External reporting and accreditation
As part of our commitment to transparency and to improve our environmental sustainability, we submit to several external reporting frameworks including the CDP and EcoVadis.
CDP
To better assess our environmental performance, we submit annually to CDP, the global disclosure system for environmental impact. We were awarded a B in our latest CDP submission.
As part of the annual assessment, we disclosed our performance and management in relation to the firm’s greenhouse gas emissions, sustainability strategy, biodiversity metrics, renewable energy assets identification, approach to climate related risk and opportunities, and engagement with global communities.
Our CDP score provides the firm with a useful indicator of the progress we are making on our sustainability journey each year.
EcoVadis Through the EcoVadis assessment tool, we evaluate annually our policies relating to 21 issues grouped into the tool’s four themes of Labour and Human Rights, Ethics, Environment and Sustainable Procurement. We continue to make year-on-year progress and in our last assessment, we improved our score from a Bronze to Silver medal, placing our firm among the top 25% of companies assessed by EcoVadis.
To date, over 100 of our clients have requested that we complete the EcoVadis assessment, and both CDP and EcoVadis assessments have become an obligatory requirement for us to work with some of our key clients.
Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) We will submit our first Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) report as part of the firm’s next Annual Financial Report.
Biodiversity
We are making great strides in improving our biodiversity strategy across our business. In the London office, the rooftop garden provides a home to many insects, butterflies and birds amongst the sedum planting, wildflowers, fruit, vegetables and herbs. The firm sponsors beehives in the vicinity of seven out of its nine UK offices.
Eversheds Sutherland also has a long-standing relationship with the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), and the firm was invited to join its Blue Recovery Leaders Group (BRLG) as a founding member, with our CEO Lee Ranson serving as an Executive Member. The BRLG brings together purpose-led businesses to support its mission to restore 100,000 hectares of wetlands in the UK to help preserve and protect biodiversity and support carbon sequestration.
Wetland Link International (WLI) is a support network for wetland education centres that deliver engagement activities on site. The project is led by our charity partner WWT and has 350 members over six continents. We are funding the WLI Small Grants Scheme, a series of small grants intended to inspire innovation across the topic areas of communication, education, awareness and participation.
In 2023, the UK and Dubai offices switched to chemical free cleaning, where water is the only by-product, stopping synthetic chemicals from washing into our waterways and reducing the negative impact on wildlife. We are planning to roll this out more widely across the business.
Environmental initiatives
Eversheds Sutherland has adopted a number of key initiatives across different parts of the business in support of its environmental sustainability targets, including:
– in 2023, the firm adopted a new supplier management system, enabling the environmental progress of suppliers to be closely monitored, which is critical as the firm’s supply chain is responsible for the vast majority of its emissions
– every year, the firm increases the number of offices that use 100% renewable energy – of our 27 offices in the International LLP, 15 utilise 100% renewable energy, with Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Munich having all made the switch in the past year – this represents 87% of our office square footage
– to further reduce our electricity consumption, we are investing in LED lighting across our operations – both our Cardiff and Edinburgh offices have transitioned to 100% LED during the last year, and we intend to implement this across the business
– in our efforts to remove natural gas from our operations, we switched to green gas for the London and Birmingham offices in 2022
– we have improved office and IT server room temperature regulation in a number of offices, reducing the strain on our energy systems
– we are investing in the electrification of our catering services in offices; this will remove the need for natural gas consumption, reducing our emissions
– we prioritise environmental sustainability considerations when moving and refitting offices - at the end of 2022, our Amsterdam office moved to a BREEAM Excellent certified building meaning it is extremely energy efficient, while our Cardiff office refurbishment obtained an A and a B EPC rating, a significant improvement on the previous rating
– in the Middle East, our Dubai and Doha offices have introduced an initiative to reduce their single use plastics by replacing single use plastic water bottles with zip taps, while our Abu Dhabi office has recently introduced new plastic recycling measures
– in Asia, our Hong Kong office participates in the Swire Green Performance Pledge which includes commitments towards reducing energy, managing waste and minimising water usage – our Hong Kong office was awarded Gold for their efforts
As a firm, we also support a variety of different environmental days throughout the year, including World Wetlands Day, Earth Hour, Earth Day, World Environment Day, Plastic Free July, and World Food Day.
ISO 14001 Environmental Standard
In early 2023, we commenced a project aimed at obtaining ISO 14001 certification for all of our international offices. ISO 14001 is an internationally recognised standard for environmental management systems (EMS). The primary goal of ISO 14001 is to help organisations minimise their environmental impact, reduce resource consumption, and improve overall environmental performance.
External reporting and accreditation
As part of our commitment to transparency and to improve our environmental sustainability, we submit to several external reporting frameworks including the CDP and EcoVadis.
CDP
To better assess our environmental performance, we submit annually to CDP, the global disclosure system for environmental impact. We were awarded a B in our latest CDP submission.
As part of the annual assessment, we disclosed our performance and management in relation to the firm’s greenhouse gas emissions, sustainability strategy, biodiversity metrics, renewable energy assets identification, approach to climate related risk and opportunities, and engagement with global communities.
Our CDP score provides the firm with a useful indicator of the progress we are making on our sustainability journey each year.
EcoVadis Through the EcoVadis assessment tool, we evaluate annually our policies relating to 21 issues grouped into the tool’s four themes of Labour and Human Rights, Ethics, Environment and Sustainable Procurement. We continue to make year-on-year progress and in our last assessment, we improved our score from a Bronze to Silver medal, placing our firm among the top 25% of companies assessed by EcoVadis.
To date, over 100 of our clients have requested that we complete the EcoVadis assessment, and both CDP and EcoVadis assessments have become an obligatory requirement for us to work with some of our key clients.
Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) We will submit our first Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) report as part of the firm’s next Annual Financial Report.
Biodiversity
We are making great strides in improving our biodiversity strategy across our business. In the London office, the rooftop garden provides a home to many insects, butterflies and birds amongst the sedum planting, wildflowers, fruit, vegetables and herbs. The firm sponsors beehives in the vicinity of seven out of its nine UK offices.
Eversheds Sutherland also has a long-standing relationship with the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), and the firm was invited to join its Blue Recovery Leaders Group (BRLG) as a founding member, with our CEO Lee Ranson serving as an Executive Member. The BRLG brings together purpose-led businesses to support its mission to restore 100,000 hectares of wetlands in the UK to help preserve and protect biodiversity and support carbon sequestration.
Wetland Link International (WLI) is a support network for wetland education centres that deliver engagement activities on site. The project is led by our charity partner WWT and has 350 members over six continents. We are funding the WLI Small Grants Scheme, a series of small grants intended to inspire innovation across the topic areas of communication, education, awareness and participation.
In 2023, the UK and Dubai offices switched to chemical free cleaning, where water is the only by-product, stopping synthetic chemicals from washing into our waterways and reducing the negative impact on wildlife. We are planning to roll this out more widely across the business.
Environmental initiatives
Eversheds Sutherland has adopted a number of key initiatives across different parts of the business in support of its environmental sustainability targets, including:
– in 2023, the firm adopted a new supplier management system, enabling the environmental progress of suppliers to be closely monitored, which is critical as the firm’s supply chain is responsible for the vast majority of its emissions
– every year, the firm increases the number of offices that use 100% renewable energy – of our 27 offices in the International LLP, 15 utilise 100% renewable energy, with Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Munich having all made the switch in the past year – this represents 87% of our office square footage
– to further reduce our electricity consumption, we are investing in LED lighting across our operations – both our Cardiff and Edinburgh offices have transitioned to 100% LED during the last year, and we intend to implement this across the business
– in our efforts to remove natural gas from our operations, we switched to green gas for the London and Birmingham offices in 2022
– we have improved office and IT server room temperature regulation in a number of offices, reducing the strain on our energy systems
– we are investing in the electrification of our catering services in offices; this will remove the need for natural gas consumption, reducing our emissions
– we prioritise environmental sustainability considerations when moving and refitting offices - at the end of 2022, our Amsterdam office moved to a BREEAM Excellent certified building meaning it is extremely energy efficient, while our Cardiff office refurbishment obtained an A and a B EPC rating, a significant improvement on the previous rating
– in the Middle East, our Dubai and Doha offices have introduced an initiative to reduce their single use plastics by replacing single use plastic water bottles with zip taps, while our Abu Dhabi office has recently introduced new plastic recycling measures
– in Asia, our Hong Kong office participates in the Swire Green Performance Pledge which includes commitments towards reducing energy, managing waste and minimising water usage – our Hong Kong office was awarded Gold for their efforts
As a firm, we also support a variety of different environmental days throughout the year, including World Wetlands Day, Earth Hour, Earth Day, World Environment Day, Plastic Free July, and World Food Day.
ISO 14001 Environmental Standard
In early 2023, we commenced a project aimed at obtaining ISO 14001 certification for all of our international offices. ISO 14001 is an internationally recognised standard for environmental management systems (EMS). The primary goal of ISO 14001 is to help organisations minimise their environmental impact, reduce resource consumption, and improve overall environmental performance.