CMS Germany strengthens commitment to sustainability

Berlin – Sustainability is of key importance for international commercial law firm CMS Germany, both internally and in the services it provides to clients. Accordingly, it has now strengthened its commitment in this area. The Corporate Responsibility team (CR team) has been fully staffed since March 2022 and is well equipped to deal with the tasks ahead. The team consists of CR Director Michael Ranft, Senior CR Manager Juliane Hensel, CR Manager Ewa Kilimnik and CR Coordinator Marie von der Brüggen. It is responsible for sustainability management across the firm and reports directly to the General Managing Partner, Managing Director Operations and the Partner Committee. With four employees dedicated solely to this issue, CMS currently has one of the largest sustainability management teams in the German law firm market.

CMS started bringing together existing initiatives into a comprehensive sustainability management system in 2020. As a first step, relevant sustainability issues were identified through a materiality analysis and stakeholder survey. The Partner Committee also decided to embed sustainability management across the business, with the firm establishing the appropriate responsibilities at operational and management level. A total of around 40 CR measures of particular relevance to the firm were defined and a start made on implementing them.

The strengthened commitment to sustainability is evidenced by the first specific milestones:

• CMS has adopted a Sustainability Charter. This was developed in a participatory process and is intended to be the foundation and compass for the law firm’s direction and actions. The Charter outlines the contribution CMS intends to make to a healthy environment, a caring society and a sustainable economy.
• The CMS Environmental Policy specifies the contribution the firm aims to make to sustainable environment-related development, as set out in the Charter. Based on the 2019 carbon footprint, the next steps will be revision of the firm’s travel policy in support of environmental and climate-related goals, certification of the offices and a reduction in energy consumption. The aim is to become carbon neutral by 2030, in line with German government policy.
• CMS’s Supplier Code sets out binding minimum requirements for business relationships with suppliers and service providers. These requirements are based on internationally recognised standards for corporate governance and compliance.
• The CMS Purchasing Policy sets out binding minimum requirements for the purchase of goods and services based on recognised standards and sustainability labels such as Blauer Engel (Blue Angel), FSC, CTO Certified and the Energy Star label. The aim of the policy is to purchase products and services that have the lowest or best possible impact on the environment, society and the economy from production through to disposal.
• CMS joined the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest and most important initiative for responsible corporate governance, back in July 2020. CMS is thus committed to the vision of a more inclusive and sustainable economy for the benefit of all people, communities and markets, now and in the future, based on ten universal principles and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

From the end of 2022, CMS Germany will compile a Sustainability Report every two years in line with the German Sustainability Code (DNK) to document its progress towards all the goals defined in the Charter.

In structural terms, sustainability management at CMS is closely linked to business development around ESG and the firm’s provision of legal advice to clients on sustainability issues.

Press Contact
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