General Counsel and Chief Legal Officers in many of the world’s largest organisations are supporting their corporation or public body to address the increasing challenges, and business opportunities, of the sustainability transition.
“We all know that as GCs we need to respond to the multiple demands of ESG.
The Leadership Exchange provides a highly effective framework within which to prioritise this work and grow our capabilities.”
Mark Gregory, Global GC, Rolls-Royce
Leadership Exchange participant
General Counsel Sustainability Forum (GCSF), works with GCs and CLOs via our “Leadership Exchange”.
This highly rated programme supports participants to engage with other GCs and CLOs peers to gain insights, receive practical advice and build their capabilities.
The Leadership Exchange supports GCs and CLOs to handle the demands of the sustainability transition, whilst continuing to thrive in the rest of their role.
Since starting the pilot programme in April 2021, we have worked with well over 100 influential in-house legal leaders via our ‘Leadership Exchange’, and currently have 40 participating in the current cohort.
The global GCs of many FTSE100 and equivalent sized corporations are currently participating such as those of Rolls Royce, WPP, Centrica, National Grid, BUPA, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Dentsu and Specsavers.
NAME CHANGE:
“Lawyers for Net Zero” was our original name.
We changed as it became clear that to achieve the desired impact we must focus on GCs and CLOs.
Also the environmental sustainability challenges participants were focusing on in our Leadership Exchange went beyond climate issues.
For further info on why GCs and CLOs are so important, click here.
WE ADVOCATE FOR ACTION ACROSS THE LEGAL SECTOR
All lawyers, in-house and law firm, can help drive the sustainability transition.
Our inspirational CEO and founder Adam Woodhall won the LexisNexis “Legal Personality of the Year” award in 2023.
He speaks at high profile conferences and webinars, such as those on our events page, on podcasts and at private events.
Adam also contributes thought leadership to publications such as the Financial Times and those on our Media page.
Connect with Adam on LinkedIn here.
Interested in Adam speaking to your audience? Contact us here.
LinkedIn is our main communication platform.
Join our COMPANY PAGE by clicking here.
“It became clear I needed to support the business by developing my understanding of the complex challenges and opportunities inherent in environmental and climate matters.
The Leadership Exchange has been pivotal in growing my capabilities and impact in this area.”
Raj Roy, Global GC, Centrica
Leadership Exchange participant
Leadership Exchange
Our Leadership Exchange is focused on supporting GCs and CLOs to handle the challenges of sustainability, develop capabilities and insights, and assist their organisation to achieve its sustainability goals and commitments.
The formula for our highly regarded “Peer Powered plus” process is:
+ Add a network of like-minded individuals to the guidance provided by our “Action Principles”.
x Multiplier effect created via our Leaders Groups and other peer to peer learning tools.
= Equals rapid growth of capabilities and network.
Over 100 influential in-house legal leaders have participated in the Leadership Exchange and we invite GCs and CLOs to apply to join.
“Being part of the Leadership Exchange has been fantastically helpful. It has accelerated my own, and my team’s sustainability learnings.
I have been able to learn from other global GCs and leverage their knowledge and material to help upskill my team.
Without this support it would have taken us much longer.”
Justine Campbell, Global GC, National Grid
Leadership Exchange participant
1. NETWORK
We bring together a network of leaders, with the focus being exclusively on GCs and CLOs.
This network offers a platform for support and the sharing of best practice, case studies, thought leadership and ideas for positively influencing internal colleagues and processes and external suppliers and stakeholders.
Joining our Leadership Exchange gives all participants access to this powerful network and enables them to get ahead of the curve and be a leader not a follower.
All participants in this programme will join one of our carefully curated Leaders Groups and will also gain access to various other peer-to-peer tools.
JOIN OUR LINKEDIN PAGE
2. GUIDANCE
Our “Action Principles” provide guidance to GCs and CLOs on where to focus their attention and how to take action to support their organisation to achieve legitimate sustainability.
The Principles enable GCs to be part of the climate and biodiversity solutions whilst doing their day job.
Principle 1: Champion legitimate sustainability internally
Principle 2: Deliver rapid practical action
Principle 3: Learn and share key knowledge
Principle 4: Influence supply chain, customers, and shareholders
Principle 5: Champion sustainability to your peers, industry and regulators
In addition to a detailed Action Principles document which all our participants gain access to, everyone who joins our Leadership Exchange is offered a benchmarking tool which enables them to understand their progress.
Are you a GC or CLO?
3. PEER POWERED INSIGHTS
Our Leaders Groups are a critical part of what makes our Leadership Exchange successful, along with a number of other peer-to-peer tools.
Feedback from participants consistently demonstrates that these groups are a highly valuable time investment for any GC or CLO.
The focus of the Groups are each participant to create a bespoke action plan and to deliver it over each 3-4 month ‘Cycle’.
The Leaders Groups are a peer-to-peer process. Four participants meet every few weeks on Teams, with most sessions being 30 min long, supported by an expert facilitator.
Participants get to share successes and good practice, work through challenges and receive advice from each other and the facilitator. This generates accountability enabling peer insights and capability building.
“The Leadership Exchange has been fundamental in helping me to take action and lead in this area.
Being able to get together with a small cohort of other GCs of a similar level, in a safe space to talk about sustainability issues, receive practical advice from my peers and develop action plans is invaluable.”
Andrew Kidd, Global GC, Specsavers
Leadership Exchange participant
Learn more about the Leadership Exchange
Why GCs and CLOs?
“General counsel have a helicopter view of the business in a way only shared by the chief executive and chief financial officer.
Not everything is a legal issue, but it could be argued that everything is related to risk. General counsel have an opportunity to help guard against greenwashing and achieve legitimate sustainability.”
Adam Woodhall, CEO and Founder of GCSF
Quoted in the Financial Times.
GCs have become key corporate leaders, and they and their teams are always ‘in the room’ when big decisions are made, particularly when reputation, regulations, new projects, risks and compliance are considered.
This means the role of the General Counsel has moved far beyond their historic narrow focus on contracts and legal issues, now being the go-to advisors on a broad range of issues. With sustainability issues moving to the centre of the business agenda, it is essential for GCs to build their capabilities.
Even before Covid and Ukraine, many organisations were reviewing business practices and wider enterprise risks. Now the resiliency of their supply chains and alignment in relation to climate, and wider Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) impacts, has come into even clearer focus.
The GCs and CLOs that join our Leadership Exchange leverage their key role in the diverse areas where they have influence to support the achievement of legitimate sustainability.
“With their connections, GCs and their teams can play a key role in being a champion for their sustainability colleagues and help push the ESG agenda across the business. You can be their eyes and ears, heart and soul.
The Leadership Exchange supports you in this and helps you to deliver tangible sustainability actions.”
Andrea Harris, Global GC, WPP
Leadership Exchange participant
Join the growing number of GCs and CLOs helping drive delivery of sustainability in their organisation.
INTERESESTED IN FINDING OUT MORE?
About us
General Counsel Sustainability Forum is a non-profit working to support GCs and CLOs to build their capabilities and gain insights via our ‘peer powered’ Leadership Exchange.
There are 40 current participants, many of whom are the global GCs of FTSE100 and equivalent sized corporations including those of Rolls Royce, Centrica, Specsavers, BUPA, Dentsu, Intercontinental Hotels Group, National Grid and WPP.
Our mission is to support some of the most influential individuals in society, GCs and CLOs, to help their organisations to achieve and exceed their sustainability goals and commitments.
Our vision is that in 30 years time we’ve retained a liveable planet for all and built a thriving and sustainable future.
The original inspiration in early 2021 behind GCSF was the recognition that there was a massive, but largely unrecognised, opportunity for influential in-house lawyers to support their organisation to deliver significant and rapid sustainability action.
It is clear that rapidly increasing numbers of GCs and CLOs are now helping drive the sustainability transition.
TEAM:
We have a team of highly experienced and passionate individuals, led by CEO and Founder, Adam Woodhall. Meet the people behind GCSF here.
NON-PROFIT:
We are a 100% non-profit ‘Community Interest Company’, enabling us to be laser focused on delivering the activities that will best support GCs and CLOs to drive sustainability in their organisation
TALENT NEEDED:
Want to volunteer or work for GCSF Then click on the button to find out more about the available roles.
MEDIA:
Browse articles, podcasts and webinars featuring GCSF team members and our Leadership Exchange participants here.
WIDER COMMUNITY:
Our initiative is part of a wider community of environmental and climate projects in the legal sector, which we are complementary to, including the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations, the Chancery Lane Project, ClientEarth, the Global Alliance of Impact Lawyers, Legal Charter 1.5, Legal Sustainability Alliance, and the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance.
IN MEMORIUM:
Our Chair, until his sad passing in July ‘23, was the inspirational legal leader Professor Paul Watchman. He was, amongst many things, responsible for the seminal UNEP Finance Initiative report in 2005 which established the term ESG and it’s legal framework for institutional investment.
We were very grateful to Paul for his enthusiastic support since before we launched, and wish to commemorate his many contributions to making the world a better place over many decades.
You can read more about Paul here.
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Context
Liveable Planet
We can limit global warming to 1.5°C, which would retain a liveable climate, but only with widespread, rapid and determined effort across all sectors.
A powerful 60 second summary is on the UN video above (watch with sound on).
If we rely only on the current climate commitments of the Paris Agreement, temperatures can be expected to rise by 3.2°C above pre-industrial levels this century.
Temperatures have already increased 1.1°C, leaving families, homes and communities devastated. Every extra 0.1°C average warming will not only worsen this, but also cause increasingly damaging disruptions to supply chains and businesses.
To limit emissions to 1.5°C we must reduce emissions every year between 2020 and 2030 by 7.6%.
However even with the mass economic slowdown of 2020, CO2 emission only reduced by 4% globally between 1st Jan and 31st Dec 2020.
To ensure the second half of the 21st century is liveable, we must achieve net zero globally by mid-century at the latest. This will mean we have reduced human-caused emissions to almost zero, and balanced what’s left by, for example, restoring forests or carbon capture and storage.
There are also many other planetary boundaries, in addition to climate change, which have been crossed, or are near to being crossed, such as biodiversity loss and nitrogen overloading, which will affect how liveable our planet is for this and future generations. Covid has demonstrated that our society is vulnerable to predictable shocks and the opportunity is now to build a truly resilient future.
These facts are why our focus is on supporting GCs and CLOs, the most influential individuals in the corporate legal sector, in the biggest organisations on the planet.
Business Case
There is a clear business case for change, with multiple drivers across the national and global economy. Just a few examples are:
Exponential growth of some markets, such as renewables, and the collapsing of others, like coal.
“Demand for climate-related financial disclosures has skyrocketed” according to Mark Carney, ex-Governor of the Bank of England.
Ambitious emissions reductions targets by large entities, such as corporations, cities, regions and countries, which is represented by the huge surge of entities committing to net zero and joining the UN’s ‘Race to Zero’.
These, and many, many more will mean all sectors will have to undergo a rapid transitional process.
Aligning with a sustainable future, and wider ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) and resilience issues, will demonstrate that lawyers understand, and are taking action on, a major issue affecting their current and future employees and clients, boosting reputation.
In the context of the climate and ecological crisis and the expanding commercial advantages of accelerating a sustainable world, we believe it is time for in-house counsel to assess their role and the basis on which they advise in their stakeholders best interests.
Risk Management
Businesses, their boards and in-house legal teams face a constantly evolving landscape with exposure to multiple risks, both financial and reputational, as the climate crisis unfolds.
There are numerous stakeholders who are very interested in businesses’ response to sustainability, such as investors, consumers, clients, regulators and activist groups. This has created an expectation that in-house counsel will do more to identify, manage and mitigate the risks in their organizations.
This is creating pressure for businesses to manage more effectively the overlaps and gaps between legal, sustainability and the business.
As the in-house legal function transforms, so does the way in which it contributes to the businesses’ risk management, playing a greater and more proactive role than has historically been the case. All of this contributes to the central role GCs and CLOs will play in leading the sustainability transformation.
GCLF is supporting GCs and CLOs to rapidly build their capability to help their business achieve, and exceed their sustainability goals and ESG commitments.
