Do lawyers have 'moral courage' to fight climate change?

Esther Ng Today Online 4 May 10;

SINGAPORE - Humankind has the ability to stave off climate change, but what is needed is political and legal will. Yesterday, former United States Vice-President Al Gore called on lawyers to find the "moral courage" and "rule of law" to find a solution to the environmental crisis.

"When the mountain glaciers are gone and there's climatic chaos, the next generation of ours will be asking 'What were you thinking? Didn't you have any lawyers?'" he said. The author of An Inconvenient Truth was speaking to a packed hall of some 500 lawyers at the Inter-Pacific Bar Association Conference yesterday.

Mr Frederick Hawke from Melbourne law firm Clayton Utz agreed. "We're the social engineers of society. We produce the financial instruments, the trading scheme details, the contractual agreements and treaties that are necessary to implement the political will," he said.

As climate change is global, solutions have to be just for all countries and just within a country, added Mr Don Henry, an ecologist and executive director of the Australian Conservation Foundation.

Lawyers MediaCorp spoke to said law firms here do not go out of the way to take the lead on green initiatives.

"Truth be told, clients come to us first for legal advice. We don't tell our clients to be green," said WongPartnership's partner and head of its environmental and green economy practice Low Kah Keong.

Stamford Law's director Yap Wai Ming agreed. "We can work with our clients if they think that green initiatives are preferred strategies. There are many facets of business structuring that will impact climate change and not all are measurable in terms of economic benefits," he said.

In deciding to do business, some companies in Europe have asked for a law firm's environmental practices, but local clients have yet to latch onto this practice, said Mr Low.

This, however, could change in a few years' time.

Said Mr Henry: "In 2008, for the first time, we saw global investment in clean energy for power generation outstripped investment in fossil fuels, so businesses are voting with their wallets that a cleaner economy is the way to go."

In Singapore, WongPartnership is the first law firm here to launch an environmental green economy practice, comprising lawyers with regulatory experience in areas like carbon derivatives, green tax matters, emissions trading and environmental regulation claims and disputes.

It is working with The CarbonNeutral Company to measure the firm's carbon footprint and implement initiatives to reduce it.

Law firms Allen and Gledhill and Rodyk and Davidson have in place some green business practices, such as investing in energy efficient appliances.

These measures will certainly hearten Mr Gore who appealed to his audience to do their bit to fend off climate change even though it will be "inconvenient and complicated". That includes pricing carbon to reflect its true cost and a commitment to investing in alternative energy technologies.