Read the full editorial: “Sustainability and ESG: why it matters” on the SCL website.

On 4 April, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its fifth report which warns how decisions taken this year will be crucial to determining whether limiting warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels is achievable.

Experienced Commercial and Technology Disputes lawyer and Chair of the SCL Sustainability and ESG group Sarah Hill, highlights how Social and Governance issues, along with issues surrounding the loss of biodiversity, are becoming more prominent within organisations at both a proactive and reactive level. The article demonstrates how serious these issues are by presenting key facts from the WWF Living Planet index regarding the 68% decrease in the population sizes of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish between 1970-2016

Sarah explains that, following the launch of the SCL Sustainability and ESG Group six months ago, SCL has put together a collection of pieces in a special edition of the Computer & Law magazine which give its readers a flavour of some recent key Sustainability and ESG issues particularly relevant to law and tech.

Sarah touches upon some of the various topics covered in the issue, which include:

• How to shape and influence stakeholders and clients to improve sustainability in procurement and lessen supply chain impacts
• Tips for drafting modern slavery statements
• The evolution of contract drafting and precedents in this space
• The environmental impacts of tech and the top 5 “E” innovations expected this year, incentives for change and some challenges.

Bristows IT law experts Ralph Giles and Hannah Jones have also contributed to the Computer & Law Spring 2022 issue, with articles on the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies and modern slavery statements.

Read the full article on the SCL website.