How Anthony Collins Solicitors is leading the way in sustainability excellence

• The client: Anthony Collins, a B Corp certified business committing to lead by example through its own climate and sustainability pledge
• The challenge: Embedding day-to-day sustainability across all operations to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 without impacting business productivity or service delivery
• The cutcome: Reduced overall site emissions from 49 to 22 tCO₂e, cut natural gas emissions by over 70%, and established an ESOS-compliant roadmap to net zero

As a business, we’re committing to our own climate pledge and placing ourselves in the vanguard of organisations delivering on the climate sustainability agenda. Having held B Corp status since 2022, we want to continue building on this to improve and excel.

It’s not enough to advise our clients on delivering their own green agenda and sustainability pledges. We want to lead by example. That’s why we’ve made a pledge to be a carbon net-zero business by 2030 – a full 20 years ahead of the mandated 2050 deadline for the UK.

The challenge

It was important to Anthony Collins to have an active commitment to sustainability; one we worked on ourselves within the business. We wanted to make sure sustainability was an ingrained part of our business day-to-day – something that was also a vital as part of our B Corp status.

Achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030 requires commitment from the whole business, from the way we travel to work, to our use of paper and energy. Anthony Collins also worked with external sustainability consultants to ensure we are operating in the most effective way.

We needed to find ways of improving our sustainability efforts without impacting on business productivity, helping us to keep delivering an excellent service for our clients.

The solution

Practical applications

In Manchester, we moved from a serviced office into a newly configured space in Ship Canal House, insisting on an EPC B rating and an all electric building. Working with the landlord, we drove an uplift from EPC D to B; a decision that improved the performance of a heritage, Grade II city centre building for the long term.

We designed the move around people as well as carbon. Colleagues’ commuting patterns were mapped and the office chosen so that the vast majority of journeys can be made by public transport, supported by a hybrid working model that reduces travel frequency. Sustainability criteria underpinned the fit out, with a high proportion of furniture sourced as recycled or re engineered items rather than new, promoting a circular economy and avoiding waste to landfill.

This sits alongside the transformation of our Birmingham office from EPC E to A and the removal of gas heating from Birmingham and our former Manchester premises. Together, these projects form a single, coherent programme to decarbonise our physical footprint while conserving key buildings and creating collaborative, future ready workplaces.

Measurement and analysis

We’ve taken bold steps to advance our environmental commitments and work to a robust 2030 net-zero target, road mapped using specialist sustainability consultants. Activities are underpinned by full Scope 1, 2 and 3 measurement using UK Government factors and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. This includes the creation of an Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy (EPP) and actively monitoring water usage and waste production.

We have committed to rolling out advanced sustainability measurement software, Ecometrica, to improve data accuracy and transparency, and to achieving SBTI (Science Based Targets Initiative) certification to ensure our targets are science-led wherever possible.

The impact

This estate focused scheme has delivered rapid, quantifiable reductions in operational emissions. Removing gas heating from Birmingham and the former Manchester office cut natural gas related emissions from 368 tCO₂e in 2023 to 104 tCO₂e in 2024 – a reduction of around 71 – 72%. In Birmingham alone, Scope 2 electricity emissions fell from 45 tCO₂e to 18 tCO₂e over the same period, a 60% reduction linked to the EPC A refurbishment and smarter energy management. Looking at our locations as a whole, we have reduced our emissions from 49 tCO2e in 2023 to 22 tCO2e in 2024.

Across all sites, confidential paper waste emissions fell by 53% between 2023 and 2024, reflecting digital first working and e signatures embedded in the new offices.

In Manchester, the shift to an EPC B, electric only space in a central, public transport focused location supports a projected move to the majority of commuter journeys taken by public transport, significantly reducing commuting related emissions.

Through our ongoing partnership with environmental consultants, we have set clear sustainability goals and regularly review our performance against them. We have an approved, Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) compliant roadmap to net zero and Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) certification has been included in our Board reporting.