What does Net Zero mean?
Net Zero means achieving a balance between the amount of carbon emissions produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere.
In 2019 the UK government became the first major economy in the world to make a legally binding commitment to set a “Net Zero target” for carbon emissions by 2050.
Our Net Zero glossary of terms gives more detailed explanations on the topic and what the firm is doing, and has done for clients.
Who will be affected by Net Zero?
Everyone will be affected. Net Zero will be the single biggest UK policy and legal driver over the next decades. It will impact any public or private entity present, operating in or wanting to do business in the UK, as well as every UK resident.
How can we help?
This scale of change required is huge and we want to help our clients rise to the challenge and benefit from the opportunities to capitalise on the technology, projects and investment that will flow into organisations addressing climate change.
Our multi-sector teams deliver Net Zero legal solutions through market-leading expertise and experience in the key sectors that will need to come together to decarbonise including: Transport, energy, land & food, and the built environment. With in-depth knowledge of the regulation across the four key sectors, we are able to facilitate cross-sector discussions and are uniquely positioned to advise on the policies, regulation, strategies and projects that will need to be developed and implemented by the private and public sector.
We have established networks and strong relationships with leading industry bodies and organisations, allowing us to bring specialists together to deliver Net Zero legal solutions and put you in touch with the right people who can help your business.
We pride ourselves on our Net Zero work making a real difference to enable communities, economies and the environment to flourish.
What we do
Our expertise in net zero legal services across our specialist sectors includes the following:
- Alternative fuel solutions
- Contentious and non-contentious work across climate change, air quality and carbon law matters
- Carbon neutral and offsetting
- Decarbonised transport and fuels
- Electricity, heat, hydrogen, natural and green gas, nuclear, water, waste & CCUS projects & networks
- Energy efficiency
- Energy and electricity generation
- Environment
- ESG
- Hydrogen
- Industrial and logistics
- Integrated transport solutions
- Land & food, biodiversity net gain, natural capital matters and carbon neutral and offsetting
- Net Zero carbon emissions advice
- Procuring, consenting, developing, financing, operating and decommissioning Net Zero infrastructure
- Public Authority Net Zero strategies
- The decarbonisation of new build and existing industrial, commercial and domestic buildings, including construction methods, smart systems & energy efficiency
- The Net Zero regulatory regime and associated industry codes and standards in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Our partnerships
We are well connected and sit on key industry groups ensuring that we have up to date knowledge of these sectors and the regulation around them. We participate in a number of bodies including:
We are committed and invested
Respect for the environment is integral to our responsible business commitments and part of stakeholder expectations, with our people and our clients.
We are passionate about a Net Zero future, and are advocates for positive action and collaboration to make this a reality. We have pledged to make our own business net zero* by the end of 2026. We are partners with conservation charity Trees for Life and also one of the founding members of the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance.
We have also made set our Business Ambition for 1.5oC with the Science Based Targets Initiative.
Key elements of our Net Zero approach:
- We are committed to an approach of emissions reduction first, use of renewables second and use of offsets as the last resort.
- We have expanded our knowledge of indirect scope 3 emissions through our determination of science based targets which have been submitted to the Science Based Targets Initiative.
- We are working towards a 50% reduction in emissions across all 3 scopes by 2030 against a 2019 baseline - this is overseen by our Environment Committee and enabled as part of our ISO 14001 accredited environment management system.
Our work
Take a look at our Net Zero case studies to see the impact our work is having.
For more information about our market-leading service please contact Ross Fairley.
* ‘Net Zero’ means that total emissions are equal to or less than the emissions we remove from the environment. This can be achieved by a combination of emission reduction and removal by offsetting. Emissions can be removed or absorbed by natural processes such as tree planting or by using technologies like carbon capture. We are on target to achieve our Net Zero target date on this basis. We recognise that the definition of Net Zero and pace of change required to meet the climate challenge will evolve and we will keep all of our targets under review.
Source: Net zero emissions: A new UK climate change target? (parliament.uk) dated: 19 Oct 2018
Watch Burges Salmon lawyers, Ross Fairley, Malcolm Donald and Carys Sherwood, participate in the Hydrogen Energy Association’s 30-minute ‘Bytes’ webinar, unravelling the hydrogen opportunity here.