News & Views

How can you make a quick reduction to emissions from your supply chain. A shared commitment to renewable electricity would go a long way. Read about how big brands engage suppliers on renewable energy. READ MORE

Effective communication is amongst the most important factors in determining effective action. In large busy organisations like law firms the importance of communication to different stakeholders can be extremely challenging. Read a guide that focuses on the communication issues and provides some direction on how to improve READ MORE

Recently the SBTi led a NetZeroActionDay to celebrate companies with approved science-based net-zero targets. The initiative passed  the 1000th commitment to the Net-Zero Standard with 2,884 companies taking action and 1,328 with approved targets and called on more businesses across the world to play their part in the fight against climate change by submitting net-zero science-based targets.  READ MORE

General Counsel’s position and responsibilities in law firms are strongly aligned with the identification and development of ESG principles and designing a framework into the organisational strategy. Read a Lawyers Weekly article with Corrs Chambers Westgarth head of business and ESG Dr Phoebe Wynn-Pope HERE

Accounting for the greenhouse gas emissions of your firm should include the commute to work of your staff. Encouraging cycling by staff by with great facilities and incentives provides the combined benefits of reduced emissions and improved staff wellbeing. Read how to encourage your firm's employees to cycle to work HERE

As we all work towards Net Zero we need to understand our Scope 3 emissions in more detail. Hidden sources of scope 3 emissions often lie within our supply chains and at some point we need to start making sustainability a requirement for our supply chain partners. While some companies still think about using a stick or carrot, perhaps scissors can be a better approach by cutting ties with suppliers who cannot make sustainability changes quickly enough. See a good article from Greenbiz here.

Earth Day 2022 was held on April 22.

Earthday.org, together with their partners held an Earth Day Climate Action Summit, and you can see some of the key solutions that were delivered at this action summit HERE. These key solutions are critical to our ability to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century to keep global temperatures below 1.5 degrees C.

As pointed out in an article from Greenbiz, no single organisation can solve systemic or planetary problems on their own, however by working together can push the 'action' needle slightly forward a bit at a time . This article features a number of NGO's, who might not be household names in Australia, but are working together to nudge that odometer dial forward. All of them are ultimately changing the practices of sustainable business and provide useful lessons for all of us. Read the article here.

In an interview with lawyers weekly recently, AusLSA Member firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth spoke about the social dislocation caused by the pandemic and that a flexible working model needs to be seamlessly rolled out to ensure that business plans are not adversely affected. They said that firms need to focus on culture and connection with a renewed focus on employee well- being and creating opportunities for bringing social engagement back into the workplace. See the article here.

Halting the climate crisis will require action from every individual and enterprise. Small and medium sized enterprises making up about 90% of businesses and accounting for 50% of employment worldwide, will play a critical role in this change. Setting Science-based climate targets can perhaps seem a daunting task and the Science-based Targets Initiative have developed some tools to help smooth the way for small and medium sized businesses to set these targets. See an introductory article from SBTi HERE.