New Law Society Guidance on Climate Change for In-House Legal Counsel

On 3 August 2026, The Law Society published climate change guidance for in-house legal counsel (“Guidance”). The Guidance builds upon the Law Society’s more general April 2023 note on the impact of climate change on solicitors.

The Guidance begins by reminding solicitors of our core professional duties and how these sit within the wider ethics framework that governs solicitors’ conduct, both of which are increasingly engaged by climate change.

Climate change and in-house counsel

The Guidance acknowledges that “for many, climate change may be a core business risk and resilience issue that poses governance challenges”. Moreover, the embedded nature of in-house counsel creates unique challenges when navigating climate risks, particularly the need to balance “legal duties against institutional pressures or business needs.”

These challenges notwithstanding, in-house lawyers and General Counsel (“GCs”) are uniquely placed to help their organisations proactively manage climate-related risks.

GCs sit close to the board, strategy and operational decision making, with influence that extends beyond compliance with legal obligations and the management of legal risks. More generally, in-house counsel and GCs have wide discretion to engage teams and colleagues across their organisation and the scope to be proactive in ensuring that climate risks and considerations are meaningfully embedded in risk, compliance, marketing and procurement functions – to name just a few.

This ability for in-house counsel to positively engage with climate change makes the Guidance both timely and welcome. Among the many recommendations in the Guidance, the following particularly stand out.

Evolving compliance and disclosure requirements

The Guidance notes that compliance obligations concerning the impact of climate change are not limited to those contained in environmental law. Sustainability reporting, evolving requirements on the preparation and disclosure of transition plans, developing accounting standards and rapidly tightening supply chain due diligence regulations will all require careful oversight from legal teams.

In-house lawyers should carefully track regulatory developments in this space and horizon scan across relevant markets to identify regulations from jurisdictions outside the UK that may nonetheless engage UK businesses. The Guidance specifically highlights the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in this regard.

Climate governance, directors’ duties and risk management

The Guidance reminds in-house counsel of the need to keep climate change on the board agenda, not least because of the inherent link between climate considerations and the fiduciary duties of directors to promote the success of the company by considering the long-term consequences of decision making and the impact of the company’s operations on the environment.

The Guidance also highlights the role of in-house counsel in ensuring that climate considerations are adequately embedded within organisational governance and risk management – particularly where climate risks can create legal exposure for the business.

Procurement and commercial contracts

The Guidance notes the importance of procurement teams and processes in embedding climate considerations throughout supply chains.

In-house counsel should consider whether climate risks are appropriately integrated into procurement processes, supplier due diligence and the resulting commercial contracts. Those contracts should make appropriate provision (among other things) for:

• climate-related supply chain disruption;

• the provision, by suppliers, of information needed for the business to comply with climate-related disclosure obligations; and

• ideally, a requirement for suppliers to cascade and embed climate considerations into their own supply chains, helping to drive wider systemic progress.

Greenwashing and reputational risks

The Guidance notes the growing legal risk associated with corporate greenwashing, and the need for legal teams to engage proactively with marketing and communications teams to review public statements, marketing and disclosures for accuracy.

The Guidance notes that in-house counsel should be ready to “edit out over-optimistic claims and add disclaimers or context where needed”, particularly given that under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, the Competition and Markets Authority has the power to fine businesses up to 10% of global annual turnover for breaches of consumer protection law.

Commercial awareness and climate literacy

The Guidance notes the importance of in-house lawyers understanding how climate risk can arise in everyday legal workflows and the need to build genuine climate competence and understanding within an in-house legal team.

This is a critical (and, in our experience at Gen-R Law,  under-prioritised) requirement for modern, in-house legal teams. In-house counsel cannot help their organisations effectively manage climate-related legal risks without a sufficient degree of climate literacy.

The Guidance references concepts including climate-related physical, transition and liability risks, scope 1-3 emissions and climate change adaptation, resilience and mitigation. We recommend that in-house counsel have a working understanding of these concepts, at minimum, to support their ability to advise businesses on managing climate-related legal risks.

“In short, you are all climate lawyers now, whether you want to be, or not.”

The Guidance is a timely reminder that climate change is no longer an ESG or sustainability issue. It is increasingly a source of concrete legal, regulatory, litigation and governance risk. In-house legal teams and GCs play a central role in identifying and managing that exposure.

As John Kerry famously noted in his 2021 keynote speech to the American Bar Association’s annual meeting: “In short, you are all climate lawyers now, whether you want to be, or not”.

Gen-R Law is here to help…

In-house counsel do not have to manage this complex and growing challenge alone. Our dedicated purpose at Gen-R Law is to help embed climate, ESG and sustainability into every area of legal practice.

We support in-house counsel to manage the range of risks and challenges highlighted in the Guidance and this article, leveraging the position, influence and expertise of legal teams to add value and drive organisational resilience in the face of the evolving climate crisis.

If you would like to discuss how your legal team can better engage with and manage climate-related legal risks, please get in touch: fortomorrow@genrlaw.com

Please note that nothing in this article is, is intended to be, or may be relied upon as legal advice.