Morrison Foerster Sustainability

Find out more about Morrison Foerster's sustainability plans below!

As a founding member of Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy (LSE), an initiative launched in conjunction with the Global Climate Action Summit, Morrison Foerster has dedicated millions of dollars in pro bono legal services to this organization. MoFo’s lawyers work closely with organizations that focus on developing and bringing to scale new approaches to building a more sustainable global economy. Additionally, in 2023, Morrison Foerster announced its partnership with A4ID’s Sustainable Development Goal Legal Initiative Platform, which addresses Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13: Climate Action, via a Legal Guide. This Legal Guide covers how legal professionals can increase their expertise with respect to climate related topics, play a role in addressing climate justice, advise their clients with respect to climate change, and advance measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to climate change.  

Through a comprehensive assessment of the Firm’s GHG emissions, MoFo have identified its major sources of emissions and areas of opportunity for reducing emissions as part of developing our GHG emission targets. By utilizing a GHG emission Inventory Management Plan (IMP), we can ensure a consistent, repeatable process in future inventory years that will be updated continually as data quality, collection processes, and reporting guidance and standards evolve.

In 2023, MoFo completed the Firm’s first Climate Risk and Opportunity Assessment (CROA) to address the opportunities and risks related to climate change that may arise for Morrison Foerster under both low and high emissions scenarios for both the firm’s operations and strategy. The CROA found that the firm primarily faces transition risks related to its reputation due to climate in the short-term and risks from flooding and power outages in the longer-term. Addressing the supply chain is the largest area of opportunity for the firm with respect to setting and achieving a greenhouse gas emission target.

In aiming to reduce emissions along the Firm’s operations, MoFo had developed and submitted a near-term emissions reduction target to SBTi for approval in 2023. As of June 2024, the SBTi has approved the Firm’s near-term science-based emissions reduction target to reduce the Firm’s absolute scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions 46.55% by 2030 from a 2019 base year. In targeting to reduce its scope 2 market-based GHG emissions footprint, the Firm committed to procuring 100% renewable energy for electricity consumed in our U.S. office in 2025. 

To address the Firm’s supply chain, MoFo introduced environmental sustainability questions in our RFP process to evaluate the performance of suppliers in this space, with a focus on their greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the Firm collaborated with Harbor to create an emissions module in its Spend Connect platform, which is used to support law firms in spend management and developing strategic sourcing initiatives. This added module also maps spend to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency greenhouse gas emission factors for the firm’s scope 3 greenhouse gas emission footprint. In continuing to increase supplier engagement, a vendor survey will go out to our top vendors to gain insight into their GHG emission performance and goals to support Morrison Foerster’s emission reduction goals.

For more information regarding the Firm’s internal environmental sustainability initiatives, please refer to the Environmental Sustainability Committee 2022 Annual Report .