Sustainable Business
Being a Sustainable Business is one of the key focuses of our strategy for the future. We have a proud history of engaging in meaningful activities that benefit our people, communities and other stakeholders.
For many years our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme has been a reflection of these activities. As conceptual frameworks for corporate responsibility and sustainability have evolved in business, so too has our approach. We want to build on the solid foundation of our rich heritage of giving back to the community.
As a forward-thinking firm, we are keen stay ahead. In 2020 we took the decision to evolve our CSR programme into something more, and we established our Sustainable Business Programme to help us further integrate social and environmental concerns into our decision-making and our mainstream operations. We strive to continue to take responsibility for our impact on society and to integrate sustainable and responsible business practices into all of our decision-making as a firm.
We understand that sustainability is a journey not just for us, but for all businesses today. Our clients are at various stages of their own Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) journeys, and our dedicated multi-disciplinary ESG lawyers work seamlessly together to assist clients with the identification and integration of ESG priorities at all levels of their business. You can read more about our ESG services on our ESG Hub.
Governance of our Sustainable Business Programme is important to us. Our Sustainable Business Programme is overseen by the firm’s Sustainable Business Committee which consists of senior partners and business leaders from across the firm that report directly to the firm’s Management Committee. The programme is coordinated by a dedicated Sustainable Business Manager and is implemented by a number of sub-committees with staff representation from all areas of the firm. Through this diversity we ensure success.
Sustainable Business Impact Report 2025
Our 2025 report details the firm’s impact across the core dimensions of a sustainable business programme: Environment, Workplace, Community and Marketplace.
Being a sustainable and responsible business plays an important role in our strategy as a firm, and while it has been embedded in the fabric of our firm for over a hundred years, we endeavour to increase our impact and progress across the various strands of our sustainable business programme.
This is the fifth year of publishing our impact across the four internationally recognised core dimensions of a sustainable business programme: Environment, Workplace, Community and Marketplace.
Voluntarily reporting across these key areas of our business each year provides us with an opportunity to look not only at the activities and impact where things are working well, but also to examine those areas which need more focus and attention. We want to benchmark our activities against our peers and the wider business community to ensure that we continue to strive to be best in class when it comes to embedding sustainability in our firm.
Among the key developments this year:
- We have updated our GHG emissions targets for 2026–2030 and realigned our reporting base year
- We plan to introduce CO₂ travel impact dashboards across the firm to help staff manage business travel emissions and support our ambition to reduce GHG emissions by 50% by 2030
- We have begun a new partnership with Lamp House to benchmark our sustainability performance using external, data-driven assessments
- We continue to invest in our people and our communities, with strong engagement in pro bono work, volunteering, and charitable partnerships
To view our 2025 Sustainable Business Impact Report please click here.
To read previous reports, click below:
Our Sustainable Business Programme
Environment
Marketplace
