Reporting Boundary: 17 Worldwide Sites
(Dubai, Geneva, Greece, Hong Kong, Monaco,
London, Singapore, Brussels, Abu Dhabi, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Houston, Rio, Sao Paulo, Paris, Shanghai)
Emission sources: Electricity, T&D losses,
natural gas, other fuels, water, waste, fleet,
business travel, paper, freight
Reporting Period: 01 Jan 2020 – 31 Dec 2020
We engage our employees and wider stakeholders to unlock their talent and knowledge to drive year on year progress in sustainability.
We recognise that transparent communication is essential for transformational change and we quantifiably contribute to 9 SDG’s.
HFW, an international law firm providing expert solutions on all aspects of international commerce, has achieved the Planet Mark certification.
This is HFW’s sixth year of business carbon footprint reporting and Planet Mark certification. Since certifying, the company has set a target to reduce emissions by 5% annually.
HFW’s total carbon footprint in the year ending December 2020 was 1,799.4 tCO2e, a reduction of 42.7%. HFW’s total carbon per employee in the year ending 2020 was 1.8 tCO2e, a decrease of 40.1%.
“The HFW team has made tremendous strides in reducing their carbon emissions this year. HFW has gained a lot of experience in sustainable practice, and has used this expertise to accelerate its action throughout the last year. This is only possible by engaging people across the business, and making sure everyone is on board with tackling climate change. I applaud HFW on another year of fantastic achievement.”
HFW is committed to working with our people, our clients and the broader HFW community to help build a better world for current and future generations.
The company seek to use its legal and sector expertise, networks and corporate responsibility initiatives to enable sustainable practices across all of its operations and the industries that it serves and to drive meaningful and lasting change. The firm’s partnership with Renewable World aims to reduce poverty in the developing world through the use of renewable energy and its aerospace team has offset its emissions for the carbon its air travel produced. The firm has also appointed ‘Sustainability Champions’ in each of its six global industry groups (Aerospace, Commodities, Construction, Energy and Resources, Insurance, and Shipping) as well as its risk and knowledge management departments. These champions will help devise and implement sustainability initiatives – both internally and with clients.
As we continue through the decade of climate action, law firms must capitalise on consumers’ increasing awareness of our need to save the planet from climate change. Becoming knowledgeable about sustainability and following good practices has become an integral part of client acquisition in the legal sector. This is why sustainability has become an increasingly important issue at the board level across the world. Many firms report that good sustainable practice is of growing importance in the recruitment and retention of staff. Robust sustainability and carbon reduction can thus become part of long term profitability, resilient and climate-friendly strategy.
As part of the Planet Mark certification, HFW has committed to making a year-on-year reduction.
