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Bar Association, EPA's Law Office Climate Challenge Picks Up Steam

Since its launch late last year, the program has racked up nearly 100 law offices across the country committing to its three-pronged plan green up the law business by reducing paper waste, increasing energy efficiency and purchasing green power for law firms.

Since its launch late last year, the program has racked up nearly 100 law offices across the country committing to its three-pronged plan green up the law business by reducing paper waste, increasing energy efficiency and purchasing green power for law firms.

At least 88 law offices have joined the challenge, a project jointly created by the American Bar Association and the EPA in recognition of the significant impact law offices can have on the environment. According to the ABA, one law firm in Washington, D.C., purchases about 100,000 sheets of paper per attorney per year, enough to generate about 11 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per lawyer.

The Law Office Climate Challenge efforts are focused on three main areas of activity: paper use and recycling, purchasing green power, and increasing energy efficiency. To reduce paper waste, the ABA encourages companies to follow at least two of the following three recommendations from the EPA's WasteWise program:
  • Making sure that at least 90 percent of all types of paper and envelopes contain at least 30 percent post-consumer recycled content;
  • Recycling at least 90 percent its office paper, folders and envelopes;
  • Taking on a policy of double-sided copying and printing for drafts and internal documents, as well as setting double-sided copying as the default mode on copy machines.
The Climate Challenge also requires participating firms to join the EPA's Green Power Partnership Program, which requires companies to purchase at least 2 percent of their power from renewable sources or renewable energy credits.

Finally, law offices that join the Climate Challenge commit to reduce their overall energy use by at least 10 percent, and the ABA recommends achieving that goal by implementing energy-management practices and switching to Energy Star-certified electronics products.

In addition to boosting environmental performance, undertaking the practices in the Climate Challenge can have financial benefits as well. Texas-based law frim Gardere Wynne Sewell, which joined the Climate Challenge this week, is that state's first law firm to do so, and committed its offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston to the challenge. The company expects to save $14,000 per year once the practices are implemented across the firm.

Courts and other judicial bodies are also making efforts to reduce paper waste in the law business. Last summer, Oakland County in Michigan mandated that some types of legal paperwork must be filed electronically, a move that the county expects to save 5,000 reams of paper per year under the new policy.

Full details about the Law Office Climate Challenge is available online at http://www.abanet.org/environ/climatechallenge.

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