Germany rolls out climate clauses

In 2022, more than 60 German lawyers joined a collaboration with The Chancery Lane Project (TCLP), kick-starting a project adapting TCLP clauses for use in Germany. Since then, an impressive list of in-house counsel and private practice lawyers collaborated to identify, write and review bespoke German provisions – across a range of practice areas, sectors and levels of climate ambition.  

These clauses are now freely available for law firms and companies to incorporate into their commercial agreements and legal documents. German-based industry leaders and legal professionals now have high quality and commercially viable contractual solutions for mitigating climate risks, decarbonising businesses and promoting sustainable behaviours. See the German clauses in detail here.

Germany’s first batch includes: 

Corporate

  • [Lily’s Clauses] ESG Clauses for Rules of Procedure for Managing Directors of a German Limited Liability Company (GmbH): Clauses that set out ESG obligations for the management of private limited liability companies.

IP, IT, TMT

  • [Andrea’s Clause] Green IT/ Green Hardware/ Sustainable Data Centers: A Green IT/ Hardware clause that requires companies to operate existing hardware in a more resource-efficient manner and establishes new concepts making data centres more energy efficient.
  • [Enzo’s Clause] Green Coding/ Green Software/ Resource Efficient Programming: A green coding clause obliging companies to develop software in an energy-efficient and sustainable manner.
  • [Olga’s Clause] Model Smart Mobility Data Sharing Clauses: Open-source data sharing agreement clauses, compliant with the general data protection regulation (GDPR), that can be used by cities to enable development of the sustainable mobility sector.
  • [Steve’s Clause] Green Film Production Credits: A Green Film Production Credits disclosure clause inserted into production agreements.
  • [Suse’s Clause] Net Zero Sponsor Activation Clauses: A clause focusing on activation of sponsor rights relating to net zero to incentivise change, including a ‘reverse win bonus’ for the Sponsor if they hit their net zero target sooner.
  • [Valentina’s Clause] Promotion of Sustainable Consumption and Travel in TV Production: Commissioning broadcasters and platforms contractually requiring production companies to promote sustainable product consumption and travel, both on-screen and during production.
  • [Vincent & George’s Licence] Climate Solutions IPR Licence: ESG commitments by an intellectual property rights (IPR) holder to make available certain IPR for the research and development of third party commercial solutions to minimise climate change.

Julia Fünfgeld, a Corporate/ M&A lawyer at CMS, comments, “It’s great to see a collective team of German legal professionals creating contract clauses – that are free of charge – to seize legal instruments against climate change. With more on their way, the availability of these clauses is just the beginning. Climate change is now a genuine risk for multinational businesses, in terms of the impact it can have to their bottom line, their growth and their reputation. The demand that we’re seeing for legal clauses that support firms with protecting their clients against these risks is an indicator of this shift, which will only accelerate. The next step is to work with our companies and clients’ to help deliver positive change in a commercial way – by using the provisions within them.”

In addition to socialising and using these clauses in their everyday practices, TCLP’s network in Germany looks forward to making more categories of clauses available to you in the future. 

To learn more about integrating clauses into contracts please visit our website or contact Becky Annison, Head of Engagement at TCLP, at becky.annison@chancerylaneproject.org to organise a meeting. To stay informed of events, opportunities, and updates, please sign up to the TCLP newsletter.