Global firm will plant a tree for every user ??
The London headquarters of global firm CMS has unveiled a mobile app to help its lawyers go green.
Built by an in-house team of developers, the ‘Test The Temperature’ mobile app is available to CMS lawyers to track their carbon footprint and if necessary, encourages them to make changes at home and work.
The idea came about following “a tremendous response” from staff when pitched as a potential method to reduce the firm’s carbon footprint. The app focuses on five areas: food, travel, recycling, energy, and things.
It runs through a series of questions under each category. Each answer has a positive or negative score depending on its relative impact on the environment. The results of these answers are then weighted and turned into a total score out of 100. The lower your score on the ‘temperature’ gauge, the better you’ve done.
Every app user is then asked to commit to improving their score by 10% within the next three months. CMS also has committed to planting a tree for every app user.
Penelope Warne, senior partner at CMS, said:
“We all have a responsibility to address climate change. Small behavioural changes on an organisational and individual basis are important and cumulatively make a difference. We are hoping this app guides us all in a positive direction when it comes to our carbon footprint.”
The firm is considering wider roll-out and, in due course, adapting it as a tool for its offices and some clients pending feedback from users.
CMS has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2025. Test for Temperature is part of its Climate Action and Sustainability programme, which includes other sustainable initiatives such as the use of 100% renewable electricity in all but one of its UK offices, planting 1,938 trees in Europe and Brazil to offset its paper consumption, and, in partnership with Bio Bean in London, converting 2.5 tonnes of used coffee into biofuel.
Today’s news follows the publication of the ‘The Climate Contract Playbook’ and ‘Green Paper of Model Laws’ by The Chancery Lane Project, a pro bono initiative made up of top solicitors and barristers, with the aim of guiding other lawyers when drafting climate solutions for clients.
