Climate Change

Dentons is committed to reducing its carbon emissions and has commenced measuring our carbon emissions footprint with 2022 as our baseline year. We had previously signed up to the now closed, Business Ambition 1.5°C and Race to Zero, but still plan to establish Net Zero targets in line with the Science Based Targets initiative. Our UKIME region has already completed this process and has had its SBTi climate targets approved. Additionally, we have signed up to a number of practice-specific initiatives, such as Greener Arbitrations, Law Firm Sustainability Network and Legal Sustainability Alliance, as well as geographic-specific carbon measurements and reduction initiatives like Toitū and Planet Mark.

Energy management

Energy management is at the center of our carbon reduction efforts. Our goal is to increase the use of renewable energy in our buildings and explore alternative options to offset our energy consumption where renewable energy is unavailable or in multi-tenancy buildings. We also track how many of our offices are LEED certified (or equivalent) and are on green energy tariffs.

Real estate management

Real estate accounts for a significant proportion of our carbon footprint and we have begun to map our global corporate real estate and to build smarter, more sustainable and inclusive offices. We are moving more of our offices into LEED certified buildings, and we have created a comprehensive “Guide to Sustainable Offices” in order to better educate and guide leadership across the Firm.

Supply chain management 

We have developed a suite of procurement and supply chain policies, processes and systems in line with our sustainability and ESG goals, including a new “Supplier Code of Ethical Conduct” which we expect our suppliers to sign. This also includes supply chain risk management, and working with suppliers that uphold the highest sustainability and ESG standards in their operations. 

Waste optimization 

Dentons is taking measures to reduce, reuse, recycle and recover (with disposal as the last option) in dealing with waste generated across the Firm’s operations. 

Technology

To reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint and improve operational efficiency, we are reviewing our end-of-life policies and ensuring that our equipment is reused or repurposed in accordance with local regulations, best practices and specific client requirements or donated to charities. 

Sustainable Travel 

As the world’s largest global law firm, travel is an inevitable part of our business and critical to ensuring greater connection among our people and our clients. To reduce the impact of travel on our carbon footprint, we are developing policies and processes to enable and encourage more sustainable travel choices and working on accurately capturing our impact.