Kellerhals Carrard launches Sustainability & ESG Desk
Kellerhals Carrard has launched an interdisciplinary Sustainability & ESG Desk becoming a legal partner of the Sustainable Switzerland Initiative of the NZZ. Furthermore, the firm founds a cooperative as an umbrella structure. The new desk will be headed by Isabelle Romy (partner, pictured left) together with co-directors Henry Peter (partner, pictured centre) and Jean-Luc Chenaux (senior partner, pictured right).
Sustainability in the areas of environment, social issues and ESG are becoming increasingly important for clients so that the creation of this interdisciplinary desk has become necessary, in order to support them efficiently and skillfully in dealing with the related challenges. The desk brings together the firm’s expertise and connects with experts from outside the law field when necessary.
As partner of “Sustainable Switzerland”, an initiative launched by the NZZ together with various companies and the two Federal Institutes of Technology with the purpose of working together to make Switzerland more sustainable, Kellerhals Carrard is backing the initiative with advisory and financial support as well as pro bono services. In addition, the law firm is launching an internal think tank to drive the innovation process in the area of sustainability & ESG.
“Kellerhals Carrard has committed itself to a sustainable business model by taking the innovative step of creating a cooperative umbrella structure with the purpose of sustainable entrepreneurship,” says the firm’s Managing Partner, Beat Brechbühl.
Regarding the team, Romy is a renowned environment lawyer. Her experience includes advising on a large array of environmental legal issues with a strong focus on contaminated land and groundwater pollution. She represents clients in environmental regulatory, administrative, and civil proceedings. Her experience as a board member of global companies has provided her deep insights into the governance issues around mastering the opportunities and challenges of ESG topics for businesses. From the other side, Henry Peter launched the “Philanthropy Series” at the University of Geneva and with it the basis for the “Geneva Centre for Philanthropy”, which he founded in 2017 and heads today. He is one of Switzerland’s leading corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship experts. Finally, Chenaux is one of the leading governance experts in Switzerland in cooperative governance, among other fields, and has extensive experience serving as a member of boards of directors and boards of trustees.
