News & Views

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.

Over time we have used terms like CSR, ESG, Social Impact, Corporate Citizenship, et al, which were all used to define core business strategies around “purpose”. Everybody in the organisation needs to have an understanding of what “purpose” means within the organisational context in order to gain the greatest benefits, and then to use an up-to-date glossary of terms that describe that purpose.

This article from Sustainable Brands might help describe what purpose means for your organisation. See the article here.

EDIE is hosting a series Sustainability Reporting and Communications sessions, they offer up an afternoon of live, interactive webinar presentations and discussions – all dedicated to helping sustainability and CSR professionals drive stakeholder engagement through robust reporting and captivating communications at a time when misinformation and uncertainty regarding the net-zero movement is rife. Sessions include 1. Dispelling sustainability myths and overcoming greenwash (12:30-1:30) 2. Behaviour Change Case Studies to drive embed sustainability across the business (1:45-2:45) and 3. TCFD disclosure: looking beyond compliance (3-3:45)  READ MORE

Philanthropic support given by corporates has increased dramatically as businesses recognise their place in society. A new report by JBWere, the Corporate Support Report, examines the growth in partnerships between the corporate sector and the for-purpose sector, and the opportunities available to each in creating partnerships of mutual benefit. The data is promising for charities and for-purpose organisations, with the top 50 corporates for community investment in Australia collectively providing more than $1.2 billion in 2021 alone. JBWere senior research consultant, John McLeod says “I take that as being part of this long-term trend of corporates understanding what their role is within the broader society, wanting to contribute to that and seeing benefits from it themselves,” - Now is the time for for-purpose organisations to engage with corporates to create key partnerships that benefit both parties. READ MORE

The Clayton Utz Foundation has announced a new $50,000 award to help advance the capacity of one of Australia's growing number of Health Justice Partnerships (HJPs). HJPs deliver community legal services to patients within the health system. They use healthcare professionals to identify when a patient has potential legal problems and to link them with a lawyer onsite, meaning that earlier legal intervention can prevent health and legal issues from escalating. There are now over 100 HJPs operating in Australia. READ MORE

Allens has announced the appointment of 12 new partners to bring the percentage of female partners to over 37 per cent on 1 July, exceeding the firm's gender target – set in 2017 – of at least 35 per cent female partner representation in 2022. The firm has set a new target of at least 40% female partner representation in 2025, under its 40:40:20 aim: 40 per cent women, 40 per cent men and 20 per cent any gender (women, men or non-binary persons). READ MORE

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AusLSA members need to understand and address the risks of modern slavery in their supply chains. AusLSA will convene a series of Modern Slavery Roundtables with members that are interested in helping their firms reduce the risks of harm to people trapped in Modern Slavery.  

Robin Mellon, CEO at Better Sydney is our guest presenter for our first roundtable on the 9th of may where he will discuss

• the value of collaboration,
• key areas where law firms could collaborate to improve modern slavery outcomes and
• ideas about similar collaboration models or organisations that we could learn from .

Robin has promised an honest - no punches pulled - assessment of the state of play and the requirements for success. REGISTER HERE