Sustainability

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As the world struggles to address environmental challenges, social inequality and economic disruption, sustainability in business is increasingly recognised as a clear moral and commercial imperative.

Our sustainability vision is rooted in what enables us to be successful as a firm – the long-term prosperity of our people and clients, a healthy natural environment and resilience in the communities in which we operate.

We are committed to creating shared value through a firm-wide focus on People, Planet and Practices, using our skills and expertise to support sustainable and inclusive prosperity in our sectors and communities. We aim to:

  • maintain responsible practices and behaviours that enable us to run our business sustainably and manage our environmental footprint;
  • empower our people to deliver pro bono and other voluntary projects supporting environmental and social activities relevant to our sectors; and
  • support our clients to in their net zero transition and develop thought leadership to enable positive change in our sectors.

CREDENTIALS

People

As an international law firm employing around 1,400 people across 15 countries, we  aim to have  positive impact within the communities in which we operate by working in partnership with charities and educational organisations to provide financial support and share our skills and expertise.

Our lawyers deliver pro bono legal advice across a range of social issues including access to justice, action on energy poverty and helping improve working conditions within our sectors. In the 2023/24 financial year, our lawyers recorded almost 2,500 legal pro bono hours, an increase of 7% compared to the previous year. Our people are also empowered to deliver non-legal pro bono support and fundraise for charitable initiatives globally, with almost 1,000 voluntary hours recorded in the last financial year in addition to legal pro bono matters.

Case study: Mei Lin Goh Study Abroad Scholarship

PLANET

Our Planet pillar reflects our commitment to using our skills, expertise and resources to help address key environmental issues relevant to our firm and sectors. We have supported a number of environmental causes specific to our sectors in recent years, including helping develop and launch  the Poseidon Principles and Pegasus Guidelines to support sustainability within the maritime and aviation sectors respectively.

In 2024 we launched a long-term nature restoration partnership with social enterprise Treeapp, committing to planting one tree for every WFW deal that closed in the preceding financial year, focussing initially on three sites in Europe (the UK and Germany) and Asia (Indonesia) – each providing distinct environmental and social benefits.

Case study: Pioneering sustainable aviation – the Pegasus Guidelines

PRACTICES

WFW has committed to global environmental targets, approved by the Science-Based Targets initiative (“SBTi”), to reduce our overall carbon footprint by over 50% by 2032. To support delivery against our targets and set us on the path to Net Zero, in FY24 we published a refreshed firm-wide Carbon Reduction Plan and Global Environmental Charter, co-developed with global consultancy WSP.

Since 2019, we have reduced emissions from our offices by 35% and continue to transition to renewable energy sources across our global network whilst seeking to improve energy efficiency. We remain reducing Scope 3 emissions from business travel and in our supply chain as well as continuing to improve data quality. Read our latest environmental data here and our environmental policy here.

Case study: Empowering climate action – our partnership with Giki

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