Freshfields is a global law firm with ~5,945 staff and £2.2bn revenue (FY2025).
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Freshfields has cut operational emissions 80% through renewable electricity purchasing and efficiency, but Scope 3 is rising year-on-year, driven by business travel that the firm says is hard to cut given US growth. The firm has documented exposure to substantial fossil-fuel work—20 investor-state arbitrations and a 6:1 fossil-to-renewables deal ratio—with no client phase-out policy.
Freshfields scores 62/100 (Leading practice) on SINK's independent climate assessment, scored from public data only. Fees pay for the review, never the result. Last verified October 2026.
That places Freshfields joint 10th of 847 companies scored, and 1st of 16 in Consulting / Professional Services.
Freshfields is the highest-scoring consulting / professional services company we've rated.
Among the 16 major consulting / professional services brands we've scored, Freshfields sits 1st of 16.
Its three lowest-scoring questions, and what the evidence didn't show.
Total market-based emissions down 40% on 2018/19 baseline, but FY24/25 saw footprint increase from 48,027 to 53,794 tCO2e as Scope 3 rose while Scope 1–2 fell.
No own TNFD disclosure, nature dependency assessment or quantified nature footprint.
Water appears only in carbon accounts (172.7 tCO2e in FY2024/25 Scope 3).
A score changes when the evidence does. We use new published evidence at the next rescore. Evidence that isn't public can count through an evidence review.
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Get in touch →Strongest on Carbon Footprint — Operations and Carbon Footprint — Supply Chain (9/10, 8/10). Weakest on Emissions Trajectory and Nature & Biodiversity Impact (4/10, 4/10).
Freshfields leads its sector. These are the next 3 down.
Accenture reports strong operational emissions data with KPMG verification and achieved SBTi net-zero validation in 2024.
See the breakdown →Slaughter and May has set science-backed net-zero targets and reports third-party verified emissions, but reported total emissions rose 48% year-on-year due to methodology changes and refurbishment.
See the breakdown →EY has cut absolute emissions 40% since FY19 despite growing 41% in revenue, reaching 88% renewable electricity.
See the breakdown →The formula and all 12 sources.
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × Scale12 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
6 of 12 sources are independent of the company.
“Table 1: Carbon footprint data (market-based results) as verified by Carbon Footprint Ltd, a third-party”
“Scope 1 436.3 tCO e”
“Scope 3 52,471 tCO2e: Purchased goods and services, fuel- and energy-related activities, waste”
“REAP (Reforestation in East Africa Programme) is Freshfields' flagship offsetting programme.”
“among which was the phase out of single-use plastics across all of its offices”
“the inaugural TNFD & Biodiversity Risk Reporting Conference took place in London”
“Freshfields represented fossil fuel interests in 20 cases, the highest number of any firm”
“the firm’s almost six-to-one ratio of fossil fuels to renewables was “by far the worst ratio among the magic circle firms””
“Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright and Linklaters also scored the lowest mark, F”
“(Only Freshfields’ US practice was ranked – as an F.)”
“Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and King & Spalding represented fossil fuel interests in more than 20% of all fossil fuel-related cases”
“Global law firm Freshfields has published its 2025 responsible business report”
If you believe a source has been misread or a newer version exists, submit a challenge.
Freshfields is a global law firm with ~5,945 staff and £2.2bn revenue (FY2025). Headquartered in London with major offices in New York, Paris, Tokyo and other financial centres, it advises on M&A, corporate, dispute resolution and project finance. It is among the UK's largest law firms by turnover and headcount.
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