as a result of these measures, we have been able to reduce our overall carbon emissions by 48%. In 2023, we used this understanding to produce our net-zero transition plan and had this verified by the Science Based Emissions Targets Initiative (SBTi).
Alongside this we have developed, and acted on, a more comprehensive climate action plan. Our overall strategy contains five key steps:
- We ask questions and are accountable
- We offset our carbon and are reducing it as much as possible and have set a near and long-term emissions-based reduction targets approved by SBTi
- We plant a tree for every new matter we open and have created a Mewburn Ellis Forest of over 50,000 trees
- We enable and support the sustainability conversation and take personal responsibility
- We support sustainability charities as part of our Forward Community Programme
Our approach remains: We take action now on the things that we can, whilst working to understand and implement larger changes for the future.
How are you keeping colleagues, and in particular fee earners, engaged and on board with your sustainability ambitions and programme?
We work alongside many innovators in green technology across a variety of sectors- sustainable technology is very much in the DNA of the firm. Many of our team have impressive academic backgrounds in these areas meaning that the work we do is also our passion. To this end, the engagement levels for our initiatives are often high and our ‘audience’ is quite switched on to start with.
Of course, this does not mean there are never any challenges with any programmes and our goal is to always be improving our sustainability.
We know that promotion and engagement both internally and externally is vital in order to take people on the journey with us. We do this chiefly through publishing regular blogs and articles and commenting on the key issues in the media. Internally, we hold regular discussions with our collaboration group and welcome suggestions from anyone in the firm often via consultations.
Through this, we aim to promote and encourage sustainability in those around us.
What challenges have you faced – from colleagues, clients and other stakeholders – and how are you overcoming these?
Largely we have not faced challenges from our clients, they are generally very appreciative of our efforts and ability to help them with their own sustainability goals if anything.
From within the firm, the main challenge has been to get sustainability embedded into our culture and our way of operating. This took time and efforts on multiple fronts but is now a clear focus for our Board and our people are engaging strongly with our efforts to improve in this area (see comments below on engagement with our recent commuting survey for example).
We also have a sustainability group consisting of people from across the firm who are working to improve our sustainability credentials.
Our ongoing challenge will be to continue to improve our approach and particularly reduce our carbon emissions for Scope 1 and 2 (see next question!)
Specifically, why is setting a science-based carbon reduction target so important and how are you going about achieving this?
In life as in business, setting goals and being ambitious is fundamental for progress and success. It is no different here. As a global community, we have to show the same ambition, aim high and ensure that we are regularly measuring our progress against our goals.
For us, SBTi is important because it represents our commitment to urgently reduce our carbon emissions in line with best scientific advice on how to avoid the worst effects of climate change. The ‘why’ is really as simply as that.
Of course, the ‘how’ is very important and quite detailed. For example, we have already taken a number of steps aimed at reducing our Scope 3 emissions (our biggest emissions by category) including a sustainability sense check on all business travel. Taking this approach, we reduced our carbon emissions by 48 % last year. For our Scope 1 and 2 emissions which are largely from our leased office space, we are working with landlords to apply the pressure we can to transition to renewable energy and importantly, considering our lease terms and putting sustainability at the heart of decisions on office space going forwards so we can reach our mid and long term targets.
How are you engaging your supply chain and measuring your Scope 3 emissions?
The majority of our emissions are Scope 3– primarily these come from travel to visit clients. We measure these by requiring our people to fill out a ‘trip form’ explaining the reasons for their travel (our sustainability sense check) and their mode of transport. We have actively worked internally to promote less carbon intensive forms of transport where these are feasible such as taking the train to European destinations. For travel between our offices, our accounting department pick up the details through our ticket ordering system and these are then fed into our Scope 3 emissions. We have also undertaken to improve our Scope 3 reporting to include commuting to our offices. We developed a bespoke survey which went to staff and were thrilled to see a 64% response.
For our supply chain, we have surveyed all our suppliers to understand their sustainability plans and all new suppliers now have to complete a form confirming their credentials in this space. Where possible we choose sustainable business partners to work with.
Do you have any advice for other firms who are hoping to achieve a good score with supplier rating platforms such as EcoVadis?
Coordinating a sustainability strategy is a daunting task. Of course, some larger firms will have ESG professionals to do this. For our situation, we found that taking an initial, considered step was key (e.g. focussing on understanding our carbon emissions with plans for reduction to come later).
Also acknowledge that to get a good score on EcoVadis or similar platforms will take time because you will have to develop a good strategy and all the supporting information to go with it. This “time” can be provided either by an ESG professional(s) working solely on sustainability or, as in our case, a team of people adding this responsibility to their other commitments.
We found that taking the first steps gave us the confidence to take more, and develop our ambitions at pace, taking on a sustainability team to help us implement and communicate internally and externally. Celebrating successes is also key; it helps motivate the team and bring the wider firm with you on the journey. Never underestimate the need and power of having the rest of your firm on board!
How are you ensuring transparency and accountability in relation to your sustainability actions?
Transparency and accountability are extremely important to us; we think very carefully about what we write and say to ensure we are as accurate in our representation as we can be. We publish our sustainable communities report annually including our annual carbon emission data as well as what we are doing to offset this. The data is there just as much as to highlight where we can do better as it is to demonstrate our successes.
Business travel is always an issue when it comes to reducing our carbon footprints. How have you tackled this?
As with many internationally based and minded businesses, our data has shown that business travel is our largest source of carbon emissions. To mitigate this, our sustainability sense check means that every external trip and event now has an assessment process which includes confirming the carbon footprint and a business case from a sustainability perspective. We encourage our people to combine trips, stay for longer and choose the lowest feasible carbon mode of transport.
Through this process, we can see from our 2022/23 data that we have been able to reduce business travel by 54% which has contributed significantly to our overall reduction in carbon emissions.
Do you have any other advice or insights can you share with LSA members?
Put simply, make sustainability part of the fabric of your organisation.
By normalising making conscious decisions that go toward producing less carbon emissions, reporting on your results, or working with external partners, sustainability becomes more than an arm of your wider ESG strategy, but another day-to-day part of the decision-making process and omni-present part of your brand identity capable of inspiring others around you.
by Beth Salt | Mar 20, 2024 | LSA Insights
By Injy Johnstone, Research Associate in Net Zero Aligned Offsetting at the Sustainable Finance Group and Researcher at Oxford Net-Zero
Despite offsetting being often the major plank in the net zero planning of corporations, next to no offsetting is currently net zero. This needs to change.
We know from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that to reach net zero carbon we need to balance our residual emissions with additional removal capacity. However, the vast majority of carbon credits are dominated by projects that pay people to avoid releasing emissions, rather than actively reducing or removing them. Because it can be hard to robustly evidence that such an emission would have occurred in future, recent investigations have found that up to 90% of credits in some projects may be worthless. It’s not just the type of project that matters, but also how new it is and whether it would have occurred regardless of carbon credit financing. In 2023, some corporations were still retiring carbon credits from projects whose mitigation impact happened in 2006 or earlier. At the same time, we see funds flowing to projects that may already make economic sense already–such as installing renewable energy in most parts of the world.
The need to scale removals to meet net zero is also demonstrated by the fact that global emissions are still increasing. Indeed, based on recent estimates of global CO₂ emissions and removals, in 2023 for every 1 ton we removed, we released a further 18.5 tonnes into the atmosphere. What’s more, the vast majority of the removals, are only storing CO₂ temporarily, meaning they need to be replaced in future for us to meet net zero. It is therefore clear that the status quo of carbon offsetting is not primed for net-zero alignment.
Rather than continuing to entrench the unsustainable results of today’s offsetting the Oxford Offsetting Principles work backwards from what’s needed for net zero alignment. The four Principles are:
- Cut emissions, ensure the environmental integrity of credits used to achieve net zero, and regularly revise your offsetting strategy as best practice evolves
- Transition to carbon removal offsetting for any residual emissions by the global net zero target date
- Shift to removals with durable storage (low risk of reversal) to compensate any residual emissions by the net zero target date
- Support the development of innovative and integrated approaches to achieving net zero
Originally released in 2020, the Revised 2024 version now offers important and additional insights. It notes with concern that despite engagement in the prospect of net zero aligned offsetting since the release of the original principles, an urgent course correction of offsetting practice is needed. It further recognises that despite additional guidance on both the supply and demand aspects of the voluntary carbon market having been developed in recent years, these do not go far enough to calibrate net zero aligned offsetting strategies. The Revised Principles also add more nuance as to the vital role played by investment in nature-based solutions to protect nature in its own right separate from any potential mitigation benefits it may yield. Finally, they recognise that given the significant need to scale climate mitigation across the board, that all actors who can, should consider additional ‘beyond value chain’ investments in projects which reduce or remove emissions.
There are a number of key implications for law firms that stem from the Revised Oxford Offsetting Principles:
Law firms are increasingly setting their own net-zero commitments, both as individual firms and as part of collectives such as the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance and the Legal Charter 1.5. For firms to reach such commitments there are practical steps they can take to limit their own value-chain emissions and craft a net-zero aligned offsetting strategy to address residual emissions; this being one that adheres to the environmental integrity, transparency and review standards of Principle One, invests in carbon removal offsetting, with a pathway to fully durable removals by the net zero target date in line with Principles Two and Three and considers investing in additional beyond value chain mitigation in line with Principle Four.
Advised emissions are also an integral part of firms’ scope 3 emissions. As a result, they also present an avenue to implement Principle Four: innovative and integrated approaches to achieving net zero. When firms are advising clients who have or want to make net zero commitments, it is fundamental to communicate the Revised Oxford Offsetting Principles as a benchmark for net-zero aligned offsetting and–if adopted–to ensure that there is a credible pathway to the realisation of the transition to durable carbon removal for residual emissions. Indeed the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative recognises that companies should “seek independent legal advice on all aspects of the use of green, carbon and climate claims in the context of carbon credits in all jurisdictions…”. Firms that are equipped to provide this advice can help not only ensure that clients are advised on best-practice offsetting, but also if net zero aligned offsetting strategies are implemented correctly, it could also significantly reduce the litigation risk that clients could face when compared with the current status quo of the voluntary carbon market. It is also important as legislators are increasingly considering further measures to both reign in voluntary carbon offsetting practices and stimulate investments in carbon removal.
In this way, law firms have an integral role to play in ushering forth the era of net zero aligned offsetting. The Revised Oxford Offsetting Principles were released to assist with this. For further insights on how to operationalise these Principles, please keep an eye on the Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment’s website. If you would like to dive deeper, you can also apply to join the first-ever Oxford Programme on Net Zero Aligned Offsetting, happening in person in Oxford later this year.
