Can you talk about you or your company’s efforts relating to renewability, sustainability or other environmentally- friendly activities?

EDPR APAC is one of the three regional platforms of EDP Renewables, the other platforms being EDPR EUROPE and EDPR NA and LATAM. Together with our parent company EDP (Energias de Portugal), a global energy company – we are present in the entire value chain and have operations in 29 markets. We are committed in leading the energy transition globally. EDP is committing €25bn (by 2026) towards the energy transition, with €21bn dedicated to accelerating the growth in renewables. EDP is also committing €1bn (by 2026) to accelerate the energy transition through our seven innovation domains, namely, renewables, grids, distributed solar, green hydrogen, storage & flexibility, mobility and decarbonization.

Why are in-house lawyers well-placed to drive change in their organisations?

“We choose Earth.” In my view, in-house lawyers working at EDPR APAC know they participate actively in and contribute directly to the energy transition. They believe in the company’s mission and are passionate about being in the “right industry”, of working in the renewables sector at this critical juncture. Our in-house lawyers understand the priorities of EDPR APAC and work closely with the business to advance such goals. Many of our in-house lawyers joined from industries which were not directly related to the renewables sector, but they know how important the energy transition is and how important it was for them to make the move, even if it meant having to re-learn everything. Changes create opportunities.

It can be difficult to truly measure a company’s track record and accomplishments in terms of their environmentally friendly behaviour. What do you think has, until now, been mostly missed when discussing how green a company is?

It is fortunate that for EDPR, its entire business is “green”. Having worked in companies which were industrial conglomerates or in technology, I witnessed how such companies tried to transform certain lines of business so that they too could claim having “green” credentials. The reality is that most will only be able to make a small or indirect contribution to the energy transition due to the nature of their business, no matter how many carbon credit off-sets or renewable energy certificates they buy to meet their sustainability goals. In determining whether a company is “green”, I think the most important factor is to look at what that company’s core business comprises of.