An ambitious commitment by Bristol-headquartered national law firm TLT to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2040 has been officially verified.
TLT, which employs round 1,200 people across six offices, described the recognition by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) as a “monumental step forward in the firm’s comprehensive decarbonisation strategy”. It also said the move put at the vanguard of the legal sector. 
SBTi, a partnership that includes the United Nations Global Compact and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), recently validated a pledge by Bristol-headquartered law firm Burges Salmon to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
TLT said its target went beyond SBTi’s recommendation that businesses halve their emissions before 2030 and achieve net zero before 2050, as well as the UK’s commitment to achieving net zero by 2050.
The firm is now working on implementing its net zero roadmap developed in conjunction with specialist consultancy Carbon Intelligence as part of the SBTi submission.
Separate from the SBTi validation, TLT has also committed to offsetting its emissions in 2025 to enhance environmental protections even further, as it journeys towards net zero. 
TLT’s full set of near and long-term targets include:
- Reducing absolute scope 1 and 2 emissions 80% by 2030 from a 2019 base year
- Reducing absolute scope 3 emissions 47% by 2030 from a 2019 base year
- Reducing absolute scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions 90% by 2040 from a 2019 base year.
Scope 1 covers direct emissions from owned or controlled sources and scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the generation of electricity, steam, heating and cooling bought and used by the business, while scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in a company’s supply chain.
TLT said scope 3 supply chain emissions were traditionally excluded from corporate strategies. They account for the largest proportion of TLT’s emissions and are the hardest to control.
TLT head of real estate and future energy and executive board member Maria Connolly, pictured, who is responsible for the firm’s environmental sustainability strategy, said: “This marks an important step on our continued journey, as we now work towards achieving net zero by 2040 and our near-term targets.
“From day one, reducing our emissions has been a firmwide effort and we will continue to work at every level – from the board right through to our regional employee-led sustainability forums, and with our growing list of partner organisations – to do all that we can to achieve our goals as quickly as possible, and linking this to our wider sustainability and wellbeing strategies.
“The latest climate science shows it is still possible to limit global warming to 1.5°C, but we are dangerously close to that threshold. We need to ensure that every business has access to the information and resources it needs to set as ambitious a net zero plan as possible, and that businesses work together to share best practice and ideas.”
TLT is globally recognised as a leader in the future energy market, acting on many first-of-a-kind projects to help expand the UK’s capacity to generate, capture and use renewable energy.
