Climate

New regulations strengthening the legal duties of larger energy companies to help energy users save energy have been brought into effect. The European Union (Energy Efficiency Obligation Scheme) Regulations 2022 were signed today by Eamon Ryan, the minister for the environment, climate and communica

UK law firm Shoosmiths, which has an office in Belfast, is to begin imposing a £200 “levy” on lawyers who choose to travel for business by plane. The policy's aim is to encourage staff to reduce their carbon footprint in accordance with the firm's goal of achieving net zero emissio

Kennedys, with offices in Dublin and Belfast, has committed to drastically reducing its carbon emissions after teaming up with a group of climate and science experts. Plans to reduce the law firm’s emissions by 2030 have been approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).

UK law firm TLT is embarking on a new project to identify how climate-aligned contract clauses can be used in built environment projects to combat climate change throughout the entire lifecycle of a building. The commercial law firm has won a competitive brief to support The Chancery Lane Project (T

Lawyers should be "ethically obliged" to advise clients of serious risks if they pursue projects inconsistent with the 1.5˚C global warming target, a group of lawyers and climate campaigners have said. An open letter signed by more than 170 members of the legal profession, principally in England, w

More that two-thirds of Ireland's energy sector believes that the government's delivery target for offshore wind is either extremely challenging or completely unrealistic, according to a survey by business law firm Mason Hayes & Curran. Just seven per cent of industry professionals believe that

Belfast-based Mills Selig has announced the expansion of its climate and energy team with the recruitment of Aveen McGahon as a solicitor upon her qualification in September. The team, led by partners Anna-Marie McAlinden and Glenn Watterson, has enjoyed a prolific year, working on transactions tota

An industry body representing oil importers, distributors and marketers in Ireland has announced plans for a judicial review of Irish government plans to reduce energy consumption. In order to help meet EU targets on energy consumption, introduced in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the

Belfast-based Cleaver Fulton Rankin (CFR) has signed up to a climate action pledge committing the firm to reducing its carbon footprint and setting ambitious targets to enhance its sustainability. The law firm — which says it will halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 — joins a host

Philip Lee has become the first Irish law firm to achieve accreditation as a cycle-friendly employer. The firm has been awarded gold — the highest of three possible grades — under the EU-wide programme established in 2017 by the European Cyclists' Federation to encourage more people to c

The UK government's net zero strategy is unlawful, a court has found on the eve of the hottest day in the UK's history. The successful legal challenges were brought by Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth, Good Law Project and environmental campaigner Jo Wheatley and heard together at the Royal Courts

Judges from Germany have visited Peru to examine the level of environmental damage allegedly caused by Europe’s greatest emitter in what could be a landmark climate case. The delegation visited a glacial lake in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca mountain range to find out if Germany’s large

A man has died after self-immolating in front of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) building in what is believed to have been a protest against climate change. Wynn Bruce, a 50-year-old photojournalist and a Shambhala Buddhist, died in hospital on Saturday, a day after he set himself on

The Irish government's ambition to create a "circular economy" where waste is minimised will become a statutory requirement under landmark legislation announced today. The Circular Economy Bill will define the term "circular economy" for the first time in Irish domestic law as "an economic model and

The new maritime area consent (MAC) regime for renewable energy developments has come into effect, with the first consents expected to be issued to developers in the second half of 2022. The new regime enables the minister for the environment to issue MACs on an interim basis pending the establishme