Dedicated Energy & Climate Change practice
With more than 450 lawyers in 75 offices across the globe our Energy and Climate Change practice is one of the largest of its kind. It was founded on ground-breaking work designing and implementing modern energy markets and is now at the forefront of developments on energy transition, renewables and the various responses to the climate crisis. From advising on climate change strategy, new technologies, risk and disputes, to environmental regulation, Power Purchase Agreements, and real estate and infrastructure projects, we advise clients operationally and strategically.
Our track record includes:
- Advising on the UK’s most advanced carbon capture project in the UK’s first zero-carbon industrial cluster. BP, Eni, Equinor, Shell and Total have formed a consortium and assumed leadership of the Net Zero Teesside Project, previously known as the Clean Gas Project.
- Advising product manufacturers in relation to sustainability laws for on the launch of new broadcast and streaming devices.
- Advising broadcasting and media publishing companies in relation to Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting and the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme.
- Advising various private equity funds, banks and large international manufacturing and real estate organisations such as Columbia Threadneedle Investments, Ametek, and John Laing Infrastructure Fund on energy efficiency, carbon and related reporting obligations across the EU.
- Advising major banks, insurers and asset managers on principles likely to underpin regulatory frameworks including, EU Action Plan for Financing Sustainable Growth, Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related financial disclosures, LMA Green Loan Principles, ICMA Green Bond principles.
CMS climate change and sustainability commitments
At CMS, we take our responsibilities to the environment very seriously. We have led the legal sector by setting Science Based Targets for carbon reduction, aligning ourselves with the UN Goals for Sustainable Development (UN Goals), United Nations Global Compact and committing to an ambitious goal of net zero by 2025.
Science-based carbon reduction targets
We were the first of only two law firms globally to announce and set Science Based Targets to measure our carbon reduction progress, which are approved by SBTi.
We spent 12 months measuring our greenhouse gas emissions across our jurisdictions globally, including in Central & Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East, with the support of Carbon Intelligence, the carbon management and energy performance business.
As a result, we have been able to set, and have approved, Science Based Targets focused on a 30% reduction of emissions by 2025 and a 50% reduction by 2030, for both our own operations as well as for our supply chain. The firm will offset remaining emissions to go net zero by 2025 and is also exploring options to go net negative and address its historical carbon debt.
Carbon reduction strategy
We use The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard to collect activity data and calculate Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. Our emissions have been verified to a reasonable level of assurance by an external third party according to the ISO 14064-3 standard.
As CMS strives to meet its carbon net zero commitment by 2025, the largest area of work for us is with our suppliers. They generate Scope 3 emissions for our calculations and constitute our greatest amount of carbon emissions. We expect that in collaboration with our suppliers we can reduce their absolute carbon generated emissions to us by 50%.
Consistently with our clients’ experience, our internal supplier facing teams needed to be better informed. Our procurement team is being trained and encouraged to think about both the measurement of carbon emissions and the likely opportunities for reduction with our suppliers. Naturally this has carried over to evaluations of our existing and potential new lease sites with the establishment of the firm’s key green criteria for leases.
We have created an app to input emissions and other environmental data as well as individualised portals for our key suppliers. The goal is to be in a position by the end of 2021 where we have an accurate view of our carbon emissions via suppliers on a monthly basis. With these and our roadmaps in place, we can monitor and adjust our initiatives and goals in real time as we head towards net zero in 2025.
Further commitments
We have introduced a programme of over 20 workstreams to address climate change and sustainability, including:
- renegotiating electricity contracts to maximise supply from renewable sources – all our UK offices now run on 100% renewable electricity;
- launching a mobile app to help over 3,200 of our people assess their own carbon footprints. MyGreenerFootprint is now available on the Apple Appstore and can be downloaded by anyone who would like it; and
- using a print awareness tool to gamify paper saving across the firm, working with PrintReleaf to plant over 12,000 trees and counting to offset paper usage, using Forest Stewardship Council certified paper, and ensuring all paper is recyclable.
We provide legal support to a range of environmental charities and organisations. We partner with The Chancery Lane Project, a collective developing new model clauses and contracts. Our lawyers have advised pro bono, helping to create new precedents that incorporate climate considerations and effect real change.
As part of our Social Impact programme, we run environmental volunteering opportunities, often with clients.
We have a number of channels to share knowledge and insight that are available to clients, including:
- Sustainability insight and thought leadership: Our legal teams provide regular insight and thought leadership on a range of legal and commercial issues deriving from climate change, sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) issues. Sustainability Insights
- CMS Law-Now: You can receive the very latest legal commentary and insight which regularly covers climate change and ESG topics. cms-lawnow.com
- Events and webinars: we host regular events on ESG topics for our clients. Recent examples include webinars on Net Zero and the European Green Deal, sustainability claims and greenwashing and climate and sustainability in commercial contracts. You can access these on our dedicated COP26 hub.
To view our Climate Change & Sustainability Regulatory Timeline, click here.
You can see how we work with our clients by visiting our pages dedicated to ESG on our website.
