Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance played an active role at COP-26 in Glasgow, Scotland in 2021, including by launching a report on trade and climate change co-authored with the World Economic Forum (WEF), speaking on several panels on critical issues for our clients, and engaging in conversations with a wide range of key partners such as the International Chamber of Commerce. The platform helped our team at COP-26 further the conversation on issues including the just transition, the energy transition, and using trade policy to support the net zero strategies of businesses.

Action on climate change is a key imperative for us as it not only affects the firm, it also affects our clients and our suppliers. Like many responsible businesses, we have set ambitious near-term science-based targets for 2030 improving our environmental performance and supporting us with our longer-term aim to be net zero.

Sustainability is important for our clients and our people, so we embrace systems and initiatives that support better use of energy resources and reduce CO2 emissions. One way we are doing this is by considering sustainability as part of the process when identifying buildings for new offices.

When the leases were running out on our offices Singapore, Sydney and Perth, we established a project called Nest to find suitable alternatives and worked alongside specialist consultants to ensure that each facility was as sustainable as possible. “Sustainability was one of the main criteria in Australia, and we only looked at buildings in Sydney and Perth that had a National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) five-star rating or above,” says Helen Kippax, General Manager, Australia.