As part of World Environment Day 2020, Fieldfisher was proud to publish its first update on the firm's flagship tree-planting initiative with its sustainable development charity partner, The Converging World.
In autumn 2019, Fieldfisher launched its flagship environmental project, Rooting for Change.
This followed the firm's commitment to focus much more on sustainability, coupled with evidence that reforestation has the potential to significantly reduce global heating.
Like all businesses, Fieldfisher has a carbon footprint and wanted to take pro-active steps to mitigate this, by creating a project that was inclusive, international and environmentally focused.
The concept of Rooting for Change is simple. One estimate suggests that on average, it takes seven trees to absorb the carbon emissions generated by one person in the UK every year. Using this estimate, the firm pledged to plant four trees per employee, and called on staff members to pledge the additional three trees required to neutralise their carbon footprint for the year.
So far, Fieldfisher has pledged a total of 6732 trees as part of this initiative.
The firm was careful to consider all aspects of sustainability before committing to a partner, and eventually chose The Converging World, a sustainable development charity that invests in renewable energy, and uses the returns to support reforestation and other environmental and social projects in the UK and India.
Through The Converging World, Fieldfisher chose to support a reforestation project in Tamil Nadu in southern India. This project grows and nurtures over 200 different indigenous species of saplings through women's cooperatives.
It also protects planted trees through social fencing, by teaching local communities about the benefits of protecting and nurturing local forests and wildlife. The forest then gives back to the community through forest-based livelihoods and regional climate control.
Involving individual staff at a large law firm in green initiatives can be challenging, but Fieldfisher's project demonstrates that by giving colleagues a tangible call to action, it can generate meaningful results.
View this press release online.
Find out more about their activities to support the environment.