Clifford Chance, Pinsent Masons and DLA Piper are among nine law firms that have urged Boris Johnson to implement environmentally sustainable goals in the wake of the pandemic.

The leaders of some of Britain’s biggest companies sent an open letter to the prime minister this morning asking him to use UN sustainable development goals ‘to consolidate and future-proof’ plans for the UK’s pandemic recovery.

Clifford Chance, DLA Piper, DWF, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters, Mishcon de Reya, Pinsent Masons and Slaughter and May were among the signatories.

The letter, which was coordinated by the UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development and the UN Global Compact Network UK, said: ‘We recognise that the scale of recovery will pose many challenges for the government. But the Covid-19 crisis has shown that businesses, government, and civil society can and will work together to create lasting and positive change.

‘We believe the sustainable development goals should be used to establish the level of ambition for the UK’s pandemic-recovery and a future that ensures all people in our country live a good life, prospering on a healthy planet.’

The firms urged Johnson to build a stronger and more resilient economy; to prioritise the most vulnerable in our society and ‘level-up regional and societal inequalities’; and to build ‘coherent policies for a healthy planet and to aid the transition to net zero’.