Earth Day - ESG in the Legal Sector

First taking place in 1970, Earth Day is celebrated annually on the 22nd April, commemorating the achievements of the environmental movement and raising awareness surrounding the importance of protecting Earth’s natural resources for future generations.

Following the first observation of the day, Earth Day came to be the largest secular day of protest in the world, achieving a rare political alignment between various parties, individuals and businesses. Undertaking the theme ‘Our Power, Our Planet’, Earth Day 2025 invites everyone around the globe to unite behind renewable energy, and to triple the global generation of clean electricity by 2030.

Nature is currently suffering, and people power is the driving force behind this transformation. Earth Day is the collective voice of concerned individuals pushing governments and organisations to make integral decisions and take decisive action. Many countries have strict environmental laws in place and goals for the future, in fact some countries have already been pushing the way forward and making an impact.

For instance, in Brazil hydro-electricity accounted for almost 68% of its total electricity generation in 2023. India has also set goals aiming to create 50% of its energy requirements from renewable sources by 2030. In Australia, it has also been reported that 1/3 of all homes in the country utilise solar power.

The US has a number of environmental laws that are in place to help reduce the country’s environmental impact and contribute to future goals:

The Clean Air Act is the United States primary federal air quality law, first sanctioned in 1963 and amended many times since, it is one of the country’s first and most influential environmental laws.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to disclose the environmental effects of their proposed actions, this act was first signed into law in 1970.

The Inflation Reduction Act is a legislation that provides approximately $370 billion dollars for clean energy and other climate-related programs.

The United States characterises an environmental law violation as a form of white-collar crime, convictions can result in various punishments including fines, probation and even jail time in some instances. Generally, individuals who have been convicted face a sentence of jail time, whilst organisations face fines which attempt to offset any financial gain of conducting the violation.

Whilst law firms may not be the world’s largest polluters, they are viewed as seriously behind other professional services when it comes to ESG commitments. Clients are increasingly pushing firms on their ESG commitments, which is partly due to clients wanting guidance on ESG matters from firm advisers who have first-hand experience.

ESG, an abbreviation for Environmental, Social and Governance, is a set of standards that measures how a business operates in regard to society, the environment and how transparent and accountable it is for its actions.

Impactvise carries out an inaugural ESG law firm ranking, a report that measures the ESG performance of more than 1,000 firms globally. The ranking is based on how well law firms meet the World Economic Forum’s Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics, this measures ESG through the lens of governance, people, planet and prosperity.

According to the findings of Impactvise, almost half of the top 25 best performing firms on ESG are headquartered in the UK, scoring highest in the people category. At the top of the ranking is DLA Piper, the UK headquartered firm scored an impressive 91/100 for its ESG performance, closely followed by Clifford Chance in second place and DWF in third.

Environmental impact is evidently becoming something of increasing concern for organisations, governments and individuals alike. Not only is it now integral for law firms to take a closer look at how they can improve their impact, however the demand for lawyers with ‘green skills’ is now higher than ever and it is clear those with tangible experience are being more eagerly sought after. Today, it is important to look at steps, whether big or small, that you can take to reduce your environmental impact and conserve our natural environment.