It's Not Easy Being Green: Sustainable Arbitration In The Spotlight

• Published date: 06 August 2020
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Arbitration & Dispute Resolution, Media & Entertainment Law
• Law Firm: Quadrant Chambers
• Author: Ms Stephanie Barrett

In recent years climate change and sustainability issues have frequently been in the media and this is unlikely to change any time soon. Much attention has been focussed on the ecological impact of the industries that use arbitration. However, the impact of arbitrations themselves also merits consideration

To this end, the arbitrator Lucy Greenwood has devised a "Green Pledge" which practitioners can sign up to. The full text is available at www. greenwoodarbitration.com/greenpledge. In summary, it asks arbitrators and other practitioners to, wherever possible:

1. Consider and question the need to fly/ travel rather than use screen-sharing/ video technology.
2. Offset carbon emissions of any flights taken.
3. Give consideration to witnesses giving evidence at hearings via video-link.
4. Not request hard copies of documents and discourage the use of hard copy bundles. Correspondence should be electronic unless hard copies are expressly required.

The Pledge is to be welcomed and, indeed, won the 2020 Best Development GAR Award. There is already progress in some quarters e.g. email communication regarding procedural matters is almost ubiquitous. However, there is much room for improvement, especially as regards unnecessary flights and hard-copy documentation.

As the Pledge recognises, there will always remain...