Magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has vowed to scale back air travel and ditch paper documents in a sustainability drive.

Under a new environmental strategy, the firm has committed to reducing carbon from business travel by 30% over the next five years and to cutting its paper usage by 40%. It also hopes to phase out single-use plastics in its offices by the end of the year, and says it will commit to purchasing 100% renewable electricity by 2030.

The firm claims to have become ‘carbon neutral’ in 2007 and has established a carbon offsetting scheme in east Africa.

Senior partner Georgia Dawson said: ‘Our new environment strategy, with its bold targets and strong focus on the firm’s global carbon footprint, will ensure Freshfields remains a sector leader in integrating environmental objectives within our business.

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Freshfields senior partner Georgia Dawson

‘Building on our success in meeting the five-year targets we set in 2016, we are confident that through our new strategy we can achieve a successful and sustainable future for our firm.”

Last summer, nine City law firms urged Boris Johnson to implement environmentally sustainable goals in the wake of the pandemic. In an open letter to the prime minister, the leaders of some of Britain’s biggest companies asked Johnson 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.

Freshfields has recently moved into City skyscraper 100 Bishopsgate. The firm is understood to occupy around 250,000 square feet of floor space.