Can in-house lawyers use their ESG powers to save the world?

I’m pretty sure that when the next Avengers film hits cinemas worldwide and we see on screen a team of in-house lawyers turn up in capes holding a KeepCup coffee and laptop filled with ESG policies, it’s not going to break box office records or win best picture. But can these unlikely legal superheroes really help to save our planet?

That’s a question I’ve previously found difficult. How do I connect my day-to-day work to my desire to positively contribute towards current issues in society and the environment.

One of the ways I discovered how to do that was by learning from people who have already experienced it. So I started with two books: "Let My People Go Surfing" by Yvon Chouinard and "The Uninhabitable Earth" by David Wallace-Wells. Both inspired the feeling of hope and the possibility to make a positive impact on climate change whatever your job. Well that’s after ~100 pages of facing the bleak and necessary facts around trying to grasp the size of the challenge we face.

Now that I felt empowered and hopeful that it was possible to connect my work to making a difference. I knew I wanted to work for a company that had a genuine appetite to make such a positive environmental impact and to know that the strategy and goals of the business aligned with this.

…whenever thinking about this, I’m always reminded of a favourite comedy skit called ‘Brand Consultant’ from Bo Burnham’s ‘Inside’. This jokes about companies leveraging every possible societal issue to fuel a circular brand awareness for their company. Which is why I think it’s important for businesses to establish a thoughtful and genuine attitude towards ESG topics that’s aligned with their mission before jumping on the latest trend.

Luckily, joining TGTG’s mission for a planet with zero food waste made it very easy to see there was a passion and culture to make a real difference. TGTG is a social impact company that is B Corp certified meaning it meets high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. I also soon learned, one third of global food produced goes to waste every year which contributes to around 10% of greenhouse gas emissions so the desire to have an impact definitely feels real and is supported by day to day actions within our strategy and daily office life.

For example, from working with restaurants, grocers and manufacturers to save food waste from the bin to office lunch & learns, volunteering days or supporting the education of food waste in schools. This journey with a purpose-led B Corp has shown me how lawyers can contribute to these projects and make a difference.

Over the past year some highlights I’ve been involved include:

• creating strong governance frameworks for TGTG’s B Corp recertification process and improving our B Corp score;
• giving supporting advice on TGTG’s Impact Report;
• helping our partners join our food waste app;
• onboarding ethically responsible vendors to support with TGTG’s DE&I groups and ESG initiatives;
• advising on best governance and accountability practices with ESG at heart;
• drafting policies that support taking action on social and environmental issues in our day to day work; and
• perhaps most importantly being encouraged by the business to give advice that highlights social and environmental issues as well as legal issues.  

Additionally being in-house at a mission driven company means I’ve also been afforded opportunities at TGTG to give back to the community and the planet through charitable causes and volunteering. As lawyers we can demonstrate how much we care by taking part in these ESG initiatives and break any stereotype that we’re just robots. Well, we’re not yet anyways, let's wait for GPT-5.

So, can a team of lawyers really help to save our planet?

*Spoiler*

Yes - we can make a strong contribution. In-house legal teams have the superpowers to become the heroes for climate-positive, ethical businesses. We’re positioned to collaborate across the entire business ecosystem and advocate not just for legal standards, but also for ethical and sustainability standards within every part of the business from governance and labour practices to the environmental impact and local communities. I hope we can all feel empowered to make a difference, one ESG initiative at a time.

The fate of the world depends on it… [queue opening titles].