Can you talk about you or your company’s efforts relating to renewability, sustainability or other environmentally- friendly activities?

A priority for Standard Chartered is achieving economic, social and environmental sustainability – one of the greatest challenges of our generation. In October 2021, Standard Chartered announced its plan to reach net zero in financed emissions by 2050.

The global legal team recognises its role in supporting this target and has developed a Sustainability Legal Working Group which now has over 80 members and meets regularly to plan and accelerate sustainability workstreams. Members lead various internal workstreams and special projects and participate in key industry working groups.

Why are in-house lawyers well-placed to drive change in their organisations?

We have a diverse legal team that provides general counsel across a range of issues, including sustainable finance, sustainability strategy and strategic initiatives. This team is uniquely placed to provide support and contribute to sustainability initiatives because they are accustomed to collaborating across business lines and can immediately respond to change.

The legal team’s learning and skills programme is designed to drive the Bank’s strategy, while acting as trusted advisors and business partners. The connection between strategy and execution is critical in driving real and lasting change. Additionally, given the volume and frequency of change, we play a vital role in pre-empting and translating new, complex laws and regulations into practical advice and tools for business partners.

For example, the rapid growth of sustainability awareness has been accompanied by an overwhelming amount of information, regulation, and nomenclature. To assist legal colleagues and business partners, we prepared and published a clear internal guidance note consolidating a range of disparate information on sustainability, which now serves as a key internal resource.

It can be difficult to truly measure a company’s track record and accomplishments in terms of their environmentally friendly behaviour. What do you think has, until now, been mostly missed when discussing how green a company is?

I think it is critical to focus on simplicity, and I am a big believer in keeping sustainability simple. While this can be quite difficult due to the rate and volume of change, it is nevertheless, very important. One way to start thinking about sustainability simply is at an individual level.

I believe sustainability involves looking after yourself, others and the environment. Building on that personal definition of sustainability, in a corporate context, a sustainable company must achieve profitability and have a neutral or positive impact on the societies and environments in which it operates.

Considering the environmental friendliness of a company in simple terms and comparing them using simple, consistent metrics is necessary to understand, measure and compare their sustainability track record and accomplishments.