40 ENVIRONMENT | LEGAL SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY INSIGHT 2018 Environmental management and performance have been a cornerstone of AusLSA’s reporting since our inception. While we have progressively built our social reporting to involve all our member firms over the last three years, environmental management remains a major element of our program and reporting. Environmental reporting provides the majority of our quantitative information included in our report. Over the years AusLSA member firms have used this reporting to demonstrate their own progress as well as benchmark their results against other firms to identify areas where they can improve. The material impacts considered in our environment section are consistent with previous years reporting and include: • greenhouse gas emissions from the office-based consumption of electricity and gas • greenhouse gas emissions from air and car travel • greenhouse gas emissions from the use of refrigerants • damage to forests and other ecosystems from the harvesting and production of paper used and • land degradation and resource wastage from the management of waste and recycling. 2018 AusLSA Member Performance This year, 30 AusLSA member firms, representing 18,314 employees, participated in the Annual Sustainability Insight. The number of employees covered by the report reduced by 811 employees or by four percent from the previous year and floor space decreased by almost nine percent. These reductions were largely due to firm consolidations and mergers during 2017-18. Reductions in electricity emissions are now at their lowest point of 1.9 tonnes per person. We also have noted a five year low in paper use, of 94 tonnes per person, a thirteen percent decrease from last year. This year business travel emissions had a small reduction of two percent per person. Despite these reductions, gross emissions, which doesn’t include the impact of renewable energy and carbon offsets, have decreased by 1.3% per person. The increased level of number of carbon offsets being purchased further increased the reductions in net emissions to 7.6% per person. GROSS VS NET GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS Tonnes C02 -e per employee ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE 5.00 4.00 3.00 2.00 3.38 4.25 3.14 4.2 4.08 4.76 3.55 4.54 3.29 4.19 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Gross Net