Event Report 2025

On 25 June, the Legal Business ESG Summit returned to London, bringing together leading sponsors, speakers, and delegates to discuss an engaging year of sustainability and climate action.

The day’s discussions were opened by John Buttanshaw, partner of operational risk and environment and co-head of ESG & impact at Travers Smith, following brief opening remarks by Legal 500’s Harry Hyde.

Buttanshaw set the scene of how turbulent political, market, and legal dynamics are not an existential threat to ESG, but rather an inevitable consequence of the environmental and social change necessary to deliver a low-carbon, nature-positive, and socially inclusive economy and society. While the green transition may be a modern moonshot, it will create resilience and adaptation and bring a new competitive advantage to help businesses continue to thrive.

ESG in 2025: Still Relevant, More Critical
The first panel of the day was moderated by Oliver Wright, sustainability manager at Clyde & Co, who hosted a look into the positive actions and attitudes the legal sector was maintaining toward ESG amid a tense geopolitical climate.

Kickstarting the discussion, Varnika Chawla, director of legal at Climate Asset Management, discussed the importance of reaching a phase where ESG is critically embedded across all business functions, risk assessments, and investment strategies.

Mark Maurice-Jones, general counsel and compliance officer for UK & Ireland at Nestlé, shared the importance for companies of listening, both to your critics – who are pushing positive ESG action – and to your own local impact in order to truly make a material difference as a business.

Chair of the advisory board at Global Sustainable Sport Stephen Townley presented how sporting institutions, as influencers of behaviour, can create a movement by building sustainability into the C-suite, leading in ESG data collection and presentation, and aligning all this with positive messaging.

Punam Mehta, general counsel at Longevity Partners, concluded how data can create a positive message. In a world dominated by negative ESG headlines, data shows how momentum is not slowing and that critical sustainable investments continue to be relevant globally.

The Future of ESG Regulations and Governance
Matthew Townsend, partner at A&O Shearman, then led a discussion into how a focused green terminology and improved market design must serve as the future of ESG regulations and governance.

ESG, financial regulation, and governance counsel Efthalia Sarri offered a key perspective on the green claims landscape, exploring how new consultations surrounding a green Taxonomy and anti-greenwashing rules must demonstrate leadership and business sensitivity.

Looking at the impact of the EU Omnibus, Danae Wheeler, senior associate at A&O Shearman, found that regulatory uncertainty has in fact left clients more proactive and keen shape the future of sustainability reporting and due diligence obligations.

Noting an immense opportunity for the legal sector to help create effective frameworks, Townsend ended the panel by urging the audience to actively engage in the raft of ESG consultation papers which are emerging.

The Rise of ESG Litigation: What Every GC Should Know
Following a lunch break, Heather Gagen, head of dispute resolution and co-head of ESG and impact at Travers Smith, hosted a look into how novel ESG litigation risk is evolving and how can be best prepared.

Adam Heppinstall KC of Henderson Chambers explored how parent company liability claims and supply chain theories of liability are increasingly exposing London-domiciled companies to litigation risks emerging from ESG allegations against subsidiaries and suppliers.

Simon Pugh, partner at Portland Communications, then drew links between poor ESG stewardship and reputational damage and litigation, noting how the public is broadly in favour of activist ESG litigation and willing to avoid – as investors and consumers – companies causing human rights harm.

Picking up on suggestions of regulatory cooling discussed in prior panels, Gagen posed how litigation will be an essential tool for actors looking to fill the gap of absent regulation and shift corporate behaviour on sustainability.

Looking at how activists are using the European courts to limit fossil fuel investment and hold companies partly accountable for their contribution to climate change, Nadir Koudsi, senior associate at Houthoff, argued legal teams must remain dynamic in the face of novel and creative litigation.

Regulation, Risk and Reality: Managing Supply Chain Due Diligence Across Industries
Clare Connellan, partner at White & Case, then led a discussion into the drivers the audience identified as key to their environmental and social supply chain due diligence activities.

Eline Tukker, legal counsel for supply chain and sustainability at Diageo Nederland, acknowledged the importance of understanding your scope 3 emissions to satisfy carbon accounting desires and regulatory requirements. Tukker explained the vital role of long-term partnerships and fostering innovation throughout the supply chain, since complex and often roundabout solutions are often necessary to deliver carbon benefits.

Harriet Naylor, head of global legal at Inchcape Shipping Services, presented how customer and corporate demands are helping drive action for companies currently beyond regulatory scope and acclaimed the importance of data collection and communication in managing supply chain due diligence. On the social aspect, Naylor highlighted the importance of identifying high-risk activities, understanding stakeholder expectations, and following the north star of good corporate behaviour.

Avoiding Greenwashing
After a brief coffee break, delegates came back together for a panel hosted by Christopher Wenn, senior associate at Burges Salmon, which discussed how to identify and manage the legal risk and disclosure landscape in order to make clear, credible, and defensible ESG claims.

Holly Browne, associate director at Antithesis Group, explored how companies which bridge operational silos can develop data-backed green claims which stand up to global scrutiny and create a competitive advantage for the business.

Clint Wilson, co-head of legal at GuarantCo, echoed how active, on-the-ground due diligence and data-backed verification allows companies to be able to stand behind their green claims and positively state their environmental and social impact.

Continuing the important role of data, Laura Halstead, head of funds and sustainability at Octopus Energy Generation, posed that the FCA’s greater scrutiny of sustainable labels has created a data-backed barrier to entry which may increase confidence in sustainable and green funds.

Looking at regulator and stakeholder scrutiny, Jessica Eilts, managing legal counsel at NatWest, reflected on how ASA guidance from recent rulings is helping companies to provide a balanced picture of their sustainable activities and noted the ASA’s recent annual report said green claims are becoming more precise and compliant.

Fireside Chat – Nature matters: key considerations for in-house counsel in integrating nature into business strategy and reporting
Ben Stansfield, sustainability partner at Gowling WLG, joined the stage alongside Tom Mason, biodiversity lead at Nature Positive, and looked to shift the perception on nature and acknowledge its role as a strategic asset which is crucial to ESG and climate.

Mason presented how all businesses have nature-related risks and impacts regarding biodiversity and ecosystems, but too often frame it as a problem of climate, pollution, or water. In order to effectively mitigate adverse social and nature impacts, businesses should understand how they can be long-term partners for the ecosystems and biomes so crucial to their operations.

The discussion then turned to the novel ways through which companies are approaching nature. Nature-related reporting is prompting companies to identify their impacts on nature, the nature-related risks to their business, and how they can address these and measure their positive impact.

Stansfield then posed a potential legal landscape whereby directors have the duty to consider the company’s impact on nature. Thus, just as nature is witnessing its own reporting rise, so too is it emerging as a key litigation landscape to watch. Integrating nature into corporate climate action is thus crucial.

The P in ESG – Positivity
The final session of the day, hosted by Anna Bauböck, senior editor at the Legal 500, looked to highlight positive developments within the past and future.

John Buttanshaw started by examining how interpretations of the Proceeds of Crime Act may widen its remit to overseas modern slavery abuses and noted with interest at how existing UK law is adapting to modern forced labour action.

Joshua Domb, founder of Gen-R Law, then looked forward to how greenwashing and environmental and sustainability misstatements may fall under the new corporate criminal offense of failure to prevent fraud, thus increasing corporate environmental accountability.

Ella Stolwerk, associate at Addleshaw Goddard, was inspired by the fact that, despite a US-led pushback against DEI policies, the boards of major companies are continuing to maintain their policies and lead through internal ESG strategies.

Stephen Shergold, partner at White & Case, took a similar stance. Amid political and regulatory uncertainty, clients are more so than ever looking to embrace the business opportunity and competitive advantage in being an ESG first-mover.

Writing down their reflections on the positivity of the last and next year, the audience then turned their papers into paper aeroplanes and threw them on stage for the panel to discuss. The session ended with panellists sharing in the audience’s excitement for the future and celebrating the achievements made in the ESG space.

Closing remarks
Heather Gagen returned to the stage to deliver the day’s closing remarks. Gagen acknowledged that there are no easy answers in the ESG arena, but impressed upon the audience that lawyers welcome a challenge and are best-equipped to continue the ESG debate. Lawyers should not shy away from addressing key ESG issues, but rather be part of the generation shouting loudly and proudly about sustainability.

The day ended as delegates joined for a drinks reception, sharing their successes and expectations for the next year of ESG action.