The Legal Charter 1.5 ('the Charter') has won the award for 'Best Environmental/Sustainability Strategy' at the Legal 500 UK ESG awards 2024.
The Charter consists of a set of eight core principles that signatories commit to, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the speed and scale necessary to restrict global warming to no more than 1.5°C.
As a proud founding signatory, Gowling WLG has been instrumental in shaping this initiative as part of a collaborative group of large commercial and corporate law firms.
The award recognises the hard work of signatory and dialogue partners in driving a fundamental shift in how law firms, together with their clients, can help mitigate the impacts of climate change, while also supporting efforts to address and not exacerbate the related challenges of biodiversity loss and social injustice.
Michael Luckman, General Counsel, said: "Involvement with the Charter is an imperative, not a choice. Lawyers and clients need to work together and challenge each other in facing the enormous threats of climate change, including understanding and minimising the negative impacts of the work we do together. Being founder members of something as unique and ambitious as the Charter is energising, and this award will help promote its vital goals".
Fiona Nicholls, Head of Assurance, Environment and ESG Strategy, added: "We are very proud to be involved with the Charter from the start, and part of a real co-collaborative effort to bring transformational change in the sector. The Charter, being a central strand of our ESG strategy, also brings us closer to our clients and aligns with our ESG legal practice aims."
This year, Legal 500 recognised Gowling WLG in the UK Green Guide 2024, the first worldwide guide to recognise the top law firms advising on issues around climate change, governance and sustainability, for its commitment to ESG, sustainability, climate change-related work and internal environmental initiatives.
The firm's leading Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) team is fully engaged in developments around a wide range of ESG themes. Comprising of lawyers working across practice areas in our international offices, the team provides a wide spectrum of advice helping clients to understand their responsibilities and identify where risks and opportunities may lie, to support them in getting started and formalising their own pathway to sustainability.