While the Australian legal sector continues to show strong commitment to environmental management and climate leadership, the AusLSA 2025 annual report has highlighted the key sources driving the largest emissions from law firms.
The Australian legal sector is rapidly solidifying its position as a leader in environmental management and climate action, with 2025 marking remarkable progress in emissions reduction and the integration of sustainability into core operations.
Despite these gains, the 2025 AusLSA Annual Sustainability Update Report also highlights critical areas where law firms continue to face challenges and must take further action to reduce their environmental impact.
For law firms, business travel remains the largest contributor to emissions, accounting for 64 per cent of total gross emissions in 2025, with air travel overwhelmingly dominating at 62.5 per cent.
By contrast, car travel contributes only marginally to this figure, making up just 1.8 per cent of emissions from business travel.
However, there is a silver lining. The report highlighted that several firms across the nation have introduced “responsible travel frameworks, requiring justification for flights, setting internal carbon budgets, and offsetting unavoidable emissions”.
The Australian Legal Sector Alliance (AusLSA) noted that while progress is being made, further gains will depend on embedding lower-emission travel options and continuing to normalise virtual engagement as standard practice.
Electricity use continues to be a major driver of environmental impact for law firms, with the report revealing that it accounted for 35 per cent of total emissions in 2025.
While a significant proportion of law firms have yet to change their practices, 36 per cent of total electricity consumption now comes from green sources through GreenPower purchases or building-level renewable agreements.
This shift underscores the sector’s ongoing commitment to renewable energy, contributing to the continued decline of electricity-related emissions, according to AusLSA.
While the report acknowledged that law firms still have areas to improve in environmental responsibility, AusLSA highlighted significant gains in resource efficiency across the sector in 2025.
For instance, total paper use per person fell by 45 per cent in 2025, dropping from 38 kilograms in 2024 to just 21 kilograms.
The report also highlighted that waste management remains strong across law firm offices, with 99 per cent recycling paper, 98 per cent recycling packaging, 82 per cent managing organic waste, and 89 per cent reusing or recycling IT equipment.
Despite these achievements, AusLSA emphasised that future improvements should focus on circular procurement models and strengthening supplier partnerships to further enhance sustainability outcomes.
AusLSA identified that one of the key reasons the legal profession is achieving measurable improvements in environmental performance is the growing adoption of formal environmental management systems across the sector.
