Legal

This guide outlines strategies for legal professionals to drive corporate climate action. It focuses on four key areas: enhancing corporate governance by tying executive pay to climate targets and diversifying boards; managing external counsel to ensure alignment with decarbonization; incorporating climate risk and emissions data into legal contracts and financial instruments; and navigating evolving environmental regulations.

• Legal professionals, particularly general counsel, are positioned to accelerate corporate climate action due to their direct access to board members and their role in managing risk and compliance. The document notes that over 50% of global board members view climate change as a "very important" or "extremely important" risk, and highlights a rise in litigation, with 142 climate cases filed in the United States in 2023.
• To improve corporate governance, legal teams should integrate climate topics into every board meeting agenda, recruit board members with climate expertise, and ensure that C-suite compensation is linked to the achievement of climate targets. The guide emphasizes that fiduciary duties require boards to oversee climate impacts and suggests including diverse voices—including Black, Indigenous, and younger directors—to ensure equitable climate action.
• Legal teams can embed climate goals into commercial operations by adopting contractual language that addresses physical climate risks (such as sea-level rise) and requiring suppliers and customers to provide emissions data. Additionally, the guide suggests exploring green bonds or green loans to obtain more attractive financial terms for climate-friendly projects and assisting HR in providing climate-safe retirement options under ERISA.
• The guide recommends that companies manage their external legal partnerships by selecting law firms that facilitate client decarbonization and avoid representing fossil fuel or extractive industries. It suggests providing "outside counsel guidelines" that incorporate climate goals and requesting emissions data from these firms, particularly for companies reporting Scope 3 emissions.

APA

Project Drawdown (n.d.). Legal. https://drawdown.org/job-function-action-guides/legal

Chicago

Project Drawdown. Legal. n.d. https://drawdown.org/job-function-action-guides/legal.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Project Drawdown |title=Legal |url=https://drawdown.org/job-function-action-guides/legal |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{projectdrawdownndlegal, author = {{Project Drawdown}}, title = {{Legal}}, institution = {Project Drawdown}, url = {https://drawdown.org/job-function-action-guides/legal}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }