Shoosmiths secures five-year carbon removal offtake with Carbonaires

Shoosmiths, one of the UK’s leading law firms, has entered into a five-year pre-purchase forward offtake agreement with Carbonaires, securing a long-term supply of durable biochar carbon removals to support its zero net operational emissions.

The agreement marks a significant step in how professional services firms are approaching carbon markets. Rather than purchasing spot credits, Shoosmiths committed to a pre-purchase forward offtake, locking in supply, volume and price over five years at a point when demand for high-integrity removals is accelerating and premium supply is becoming increasingly constrained. Carbonaires sourced the project, conducted institutional-grade technical and commercial due diligence and structured the agreement, and will manage the removals through to retirement on Shoosmiths’ behalf.

The removals are sourced from HUSK, a women-led biochar producer operating in Cambodia and Vietnam. Agricultural residues such as rice husks are converted into stable biochar, locking carbon away for over 1,000 years while improving soil health, strengthening crop yields and enhancing livelihoods for smallholder farming communities. To date HUSK has regenerated over 6,400 hectares of farmland, with third-party trials showing farmer incomes up by more than 20%, and its biochar credits have been certified for six consecutive years under the Global Biochar C-Sink Standard. See HUSK’s impact report here.

Shoosmiths has reduced its operational footprint by over 70% across scope 1 and market-based scope 2 emissions. Combined with the removals secured through this agreement, the firm’s net operational emissions are zero. Shoosmiths does not yet claim to be net zero, as it has not yet reached the 90% reduction threshold, but it is taking responsibility for residual emissions today as it continues cutting towards its 2040 net zero goal.

As Max Finney, senior sustainability manager at Shoosmiths, explains:

Our vision is to be a low carbon law firm, enabling a sustainable future for our clients, our communities and our people. We chose to pre-purchase future carbon removals through a five-year forward offtake to lock in long-term supply and price as demand for high-integrity removals accelerates. Carbonaires gave us the confidence to make that commitment through rigorous technical and commercial due diligence and end-to-end support, from project selection and contracting through to credit management, monitoring and retirement.

— Max Finney, Senior Sustainability Manager, Shoosmiths

Every credit is monitored through Carbonaires’ digital twin and real-time tracking, and retired with full end-to-end traceability via Carbonaires’ integration with Carbonplace, from issuance through to retirement. For a firm operating in a regulated environment with client scrutiny over climate claims, that transparency is not optional.

Long-term commitments like this do more than manage a buyer’s future risk. Forward offtakes help credible removal projects to scale, attract investment and reach the commercial maturity the market needs.

Dr Sascha Roest-Ellis, Chief Commercial and Science Officer at Carbonaires, said:

Forward offtakes are the foundation of the high-integrity carbon removal market. Organisations that make long-term commitments and purchasing today are not only securing future supply, quality and price, they are also creating the long-term demand needed to attract investment into high-integrity carbon removal projects and accelerate their deployment. Shoosmiths has demonstrated real leadership by significantly reducing emissions first, then making a strategic long-term commitment to durable carbon removals. We hope more organisations and investors will follow this approach, helping to scale the next generation of high-integrity carbon removal projects.

— Dr Sascha Roest-Ellis, Chief Commercial and Science Officer, Carbonaires

For Carbonaires, the Shoosmiths agreement is an example of what structured, strategic procurement looks like in practice: not a transaction, but a partnership built around supply security, integrity and long-term impact.

Carbonaires advises corporates on carbon removal strategy and structures offtake agreements tailored to their decarbonisation commitments.