Legal documents can help fight climate change
Practical Law has joined this initiative by highlighting relevant TCLP resources in our Banking and Finance, Company Law, Commercial, Commercial Real Property, Corporate, Dispute Resolution and Employment resources. This makes accessing the model clauses easier and gives our subscribers the opportunity to help the move towards addressing climate change. For more information about the TCLP and its model clauses, see Toolkit, The Chancery Lane Project: model climate clauses.
Some of the Practical Law resources that have been updated to include links to TCLP model climate clauses include:
- Commercial has updated Standard document, Supply agreement (supplier friendly) to include links to a range of model clauses that seek to, among other things, impose obligations on the supplier and the customer to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and work together to achieve agreed environmental targets.
- Commercial Real Estate has updated Standard document, Heads of agreement: lease to include, among other things, reference to model clauses that promote the adoption of circular economy principles in the repair, alteration, yielding up and decoration covenants in a commercial lease as set out in Sustainable and Circular Economy Principles in Leasing Arrangements for Repairs and Alterations (Aatmay's clause).
- Corporate Transactions has updated Checklist, Legal due diligence questionnaire: share purchases to include a link to Climate Change Due Diligence Questionnaire (Lola and Harry's DDQ), which asks the seller to provide information regarding a wide range of climate change-related matters to assist investors or buyers assess potential climate change risks, formulate appropriate warranties and indemnities, and assess whether the seller has been greenwashing.
- Dispute Resolutions has updated Standard document, Arbitration agreement to include a link to Avoiding Excessive Paperwork in Dispute Resolution (Toby’s clause), which requires the parties to include climate change mitigation measures in dispute resolution provisions and proceedings.
- Employment has created links from its existing template employment agreements to the following TCLP model climate clauses:
- Employer – Employee Environmental Obligations (Eric's clause), which repurposes periods of gardening leave and sabbaticals as opportunities to volunteer with environmental organisations;
- Employee Climate Engagement Provisions (Athena's clause), which requires the employer to provide, and the employee to participate in, ESG training sessions; and
- Net Zero Culture Employment Handbook (Elliot's handbook), which contains net zero and sustainability policies for incorporation into a company's employment handbook, which helps develop a “green” ethos and a net zero culture.