A ‘green’ alliance of 44 law firms and the Law Society has succeeded in cutting CO2 emissions by an amount equivalent to the annual output of a magic circle firm, according to a report released today.

The Legal Sector Alliance (LSA) said that its member firms have cut 17,500 tonnes of CO2 from their collective footprint since the project began with just 18 firms in 2008.

A typical magic circle firm such as Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, an LSA member, emits around 14,800 tonnes of CO2 every year.

The 44 firms that published emissions data today have collectively reduced emissions to the equivalent of around 178,000 tonnes of CO2, compared to 195,600 tonnes when the firms began reporting.

The amount of CO2 produced annually per employee fell by 50kg on average across all LSA members, against ‘a backdrop of headcount reductions’, the report says.

Energy use in buildings was the greatest contributor to emissions, with business travel ranked second.

Firms cut emissions by replacing unnecessary journeys with video- or teleconferencing, managing travel patterns, investing in efficient technology and instituting behavioural change, the report says.

LSA chairman Sir Nigel Knowles, joint chief executive at national firm DLA Piper, said: ‘As more and more of our members publicly report their carbon emissions, we are able to provide an increasingly comprehensive picture of climate change performance in the legal sector.

'I would like to encourage all of our members to report publicly.’

National firm Cobbetts and City firm Hogan Lovells have both reduced their emissions by around 30% since they started reporting, more than any other firm.

Magic circle firm Allen & Overy emitted the equivalent of 23,600 tonnes of CO2 over the past 12 months, the highest of any reporting firm, and had the highest annual emissions per employee, at just over 8 tonnes per head, compared with an LSA average of 5.4 tonnes per head.

Scottish firm Morgans had the lowest emissions per employee over the past 12 months, with the equivalent of 0.77 tonnes of CO2 per head. The Law Society group produces 2.38 tonnes per employee.

On average, the 18 founder members of the 200-strong LSA reported total emissions down by 12% compared with three years ago.

Of the 30 firms that have reported for at least two years, 20 reported a reduction in total emissions.