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Environment

Environment is one of the three core pillars of Mishcon de Reya's approach to Responsible Business and encompasses how we manage our operational environmental impacts, our leadership role in the profession in advancing the transition to net zero, and the support we offer to our clients in understanding their environmental risks and opportunities.

At Mishcon de Reya, our purpose remains rooted in our core values. We have always been driven by an entrepreneurial, tenacious and socially conscious spirit: one that has embraced change in order to stay relevant and shape the future.  We have always relished our role in public life and support causes and campaigns driven by our values. The efforts led by our Impact department to raise standards for social and business value creation, alongside their work in holding those responsible for harm accountable, exemplify the ethos of our firm. Additionally, our partnerships with environmental charities, academia and the scientific community to drive meaningful change underscores our firms' deep-rooted commitment to sustainability. Embracing and championing sustainability isn't just a part of our culture—it's ingrained in our core values.

Our approach  

Our environment strategy seamlessly integrates how we conduct our business. It guides our leadership role in the legal profession as we pursue initiatives to address climate change and directs our strategic litigation work in advancing environmental protection and holding those responsible for harm to account.   

Within our own business, a central pillar of our approach to operating as a responsible business is to annually reduce our carbon emissions. We are actively working to achieve the most ambitious aim of the Paris Agreement, to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. 

 Download our Environment Strategy

We aim to achieve this through a three-step approach: 

Reduce

Mishcon de Reya is dedicated to reducing emissions produced by our day-to-day operations, which have an impact on the environment. We have aligned with the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi), the leading corporate climate target organisation that have helped us set robust targets to reduce our emissions on an annual basis.  

In the short term, we aim to reduce our emissions 42% by FY 2030, with a long-term goal of achieving a 90% reduction by FY 2050 for our net zero target. 

Every year, we capture our emissions data to accurately measure our carbon footprint. We will report annually on our carbon footprint and progress against our emissions reduction targets. In 2023, we partnered with Net Zero Now, a carbon accountancy platform, to allow us to enhance our data capture and report granular details on all our associated emissions across the firm. This analysis has given us in-depth detail, putting us ahead of the growing number of carbon-related standards and regulations, and enabling us to plan how to reduce our emissions in line with the firms' business strategy. 

Download our Carbon Reduction Plan 

Capture  

In addition to reducing our operational emissions, we are committed to offsetting 100% of our unavoidable emissions, which are the emissions we cannot reduce through our operations, every year, through nature-based carbon capture. We have invested in carbon capture and removals in support of the global transition.  

In our view, there are significant challenges with many of the existing voluntary offsetting schemes. We propose to avoid these and, instead, pay for carbon equivalent to our emissions being sequestered through known innovative UK nature-based projects, which measure the carbon captured and deliver a positive social and environmental impact. To date this investment has gone to UK projects involved in peatland and wetland restoration, capturing carbon from the atmosphere and storing for long periods in the soil.

Catalyse  

We work to enable our clients and people to drive transformation to mitigate and adapt to climate change, including with our suppliers. We are taking action to support: 

Our people, by providing training, environmental volunteering opportunities and a sustainability app for enhancing personal sustainable practices. 

Our clients, by advising on the implications of climate change, upcoming regulations and how to act to address them; by working with entrepreneurs in the development of innovative new technologies and markets; and using the law to hold those responsible for harm to account. 

Our profession, by pursuing a strategy to catalyse the decarbonisation of the legal sector. 

Our partnerships

Our aim to support decarbonisation of the legal sector will be furthered through our engagement with: 

The Sustainable Markets Initiative Legal Taskforce

Mishcon is proud to hold the chair position for the taskforce which aims to bring together leading law firms with an international footprint and expertise across the full spectrum of legal services and industry sectors to amplify the contribution of lawyers and other legal professionals in using the law to help address sustainability and climate-related issues. We are actively involved in the Sustainable Markets Initiative Legal Taskforce's climate training course.  

The Legal Charter 1.5

Mishcon is a founding member of the Legal Charter 1.5 which brings together a group of large commercial/corporate law firms, to shift thinking, and drive transformational change to mitigate the climate crisis. We are actively involved in the Matters & Mandates classification initiative and Advised Emissions initiative.

Net Zero Lawyers Alliance

Mishcon is a founding member of the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance which mobilises commercial lawyers, law firms, and the law to accelerate the transition to net zero.  

Climate Science and Law Forum

Mishcon, in collaboration with the London School of Economics and Political Science, Imperial College London, and Oxford University, founded the Climate Science and Law Forum to strengthen the conversation between climate litigators and climate scientists, and boost long-lasting interdisciplinary collaboration.  

Greener Litigation

Mishcon is proud to be the founder and chair of the Green Litigation Pledge, an initiative to reduce the environmental impact of dispute resolution. In 2024 Greener Litigation launched a toolkit designed to assist the legal profession in England and Wales to reduce their carbon footprint and embrace more sustainable practices throughout the civil litigation lifecycle.  

How we will measure progress  

In addition to reporting annually on our GHG emissions, we are committed to reporting against our environmental commitments annually in support of our dedication to accountability and transparency. These reports will identify not only progress made but also where we have fallen short of ambition and how we will look to make the appropriate improvements.

Download our latest GHG Emissions Report 

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