C&S Takes Part in #ClimateActionDay – Supports Clients in Reaching Shared Climate Goals

The purpose of this day led by the Science Based Targets initiative is to get private and public actors to react to the climate crisis: in order to halt global warming at 1.5 degrees, global emissions will have to be halved by 2030 and drop to net zero by 2050.

‘As a law firm and as lawyers, we can have an outsized impact by helping our Finnish and international clients reach their climate goals. We seek to be a strategic advisor to our clients in this transition. The importance of sustainability in assignments is increasing all the time,’ says C&S Managing Partner Sakari Lukinmaa.

 Last summer, Castrén & Snellman joined numerous leading international law firms in founding the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance. The goal of the alliance is to accelerate the transition to net zero emissions by 2050.

‘Business law firms and lawyers, legislation and cooperation between industries all have an important role to play in the green transition and the transition away from coal,’ Lukinmaa continues.

Our firm joined the Science Based Targets initiative’s Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign in 2020.  As a member of the UN Global Compact, Castrén & Snellman is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and to combating climate change.

C&S Committed to Reducing Emissions in Line with 1.5°C Target

In 2020, Castrén & Snellman’s carbon footprint was approximately 388 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

The firm’s main sources of greenhouse gas emissions were business travel and heating, which together accounted for about 67% of the total. The most important role of the calculation is to spur the firm on in reducing its climate impact.

 ‘We are committed to reducing our emissions 25% by 2025. We plan to use digital tools to reduce emissions from business travel. Our office building underwent an energy renovation in 2020–2021, which reduced energy consumption by about 20%. All of the electricity consumed by the building is green’, says Anna Kuusniemi-Laine, head of sustainability at C&S.

The firm has calculated its carbon footprint twice. Read more about the firm’s carbon footprint calculation.

 Achieving Carbon Neutrality through Reducing and Offsetting Emissions

Castrén & Snellman offset its 2020 carbon footprint by purchasing Verified Emissions Reductions from a forest preserve in Zimbabwe. The Kariba Project, which is part of the UN’s emissions compensation system, protects almost 785,000 hectares of forests and wildlife on the southern shores of Lake Kariba, near the Zimbabwe-Zambia border.

In addition, the firm compensated its emissions according to the double compensation principle by buying CO2 Removal Certificates (CORCs) produced by Finnish company Ekovilla through Puro.earth, which is owned by Nasdaq. Founded in 2019, Puro.earth is the world’s first marketplace to bring together companies offering CORCs to parties interested in buying them.