Challenge your firm to go green!
The CBA’s National Environmental, Energy and Resources Law Section has developed an environmental Sustainability Challenge Toolkit for law firms. The main driver for the CBA Law Office Sustainability Challenge is a desire to improve the environmental performance of law firms across Canada. The CBA Law Office Sustainability Challenge aims to meet this objective by engaging CBA members in improving firm-wide environmental performance and promoting practice sharing across the membership.
The toolkit provides firms with simple, straightforward, and effective ways to improve their environmental practices. Implementation of these strategies will result in:
Cost Savings
Improving energy efficiency and reducing use of water, paper, and other inputs to your practice can reduce overhead costs. Green workplaces (e.g. those with low levels of off gassing from office furnishings and coatings, those with good light and good indoor air quality) are also associated with improved health, resulting in increased productivity due to fewer sick days.
Employee Recruitment and Retention
Increasingly, environmental issues factor into people’s choices about where to work. Green workplaces have been associated with greater productivity and employee satisfaction, which can translate into greater loyalty and lower staff turnover. Furthermore, the process of working toward shared environmental goals within the firm can contribute to a sense of team and community.
Developing Expertise
Many law firms are increasingly advising clients on environmental issues. Making environmentally-conscious decisions in-house helps to develop the expertise needed to improve credibility with clients and may lead to reputational lift.
Corporate Responsibility
Businesses of all sorts are increasingly under pressure from clients, consumers, employees, investors, and other stakeholders to “do the right thing” by improving environmental performance. Corporate responsibility is a business imperative for some companies and a company’s commitment to corporate citizenship can demonstrate its value to employees, clients and society at large.
If you have questions, please contact Jennifer McKenzie (jenniferm@cba.org).