A new initiative designed to support law firms responding to the climate crisis has launched ahead of London Climate Action Week. Legal Charter 1.5, developed collaboratively by a group of large commercial and corporate law firms, commits signatories to a set of core principles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the speed and scale necessary to restrict global warming to no more than 1.5°C.

Eight firms - Taylor Wessing, Bates Wells, DWF, Osborne Clarke, DLA Piper, Mishcon de Reya, Gowling WLG and Clyde and Co. - have so far signed Legal Charter 1.5.

The eight core principles outlined in the charter include the development of a methodology on advised emissions; education and upskilling of staff across the legal profession, including junior lawyers; focused pro-bono and meaningful offsetting.

The move follows last month’s publication of Law Society guidance on the impact of climate change on solicitors.

Society president Lubna Shuja said: 'The launch of the 1.5C Charter represents another important step being taken by the legal profession in relation to the climate change crisis. Our recently released climate change guidance sets out how solicitors and law firms can continue to be at the forefront of responding to the challenges of climate change.'

Dr Thom Wetzer, associate professor of law and finance at the University of Oxford, said: 'The legal profession needs new standards – from investment management agreements that account for green preferences, to sustainability-linked bonds and contracts-for-difference in the hydrogen market. Investors need guidance and policymakers require training. Committing time and expertise to that cause, if well-directed, can rid us of obstacles that currently hold back the net-zero Transition. This charter will help us, collectively, to move along this path.'

 

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