Campaign: Environmental News
HRH The Prince of Wales launched the Legal Sector Alliance on December 10th 2008.
The Legal Sector Alliance is an inclusive movement of law firms and organisations committed to working collaboratively to take action on climate change by reducing their carbon footprint and adopting environmentally sustainable practices.
The LSA is the first professional sector to develop its own carbon protocol, to assist firms across the profession in measuring their carbon footprint. Calculating the carbon footprint of an organisation is the first step to reduce the emissions it causes.
The UK legal sector has a major role to play in tackling climate change both directly through its own activities, by reducing their carbon footprint and adopting environmentally sustainable practices, and indirectly through its influence over clients, suppliers and Government.
The LSA principles have been developed through extensive consultation with environmental experts and law firms of all sizes across the country. They cover firms’ own operations, as well as their influence on clients, suppliers, employees and policy makers. Many firms both large and small, have already signed up to the principles and HRH will urge the rest of the profession to follow suit.
The LSA believes that acting on climate change is in the profession’s collective interest and that greater impact can be achieved through collaborative action and the sharing of knowledge and experience than could be achieved individually. The greater the number of firms, chambers and in-house legal teams that get involved, the greater the chance of having a real influence on the way the sector does business.
To demonstrate their commitment to reducing their carbon emissions, the LSA’s Founding Members have all measured their carbon footprint using the LSA Protocol and have publicly reported the results on the LSA website following the launch
The principles are:
As members of the Legal Sector Alliance, we commit to:
1. Measure, manage and reduce the impact of our operations
2. Work with external stakeholders to reduce our indirect impact
3. Integrate awareness of climate change across our business
4. Consider the implications of climate change in the advice we give
5. Work collaboratively to engage in the public debate on climate change and to develop, apply and promote best practice across the sector
6. Report on our progress and be accountable
Joining the LSA offers members:
- access to knowledge and to networks within the sector and regionally
- access to materials and resources to support action on climate change
- the opportunity to collaborate on joint initiatives
- support in developing and implementing an environmental strategy
- opportunities to communicate commitment to acting on climate change to key audiences, including employees and clients
- profiling through case studies, on the website and on other platforms
- use of the Legal Sector Alliance logo to show commitment to taking action
For more information go to the Legal Sector Alliance website
