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The Campaign for Greener Arbitrations: promoting a greener way for dispute resolution

September 4, 2021

We are unfortunately all complicit in having a negative impact on the environment – some to a greater, some to a lesser extent. Some professions and industries are leaving a heavier carbon footprint than others and the legal industry is certainly a contributor, and within it, the international arbitration community.

International arbitration is a multi-jurisdictional business. Lawyers, parties and arbitrators are incurring quite a few air miles in order to do their work, i.e. to meet their clients, attend hearings and conferences. Even if the carbon foot print was in the back of our minds every time we boarded a plane pre-Covid-19, we rarely considered whether a particular meeting could actually have taken place by phone or video instead. And then, at the beginning of March 2020, the pandemic forced a sudden change upon the world in which we lived and travelled. Everyone – including the most frequent flyers amongst us – were stranded and not by choice. 

People don't like changes and legal professionals are usually no exception. But, as the Covid-19 pandemic has left no other choice, lawyers have quickly learnt to adapt and change the practices and methods by which they carry out work on behalf of clients. Working predominantly from home, attending virtual conferences and attending remote trials have all become the new norms in the daily lives of lawyers in the UK and internationally, not least in the arbitration context. It is fair to say that without the pandemic – we would not have embraced the virtual world to the extent that we have quite to date.

When Lucy Greenwood founded the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations in 2019 (which we will describe in more detail below) with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of international arbitrations, she could not have anticipated a pandemic becoming a big contributor to her cause. A pandemic, despite all its horrors, has also (hopefully) brought permanent changes in the way we run international arbitrations. The Campaign for Greener Arbitrations has suddenly found more open minds for its aim to reduce the carbon footprint of arbitrations, not only be reducing air miles, but by taking other measures (as set out in the Green Protocols described below) to make arbitrations, and how we run our law firms in general, environmentally friendlier.

The aim of the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations

Lucy Greenwood started the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations in 2019. Lucy is an international arbitration practitioner with a focus on energy disputes. She was committed to minimising the environmental impact that her work specifically was having and, as a result, Lucy launched the "Green Pledge".

The Green Pledge is open for signature for every key player (lawyers, arbitrators, institutions, and hearing centres) in the arbitration community. By signing the Green Pledge, signatories commit to follow its Guiding Principles, which are aimed to ensure the reduction of the environmental footprint of the arbitration community.[1] The Guiding Principles are:

  • Creating a workspace with a reduced environmental footprint by looking for opportunities to reduce energy consumption and waste;

  • Corresponding electronically, unless hard copy correspondence is expressly needed in the circumstances, while also being mindful that email has a carbon footprint;

  • Encouraging the use of videoconferencing facilities as an alternative to travel (including for the purposes of conduction fact finding interviews);

  • Avoiding printing, requesting the use of electronic rather than hard copies of documents and promoting the use of electronic bundles at hearings;

  • Using, where possible, suppliers and service providers who are committed to reducing their environmental footprint (including for the purposes of arranging and arbitration hearing);

  • Considering and/or suggesting, where appropriate, that witnesses or experts give evidence through videoconferencing facilities, rather than attend hearings in person;

  • Avoiding unnecessary travel and using videoconferencing facilities as an alternative;

  • Considering and questioning the need to fly at all times and offsetting emissions for any arbitration-related travel.

More than 300 key figures and stakeholders in the arbitration world have now signed the Green Pledge[2] and the number of new signatories is increasing quickly. The popularity of the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations has certainly gained momentum during the pandemic.  It is led by Lucy and supported by lawyers, arbitrators, journalists and other stakeholders in the arbitration community. All these volunteers have a desire for change. They are trying to raise awareness through events and implement changes through various projects. They have formed a global Steering Committee, which meets on a monthly basis and, since April 2021, there are also regional sub-committees. Projects are born, discussed and driven forward in these meetings. One of the most important projects of the Campaign (so far) is the launch of the Green Protocols on 22 April 2021 (Earth Day). 

The Green Protocols

The Protocols Drafting Working Group began work in mid – 2020 and considered all aspects of international arbitration, including the roles played by arbitrators, counsel, institutions and other key stakeholders in the arbitration community. Their review included the conduct of arbitration cases and eventually extended to behaviours at conferences, firms, chambers and institutions. These reviews helped to identify areas that needed significant improvement in order to reduce the carbon footprint in arbitrations. These findings formed the basis for the creation of six Green Protocols, which are accompanied by the Framework for the Adoption of the Green Protocols. The Framework and the Protocols set forth the framework for the implementation of the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations Guiding Principles.

The Green Protocols (which we describe a bit more below) shall assist key players in the arbitration community to reduce their carbon footprint of arbitral proceedings and arbitration related events. They provide easy-to-use practical guidance and simple measures that can implemented by each type of actor with the aim to encourage environmentally friendlier behaviours in arbitral proceedings.

Here is a short description of the six Green Protocols (the full version of each can be found on the Campaign's website and should be read together with the Framework for the Adoption of the Protocols)[3]:  

(i)            Green Protocol for Arbitral Proceedings and Model Green Procedural Order:

This Protocol provides parties and arbitrators with tangible measures to implement specific arbitration proceedings by party agreement or by tribunal order. The Model Procedural Order provides the parties and the tribunal with draft language that can be implemented by tribunals in the arbitration proceedings.

(ii)           Green Protocol for Law Firms, Chambers and Legal Service Providers working in arbitration

This Protocol provides parties' legal advisors and their employees with suggested sustainability measures for minimizing their environmental impact, which can be integrated into their daily operations or adopted on a case-by-case basis. Most of these measures are not arbitration specific and are often very simple to implement individually, on a departmental or corporate level. These measures relate to the use of green energy (use of LED lights, encouraging employees to use natural light and switch off lights when leaving offices, use of recycling facilities, use of eco-friendly cleaning materials etc.); the reduction of energy consumption and environmental footprint; going digital (through the use of large double screen monitors, audio and video conferencing, development of employees' technological skills etc.); minimise printing and use of paper; encourage recycling and limit use of single use items and plastic; partner with "green" organisations; travel responsibly (e.g. encourage employees to make use of technology, consider virtual conferencing etc.); incentivise employees (e.g. through schemes that encourage greener behaviour; schemes that encourage employees to work from home); encourage social responsibility; offset carbon emissions and report progress.

(iii)         Green Protocol for Arbitrators

This Protocol provides individual arbitrators with practical guidance for minimizing their environmental impact and that of the parties during the course of arbitral proceedings; a lot of these measure cross over with the measures set out in the context of the Green Protocols for Law Firms, Chambers and Legal Service Providers.

The Protocol specifically recommends that arbitrators should encourage sustainable arbitral proceedings by implementing the measures set out in the Green Protocol for Arbitral Proceedings; encourage sustainable hearings (e.g. encourage the use of e-bundles instead of paper bundles; encourage the use of e-technology etc.)

(iv)          Green Protocol for Arbitration Conferences

This Protocol is addressed to organisers of arbitration conferences and recommends measures that can be taken to reduce to the carbon footprint of such conferences. The suggested measures include inter alia: the choice of sustainable venues; planning remotely; digitalisation of conference registration and materials; digitalisation of conference procedures (e.g. implement electronic platforms or QR codes for daily check-in at conferences, name badges shall be composed of environmental friendly or recycled materials etc.); use of greener energy (e.g. use of renewable energy sources, wherever possible); reduction of energy consumption use and environmental footprint (see above (ii)); minimise printing and use of paper; encourage recycling; limited use of single use items and plastic.

(v)           Green Protocol for Arbitral Hearing Venues

This Protocol provides arbitration facilities, hearing centres and individuals therein with concrete steps to minimize their environmental impact as regards their daily operating procedures or as related to a particular matter. The suggested measures comprise those as set out above in the context of the other Protocols e.g. the use of green energy, the reduction of energy consumption, minimising the use of printing and paper and the encouragement of recycling. It specifically encourages arbitral hearing venues to encourage the use of technology through virtual hearing services to minimise travel and promote the use of local vendors and environmentally friendly transport options where appropriate.

(vi)          Green Protocol for Arbitral Institutions

This Protocol provides arbitral institutions with clear guidance on minimizing their environmental impact. The measures suggested here are again very similar to the ones addressed in the Protocols above, but specifically encourage arbitral institutions to go digital and encourage parties and the tribunal to use technology for the conduct of proceedings by minimising printing, the use of paper and travel where appropriate. It lists specific measures such as inviting parties to communicate by electronic means, providing the Campaign for Greener Arbitration Model Procedural Order, transmitting case files to tribunals by electronic means etc.

The Protocols should provide a practical tool kit for the implementation of simple measures which will contribute to the overall reduction of the arbitral community's carbon footprint. The smallest change in the lifecycle of every single arbitration will have a positive impact on the environment. The smallest change in our behaviour will raise awareness and have an impact on others. With these incremental changes in behaviour, the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations envisages a brighter, greener future for all stakeholders in the international arbitration context.

 Heidi Walsh, Managing Associate
Adis Sehic, Trainee Solicitor
Mishcon de Reya Law Firm, London

[1] https://www.greenerarbitrations.com/greenpledge.

[2] https://www.greenerarbitrations.com/signatories.

[3] https://www.greenerarbitrations.com/green-protocols