Climate-related financial disclosure

This section is in accordance with the Companies (Strategic Report) (Climate-related Financial Disclosure) Regulations 2022 and the Limited Liability Partnerships (Climate-related Financial Disclosure) Regulations 2022. These disclosures are published for the LLP’s financial year ending 30 April 2024.

Governance

In 2025, the firm established a new Responsible Business Committee, which has formally taken over oversight of climate-related risks and opportunities from the previous Sustainability Committee which no longer exists. This evolution reflects our commitment to a more strategic and integrated approach to Responsible Business, recognising the intersection between environmental, societal, and governance issues. By embedding climate-related oversight within this broader framework, we are better positioned to manage risks and seize opportunities in a way that aligns with our long-term business strategy.

The Responsible Business Committee is a formal sub-committee of the Board and works in close coordination with the Executive Committee, Risk Committee, and Audit Committee. It is chaired by a delegated Board member and includes two other Members, our General Counsel, Chief People Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, and Head of Responsible Business. This composition ensures that those most aligned with our scenario analysis and strategic priorities bring relevant perspectives to our governance structure.

As with its predecessor, the Committee meets at least four times per year and provides updates to the Executive Committee at least twice annually, as well as to the Risk and Audit Committees and/or the Board as appropriate.

The Executive Committee, comprising the CEO, CFO, CPO, and up to six Members, continues to hold overall responsibility for strategy, operational improvement, and capital expenditure.

Risks and opportunities can continue to be identified by any of our business services and fee-earning teams and reported to the Head of Responsible Business, who will escalate to the Responsible Business Committee if required. These are integrated into the firm’s formal processes for the management of risks and controls to ensure environmental and climate-related matters are actively monitored and progress against any agreed actions is recorded.

In addition to this, we now proactively identify potential climate-related risks and opportunities through our operational review process. This process enables a systematic and forward-looking assessment of emerging issues across the firm, ensuring that climate-related considerations are embedded into our broader risk management framework.

Risk management

Our process for identifying climate-related risks remained consistent throughout the last financial year and is integrated into our operations in the following ways:

Awareness and training: This is overseen by our Risk and Responsible Business team with input from subject matter experts in our practice groups, to ensure that our people understand environmental impacts and climate-related risks.

Business Service Directors: Each Director is responsible for identifying, assessing and managing risks within their area. General risk management remains subject to the governance structures referred to above.

Cross-team Collaboration: We encourage and facilitate communication between our industry-leading practice groups and our business services teams on climate-related issues which means that we have the best chance of identifying climate-related risks to our business efficiently and effectively.

In addition to the day-to-day identification of risk within the business set out above, active risk assessment will be undertaken by our Responsible Business Committee on a quarterly basis as mentioned above. This is in addition to an annual risk assessment, conducted by our Risk Assessment Working Group, which reviews our global operations and value chain, to identify potential physical and transitional risks and opportunities to set out any actions we may need to take.

Risk assessment criteria: The assessment considers how the following factors may constitute risks or opportunities to our business:

  • Financial
  • Reputational
  • Regulatory
  • People
  • Operational
  • Market
  • Technology
  • Jurisdictional
  • Strategic
  • Legal
  • Acute physical risks
  • Chronic physical risks

Each relevant risk is evaluated for likelihood and consequence, and a risk score is calculated as follows: Risk Score = Likelihood x Consequence. The risks are categorised as High, Medium or Low based on their risk score, the risk assessment is documented, and risk owners identified and tasked with addressing steps to manage and mitigate the risk as set out below.

Any risks identified as high risk are escalated to the Risk team, the Business Service Directors and the Responsible Business Committee with proposed mitigations or actions. Recommendations are escalated to the Executive Committee if required, as set out above.

Strategy

Our approach to climate-related risks and opportunities remained consistent during the last financial year and continues to influence our strategic planning across short, medium and long-term horizons.

We consider:

Short-term (1-2 years): This aligns with our operational and business planning cycles, including our Operational Review process, and reflects and influences near-term operating plans.

Medium-term (2-5 years): This aligns with broader strategic planning in line with our five-year business strategy, which came into effect in May 2024.

Long-term (5-20 years): This extends beyond our current strategy and the tenure of any one leadership team or cohort of Partners. It aligns with our long-term transition plans to reach net zero across our value chain by 2040 and reflects the global decarbonisation trajectory, recognising that adaptation will become increasingly necessary as global temperatures rise.

This structured approach ensures that climate-related considerations are embedded into our business operations as we align with the net zero transition and support our clients in managing their own climate-related risks and realising opportunities through the services we provide.

3.1 Scenario analysis

Paragraph 2.3.1 outlines areas of risk and opportunity we have considered in our assessment.

Our approach to scenario analysis remained unchanged during the last financial year and continues to align with best-practice guidance by assessing climate-related risks and opportunities against both a best-case and a worst-case scenario. We have deliberately chosen not to use the Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS), as it represents a midpoint between the two and does not provide the same level of contrast or stress-testing value. Therefore, our risk assessment and scenario analysis consider two scenarios:

  • ‘Net Zero 2050’ - 1.5°C temperature rise by 2100

This scenario assumes an orderly transition. The scenario focuses on transitional risks including those associated with market and regulatory pressures driven by faster economy-wide efforts to decarbonise. It assumes an immediate policy reaction and that policies become gradually more stringent, medium regional policy variation, and fast technological change. Physical risks are relatively subdued in this scenario.

  • ‘Hothouse World’- 3°C temperature rise by 2100

This scenario assumes that some climate policies are implemented in some jurisdictions, but that global societal and policy efforts to decarbonise are insufficient and unable to prevent significant global temperature rises. It assumes a low regional variation in policy response, and slow technological change. In this scenario critical temperature thresholds are exceeded, leading to increase in frequency and severity of extreme weather events and increased chronic changes to the climate associated with a higher global temperature rise.

3.1.1 Risks

The table below outlines the areas of risk we have considered in our assessment.

3.1.2 Opportunities

Because of the nature of our work, the transition to a net zero economy also poses significant opportunities for us a law firm, as we are positioned to help our clients navigate climate-related risks such as increasing regulations, changing customer expectations, investment flows and development in technologies. We are tracking these opportunities closely and are working to develop quantitative metrics to track our performance over time.

3.1.3 Assessment of scenario analysis

Between May 2024 and April 2025, our assessment remains consistent. We consider our business to be sufficiently resilient to the impacts of climate change under both climate scenarios considered, and therefore there has been no change to the scoring since our last report. Climate falls within the ‘treat’ threshold for risk, i.e. one that can be reduced to an acceptable level by implementing and maintaining additional controls. We are deeply committed to mitigating the impact our business has on the environment and developing our climate strategy on an ongoing basis.

This conclusion reflects the nature of our operations, our existing business continuity programmes, building insurance policies, and purchasing practices, which collectively help us manage physical risks such as disruption to buildings, working patterns, productivity, and supply chains. These risks are not currently considered material to our financial performance under either scenario.

However, we recognise that climate change is a dynamic issue. During our recent materiality exercise, climate change was identified as a material issue for the firm, reinforcing the need for ongoing review of our approach. We are actively considering how climate-related risks and opportunities may influence other material issues such as talent, communities, supply chains and regulatory compliance and how our strategy may need to evolve in response to rising global temperatures and shifting stakeholder expectations.

Our commitment to mitigating our environmental impact and continually developing our climate strategy remains important and we will continue to monitor developments to ensure our practices remain sufficient and responsive.

Future strategy

Looking ahead, our evolved governance approach outlined earlier in this report is expected to enhance our ability to identify, assess, and manage climate-related risks more effectively. By embedding climate oversight within the newly established Responsible Business Committee, we are better positioned to take a strategic, cross-functional view of climate issues and ensure alignment with our broader business objectives.

Over the past 12 months, we have made significant progress in operationalising our environmental commitments. Following the successful implementation of our Environmental Management System (EMS) in the UK several years ago, we have now rolled out a global EMS across our network. A key focus for the coming year will be to fully embed this system within each office, enabling us to track local-level metrics, monitor improvements, and manage climate-related impacts more consistently across jurisdictions. Our ambition is to align our EMS with the ISO14001 standard and to seek formal certification within the next 12-18 months. This will provide a robust framework for continuous improvement and accountability in our environmental performance.

Transparency remains a core principle of our climate strategy. We will continue to report on our progress against our validated net zero targets and on how we are addressing the impacts of climate change through our annual Responsible Business Report, which complements our Annual Report and Financial Statements.

Finally, building internal and client-facing capacity will remain a strategic priority. We recognise that delivering on our climate goals requires not only robust systems and governance, but also an informed and engaged workforce. Over the next 12 months, we will continue to invest in training, knowledge sharing, and collaboration - both within the firm and with our clients - to ensure we are well-equipped to navigate the evolving climate landscape.

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