Environment
We recognise that the way in which we operate has an impact on the environment and are committed to integrating environmental best practice into our decision-making and business activities worldwide. We also recognise that our environmental performance is important to our clients, staff and other stakeholders. Our key impacts arise from waste generation, energy use including travel, and resource consumption. We are seeking to minimise these impacts through continual improvement in our environmental performance.
In seeking to improve our environmental performance, we are addressing the following areas in particular:
- Waste management
We will manage waste generated by our business as efficiently as possible, and will seek to reduce, reuse and recycle waste wherever possible. - Reduction of greenhouse gases
We will include environmental considerations such as energy efficiency into the acquisition, design and operation of all our buildings where practicable.
We will promote the use of travel options or alternatives to travel that minimise our impact on the environment. - Water consumption
We will manage our water consumption by installing water efficient measures in all our buildings where possible and feasible. - Procurement
We will take into account the environmental credentials of suppliers when awarding contracts and will consider environmentally responsible alternatives to products and services which we procure. - Stakeholder engagement
We will encourage and promote environmental awareness amongst our staff through information, instruction and training. - Clients
We will share our environmental policy and objectives with our clients and, where appropriate, encourage our clients to adopt environmental and sustainability strategies. - Communication
We will communicate our environmental policy internally and externally. - Review
We will review periodically, and, if necessary, revise, our environmental policy to ensure that it continues to meet the highest best practice standards. - Governance
The Executive Committee of Norton Rose LLP is responsible for deciding the practice’s environmental policy, objectives and targets and for ensuring that the necessary organisation and resources exist to facilitate their achievement. The Environmental Committee of Norton Rose LLP is responsible for implementing the policy as directed by the Executive Committee and for monitoring its operation. It is also the responsibility of each and every employee to implement this policy in the practice and live up to its commitments.
We view staff engagement as key. In early 2009, we launched a campaign engaging our staff in support of our environmental objectives. The first phase focused on waste management and energy consumption issues: Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. The campaign was rolled out with objectives ranging from the macro (making adjustments to the lighting in our London office to save energy) to the micro (improving signage on working floor bins to reduce contaminated waste). For us, reducing waste and at the same time cutting back on consumption is something for everyone to get involved in. We started with a waste seminar last November and since then have made a number of incremental changes to reduce waste in our consumption of food, paper and energy. Our environmental review also led us to join Green500, a London Development Agency initiative set up to help London’s largest organisations reduce their own carbon footprint (and of course that of London). The environmental work we are carrying out in London is very much the starting point – the flagship. In the next 12 months we will be encouraging and supporting our offices around the world to follow suit.