Shaping a more responsible future
Sustainable business remains central to our firm’s strategy. We are committed to responsible and sustainable growth through a programme structured around four key areas: Community, Workplace, Environment and Marketplace. While these headings provide the overall framework for our Sustainable Business programme, they are supported by a wide range of targeted initiatives and activities across the firm. These include our charity partnerships, staff volunteering in Ireland and overseas as part of our trainees’ Zambia Project, pro bono work, responsible marketplace and procurement practices, environmental stewardship, and equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives.
This report highlights another year of meaningful progress and impact across our Sustainable Business programme. During the financial year from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, our people increased volunteering hours by almost 10%, raised almost €64,000 for the Zambia Project and delivered more than 19,000 hours of pro bono legal support, equivalent to 31 hours per fee-earner. We also launched three new charity partnerships, introduced carbon travel dashboards to support our environmental commitments, and made significant progress on our Science Based Targets Initiative and EcoVadis assessments.
We continue to increase our efforts in relation to our commitment to the environment. However, it has been a mixed year from a carbon footprint perspective. Our Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions remain at 50% of 2019 levels. When Scope 3 emissions are taken into account, we are reporting an increase in footprint despite success in reducing emissions from all previously monitored sources, including reduced business flight emissions. This is mainly due to the inclusion in the data for the first time of estimated emissions for computer software and hardware, and significantly improved data on employee commuting emissions from our travel surveys. Emissions from these sources were not measured in our 2019 baseline. These new inputs are a work in progress as there are significant challenges with the data, particularly in obtaining accurate data from software suppliers.
Our refreshed 2026-2028 Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy reaffirms our commitment to inclusion at a time of considerable external change. These achievements demonstrate the breadth of our Sustainable Business programme and the positive commitment of many people across the firm who contribute their time and expertise to create lasting change.
We are very grateful to all those across the firm who help ensure that sustainable business remains embedded in how we operate. We also value our many partnerships with external organisations. It is a privilege to work alongside so many charities and NGOs who do so much good work in the community and we are proud to play a small part in their stories.
Our Sustainable Business programme is governed by our Sustainable Business Committee, which reports to the Managing Partner and comprises senior partners and Business Services leaders from across the firm. Committee members oversee dedicated sub-committees responsible for delivering defined workstreams. The firm’s EDI programme is supported by a separate committee structure and partner leads, reflecting its strategic significance. Together, these governance arrangements provide oversight and accountability for the firm’s efforts to strengthen communities, promote an inclusive workplace, uphold responsible marketplace practices and advance environmental stewardship.
For the past five financial years we have published our Sustainable Business Impact Reports, demonstrating our commitment to measuring performance against our sustainable business objectives and assessing the impacts of our sustainable business activities. We are pleased to publish our sixth Arthur Cox Sustainable Business Impact Report for our financial year 2025/26.
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This article contains a general summary of developments and is not a complete or definitive statement of the law. Specific legal advice should be obtained where appropriate.
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