I’ve taken the pledge for greener arbitrations. What’s that?

The international arbitration community has talked about how we might arbitrate climate change issues. We’ve not spent the same amount of time talking about our own impact on climate change. We need to do that. Better still, we need to act on it.
The pledge for greener arbitrations outlines a few specific steps which an arbitration practitioner can take to reduce the impact of arbitration on the climate. As an arbitration practitioner I will, wherever possible:
- Consider and question the need to fly;
- Offset the carbon emissions of any flights I make to and from arbitration hearings;
- Not travel unnecessarily to deliberate with my co-arbitrators, and use screen sharing or video technology instead;
- Suggest, where appropriate, that witnesses give evidence through video conference rather than attend hearings in person;
- Not request hard copies of documents to be provided to me;
- Strongly discourage the use of hard copy bundles in hearings;
- Review the level of air conditioning in hearing rooms.
The pledge for greener arbitrations was Lucy Greenwood’s idea. If you’re an arbitration practitioner and would like to take it as well, you may do so here.
