Burges Salmon has committed to the Greener Litigation Pledge, an initiative to reduce the environmental impact of dispute resolution.
The Pledge was launched at the end of June 2021, supported by law firms and litigation service providers. It demonstrates not only an acknowledgment that litigation can have a negative environmental impact, but also a strong commitment to reduce that impact, including a number of issues that Burges Salmon are already committed to.
The immediate goal of the Pledge is to change the way in which dispute resolution practitioners conduct litigation, so as to reduce the carbon footprint of court disputes in line with the objective of restricting global warming to 1.5°C as set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Longer term, the Pledge aims to act as a catalyst for change to policy and procedure, to embed meaningful and permanent change into the rules of litigation practice, reducing climate and other environmental impacts.
The Pledge provides an opportunity for Burges Salmon to further demonstrate its firm-wide commitment to the environment and to taking positive action on climate change.
Suzanne Padmore, Disputes Partner and Chair of the Burges Salmon Environment Committee, comments: “I was confident that we were capable of meeting the requirements of the pledge, not least because many of the sustainable alternatives in the long term have already become the norm during the COVID pandemic, like remote hearings and electronic bundles. I hoped that in signing the pledge we will be reminded that these positive changes can remain, in the right cases, and that it will encourage us to assess the environmental impact of how we approach our work.”
Burges Salmon Managing Partner, Roger Bull, says: “The Greener Litigation Pledge aligns perfectly with Burges Salmon’s existing sustainability objectives, and is a really positive step for all the litigators across the firm.”