The Chancery Lane Project has received US$650,000 from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation to develop a tool that benchmarks contract wording against climate laws, regulations, standards and frameworks. The London-based legal knowledge nonprofit will also create model clauses aimed at reducing the environmental impact of artificial intelligence and the data centres it depends on. The grant, worth approximately £491,000, follows a US$250,000 award in 2025. Together, the investments support TCLP’s work to make climate considerations more practical within commercial contracts.
Benchmarking Contract Language
Most of the new funding will support a climate contract benchmarking tool for legal teams. It is intended to let lawyers compare draft wording with TCLP climate clauses, existing best practice and relevant legal and regulatory requirements.
The tool will assess a contract’s potential climate impact, possible greenwashing risks, compliance with legal requirements and regulatory conditions, and its level of ambition. It will be designed for contracts already using TCLP clauses, in-house climate clauses, and agreements that do not yet cover climate considerations.
Legal teams will be able to use the findings to compare drafts, identify gaps and begin internal discussions about changes to their contractual approach.
Ben Metz, Executive Director at The Chancery Lane Project, said:
“The first round of funding let us put our clauses into the tools lawyers already use. The obvious next question from users was: how good is what I have produced?”
Building On Existing Tools
The planned tool builds on TCLP’s MCP connector, launched through the first round of Patrick J. McGovern Foundation funding. The connector is backed by a legal knowledge graph that links TCLP’s climate contracting content with related climate issues and legal concepts.
Lawyers using ChatGPT or Claude can ask questions in plain English and receive TCLP’s reviewed clauses, guides and definitions without leaving the AI assistant. The connector does not write or generate legal text, instead returning only content that TCLP has already checked.
TCLP has published almost 200 model clauses, written and quality assured by legal, commercial, sector and environmental specialists working pro bono. The organisation makes the clauses available copyright-free, supporting their use across commercial relationships.
Ben Metz, Executive Director at The Chancery Lane Project, shared:
“Benchmarking answers that question. And as AI becomes part of everyday legal work, the contracts that govern AI itself need to address its environmental footprint. We will keep experimenting and prototyping, but we are now building on a foundation that works.”
Addressing AI Infrastructure
Part of the grant will fund new model clauses focused on AI’s environmental impact and the data centres that support it. Legal experts will draft the clauses using TCLP’s subject matter expertise.
The proposed content will cover the purchase of AI services, including water usage disclosure and 24/7 carbon-free energy. It will also address the building and leasing of data centres through construction contracts, leases and planning conditions.
The AI procurement clauses are intended to support existing frameworks, including the European Union’s model contractual clauses for public AI procurement. By focusing on the terms behind technology purchasing and infrastructure development, the programme places environmental questions within routine legal decisions.
Nick Cain, VP, Strategy & Innovation at Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, stated:
“Commercial contracts shape every piece of the global economy, and our economic choices will shape our climate future. TCLP turns the documents lawyers write every day into powerful tools to fight climate change. Applying this public good to the environmental impact of AI and data centres is a natural and urgent evolution of TCLP’s work.”
An Open Legal Resource
In the coming weeks, TCLP plans to publish how it will keep its content and tools accurate and up to date. The benchmarking tool will be developed in stages, with lawyers’ feedback informing each version.
Funding will also expand the organisation’s legal knowledge graph, connecting its clauses, guides and definitions to the climate issues and legal concepts they address. TCLP says everything developed through the programme will be shared openly for public benefit.
The initiative offers a practical route for legal teams seeking to assess how contractual decisions align with climate considerations. Its value will depend on the tool’s development and user uptake, but the grant gives TCLP resources to extend its established clause library into contract assessment and AI-related environmental issues.
