Our responsibility to work more sustainably

Sustainability is the process of reducing the (carbon) footprint we have on the environment as a result of the work we do and the life we lead, with the aim of ultimately leaving a more positive footprint than the one we began with. In the context of this article, sustainability is the steps that we are able to take as individuals and businesses to take social, commercial, environmental and commercial responsibility for the impact of the work that we do.

Why should I be sustainable?

“The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss the brief, rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future.” So said the NASA Science Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The global aims to limit carbon emissions below 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels appear to be increasingly ambitious and difficult to achieve. Businesses often represent some of the largest polluters and are absolutely integral to changing the tide – positive environmental change cannot happen without the support of businesses. It is arguably a social, environmental and commercial responsibility.

Whilst many will see becoming more sustainable as an additional expense in a difficult financial environment, having good environmental credentials is increasingly a commercial benefit and something prospective clients are looking for. By taking the lead with change, you can not only help other businesses do the same, but also set an example for staff and for clients.

What is this meant to achieve?

Being environmentally sustainable is effectively leaving “no trace”. It involves removing as much carbon from the atmosphere as you are putting in, thereby becoming “carbon neutral”. It means that you effectively have no carbon-footprint so are contributing net zero carbon to the atmosphere.

Some organisations are not prepared to stop at this though and actively work towards removing more carbon from the atmosphere that they are contributing, thereby having a net-positive impact and becoming “carbon positive”.

Undertaking regular, annual assessments of your carbon footprint helps you understand as a business, and helps educate your employees, as to what the biggest culprits are as well as “easy wins” on the journey to sustainability. This is an area where there are constantly evolving initiatives and approaches to help work towards being more sustainable. Keeping your approach under review helps you make the most of these. Being proactive in driving change, and sharing your footprint and future changes openly, helps show a commitment to clients and peers of your sustainability, both as a form of commercial responsibility in driving for change and, more cynically, as a marketing tool.

Where do I start?

In the current climate, when “sustainability” is mentioned, we often think about “environmental” sustainability. Understanding you and your business’s carbon footprint will help you understand what resources you use and their carbon footprint.

There are numerous organisations which will now undertake an assessment of your carbon footprint. For individuals, there are tools to help you assess this for free. It is a bigger undertaking for businesses though and there is ordinarily a charge for this assessment. Once you have done it once though, it is easier to do the next time.

Once completed, an assessment will provide you with a breakdown of what constitutes your carbon footprint and the relevant proportions. For example, it may include flights, energy costs, cars & other travel, and paper use.

How can I be more sustainable?

Put in place an environmental and sustainability policy. That can address your aims; your approach; who is responsible for this within the business; how you will review your operations; and what you intend to do to make change.

Sustainability in the context of this article does have its roots in being more sustainable environmentally. That does not have to be at the cost of profits necessarily and can be a tool to reduce overheads and attract further work. There are some easy wins that can be addressed by looking at certain culprits whose footprints are particularly high and those which are more easily able to become carbon neutral, eg moving to a green energy supplier, and reducing flights (or ensuring you book flights where emissions are offset if flights are needed). Car-sharing and reduction in car use generally are also important. Consider the use of trains or public transport instead of travelling privately to meetings and events. Energy and water usage can also be reduced, for instance by turning off equipment and lights when you are out of the office or the office is closed.

Other relatively easy wins include:

• Become paper-free. It is increasingly rare to receive or send hard copies of letters or documents. Most printers include scanning facilities. There is little need to store or send hard copies of documents. Doing this can save on overheads as well as freeing up space in the office.
• Ensure you have a practice management system that does everything you need it to and then ensure you are making the most of it. Ask the provider for training and use it to help make you more efficient. That will not only save you time otherwise spent on admin, so you can do more chargeable work, it will also help with a transition to being paperless and working more efficiently. It can also help reduce third-party expenses considerably when optimised.
• Buy environmentally friendly products, for instance cleaning products or recycled paper.
• Recycle at work as you would at home. Offices often have recycling services available, but do not promote recycling facilities at work.
• Provide training for staff.

Firms should also be considering long-term investments into reducing carbon footprint. There are investments to become more environmentally friendly that you can make to office infrastructure which do require initial investment (although may benefit from government subsidies or incentives), but will save you money in the long term, eg a heat pump and solar panels. It is also worth looking at whether it would be more sustainable to use remote servers, and when purchasing everything from cleaning products to IT infrastructure, look at where the products come from and ensure that materials and products used in the office are as environmentally friendly as possible.

Firms can of course also offset their carbon emissions. This involves investing in schemes which work towards taking carbon out of the atmosphere, in order to offset what you are putting in. Offsetting can be controversial – it is seen by some as a way of justifying large emissions just by offsetting them, as opposed to as part of a long-term plan to reduce emissions whilst offsetting those that are left. There are a variety of schemes available, including schemes with a quality mark, purely environmental schemes, and schemes with a social/community element.

Joining or forming a group of like-minded businesses is also an option. A number of organisations have been established to help effect widescale change through strength in numbers. They can help in a number of ways:

• through economies of scale with some of the products and services that assist with becoming more sustainable
• sharing knowledge, expertise and resources
• greater numbers to help with lobbying and forcing long-term change in their area of work or geographical location
• a networking opportunity to cross-refer between businesses with a similar ethos.

Organisations you can consider joining include:

• B Corp
• onepercentfortheplanet.org/
• Legal Sustainability Alliance
• adopting the Law Society’s Climate Change Resolution

What is my next step towards sustainability?

Look into drafting a sustainability policy. That can help consider the steps you want to commit to in order to move towards sustainability and identify what you want to prioritise.

Identify an organisation to assess your carbon footprint. This does involve some outlay, but in order to identify what your emissions are and what is contributing to them, as well as the amount that is needed to be offset, it is extremely helpful. It is often a pre-requisite for some of the organisations open to more sustainable businesses.

Whilst there are ways of reducing carbon footprint and becoming more sustainable without materially increasing your overheads or making significant investment, there is no escaping the fact that making significant change will involve some financial sacrifices. Increasingly though, that financial commitment is offset by the attractiveness to clients of working with an organisation with a social conscience and pre-empting compliance with possible future regulatory requirements.

[email protected]