No enough funds to manage sustainabilty issues, almost all law departments say

A huge majority of leading general counsellors seek additional sustainability experts.

About 99% of general counsel said their legal departments need additional expertise to manage sustainability issues but they don’t have the funds to address environmental woes within their organisations, according to Ernst & Young’s 2022 General Counsel Sustainability Study.

The study also found that general counsel appeared to be more focused on compliance and litigation problems related to sustainability even as they believed that the biggest risks relate to reputation and brand.

Over 28% general counsellors felt more pressure from “investors and regulators than from any other parties.”

Meanwhile, when asked about the most acute risks faced by their organisations, 72% general counsellors pointed to worries about losing customers or damage to the brand image due to poor environmental practices.

The study includes a survey of 1,000 general counsel and chief legal officers from 20 countries, including 25 from Singapore, along with more than a dozen in-depth interviews with leading general counsel.