A message from our Chief Executive
Building a sustainable future for all
In last year’s responsible business report, we described the role that businesses such as ours can play in terms of being a powerful force for change. Never has the need for action been more apparent or urgent, given the complex intersection of increased inequality, major conflicts, multiple global health crises and, of course, the climate emergency.
Against this backdrop, it is perhaps not surprising that financial strength is no longer the only metric that businesses are judged on in terms of success with many stakeholders rightly demanding more. At Eversheds Sutherland, we also demand more of ourselves as we work to fulfil our purpose of helping our clients, our people and our communities to thrive, which is why we have committed to investing at least 1% of our net operating profit to our responsible business programme.
Our commitment to being a responsible business and integrating sustainable practices throughout our operations remains at the core of our strategy. Indeed, the primary aim of this report is to set out the progress we have made in our priority areas as well as identifying some of the challenges we face and our ambitions for the future.
Highlights from the past year certainly include the launch of our new five-year global partnership with the International Rescue Committee. We are proud to be able to support the IRC with pro bono legal services around the world, as well as financial support to help fund the incredible work that they do supporting refugees and displaced people to survive and rebuild their lives.
We have also made significant progress with our carbon reduction plan, having already hit our initial targets of a 50% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 by 2030. We will shortly be submitting new near-term targets to the Science Based Targets initiative for an 80% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 by 2030. The Scope 3 target of 50% reduction by 2030 remains as we continue to work together with our supply chain to be able to achieve this as quickly as possible.
Diversity in the legal profession is a persistent challenge and we are committed to accelerating our work to achieve our gender and ethnicity targets. Our partner group is currently 28.5% female against a target of 35% by 2027, and 9.3% are from ethnic backgrounds against a target of 10% by 2025.
Aligned to this, we have made very good progress with our Say Gap programme which aims to improve the diversity of our media spokespeople. We have exceeded our initial ethnicity target but have work to do to improve our gender diversity as we work to a target of 50% female and male spokespeople by 2023. We are currently at 45% female spokespeople, up from our baseline of 30%.
Finally, I should like to highlight the great strides we have made as regards greatly increasing our commitment to providing pro bono legal services. This has been an area of focus for us over the past 12 months and I am pleased to have seen this move forward at pace across all areas of the firm. Supporting refugees and displaced people has become a specific area of expertise for our dedicated pro bono team.
While we know there are areas we need to accelerate in terms of our sustainability practices, we were pleased to benchmark strongly in the Business In The Community Responsible Business Tracker this year. We were also proud to once again be re-accredited by the Good Business Charter this year, having been the first global law firm to join the GBC in 2021.
As a proud participant in the UN Global Compact, we remain committed to upholding the Ten Principles on human rights, labour, anti-corruption and the environment as well as furthering the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and look forward to continuing to drive our responsible business strategy forward over the coming year.
Lee Ranson Chief Executive Officer
WATCH:
Introduction to our Responsible Business Report - Lee Ranson, Chief Executive
A message from our Chief Executive
Building a sustainable future for all
In last year’s responsible business report, we described the role that businesses such as ours can play in terms of being a powerful force for change. Never has the need for action been more apparent or urgent, given the complex intersection of increased inequality, major conflicts, multiple global health crises and, of course, the climate emergency.
Against this backdrop, it is perhaps not surprising that financial strength is no longer the only metric that businesses are judged on in terms of success with many stakeholders rightly demanding more. At Eversheds Sutherland, we also demand more of ourselves as we work to fulfil our purpose of helping our clients, our people and our communities to thrive, which is why we have committed to investing at least 1% of our net operating profit to our responsible business programme.
Our commitment to being a responsible business and integrating sustainable practices throughout our operations remains at the core of our strategy. Indeed, the primary aim of this report is to set out the progress we have made in our priority areas as well as identifying some of the challenges we face and our ambitions for the future.
Highlights from the past year certainly include the launch of our new five-year global partnership with the International Rescue Committee. We are proud to be able to support the IRC with pro bono legal services around the world, as well as financial support to help fund the incredible work that they do supporting refugees and displaced people to survive and rebuild their lives.
We have also made significant progress with our carbon reduction plan, having already hit our initial targets of a 50% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 by 2030. We will shortly be submitting new near-term targets to the Science Based Targets initiative for an 80% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 by 2030. The Scope 3 target of 50% reduction by 2030 remains as we continue to work together with our supply chain to be able to achieve this as quickly as possible.
Diversity in the legal profession is a persistent challenge and we are committed to accelerating our work to achieve our gender and ethnicity targets. Our partner group is currently 28.5% female against a target of 35% by 2027, and 9.3% are from ethnic backgrounds against a target of 10% by 2025.
Aligned to this, we have made very good progress with our Say Gap programme which aims to improve the diversity of our media spokespeople. We have exceeded our initial ethnicity target but have work to do to improve our gender diversity as we work to a target of 50% female and male spokespeople by 2023. We are currently at 45% female spokespeople, up from our baseline of 30%.
Finally, I should like to highlight the great strides we have made as regards greatly increasing our commitment to providing pro bono legal services. This has been an area of focus for us over the past 12 months and I am pleased to have seen this move forward at pace across all areas of the firm. Supporting refugees and displaced people has become a specific area of expertise for our dedicated pro bono team.
While we know there are areas we need to accelerate in terms of our sustainability practices, we were pleased to benchmark strongly in the Business In The Community Responsible Business Tracker this year. We were also proud to once again be re-accredited by the Good Business Charter this year, having been the first global law firm to join the GBC in 2021.
As a proud participant in the UN Global Compact, we remain committed to upholding the Ten Principles on human rights, labour, anti-corruption and the environment as well as furthering the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and look forward to continuing to drive our responsible business strategy forward over the coming year.
Lee Ranson Chief Executive Officer
WATCH:
Introduction to our Responsible Business Report - Lee Ranson, Chief Executive