To become carbon neutral, organisations calculate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions they generate through their business operations — including electricity, travel, and fuel consumption — and implement emission-reducing initiatives to lessen their footprint.

Where necessary, remaining emissions are often offset by investing in projects designed to reduce GHG emissions, such as reforestation and renewable energy generation.

Lander & Rogers’ Climate Active certification recognises the firm’s carbon-neutral status both as an organisation and a service provider. 

Actions taken by the firm to reduce its GHG emissions include:

• Introducing an e-brief policy and phasing out the use of hardcopy briefs to external counsel, saving more than 275,000 documents from being printed and reducing vehicle emissions associated with transportation;
• Running a campaign focused on paper consumption, which reduced paper use across the firm by 3.5 million pages a year; 
• Transitioning to 100 per cent renewable energy in each of the firm’s three offices; and 
• Incorporating sustainable design and operation principles in its new premises in Melbourne to divert waste from landfill and minimise future electricity consumption requirements. 

“Setting ambitious environmental targets is a key component of Lander & Rogers’ 2025 strategy as the firm looks to champion sustainability and promote innovative responses to climate change,” said chief executive partner Genevieve Collins.

“We recognise that climate change poses a very real threat and will increasingly impact law firms, our clients, and the communities in which we work,” said Ms Collins. 

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“It is incumbent upon everyone to play a part in reducing our collective environmental impact.”

“Becoming carbon neutral is an important achievement that demonstrates our commitment to operating a responsible and sustainable business,” said Jo Renkin, Lander & Rogers’ partner for pro bono in its community and environment team.

“It sends a strong message to our people, clients and profession that we are serious about reducing our environmental impact and supporting climate action.” 

Environment consultant Michael Boley, who helped drive the firm’s initiatives to gain Climate Active certification, said: “Achieving carbon neutral status has given us a more detailed appreciation of our environmental footprint and enabled us to integrate environmental priorities in our day-to-day decision making.” 

This year, the firm announced that it had joined the United Nations Global Compact — a voluntary framework for the development, implementation and disclosure of responsible business practices.

The compact requires participants to comply with the initiative’s 10 universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. 

As part of its commitment, Lander & Rogers has also enrolled in the UN Global Compact’s Climate Ambition Accelerator, a six-month workshop designed to equip Australian organisations with industry best practice on analysing and reducing carbon emissions.