Austrian corporate law firm PHH Rechtsanwält:innen provides comprehensive advice to clients on a variety of innovative renewable energy projects including solar, wind and hyropower. The firm’s role as panel law firm for Wien Energie (the largest energy supplier in Austria) and all companies of the group’s parent company, Wiener Stadtwerke, supporting them in various projects to make its portfolio greener, exemplifies its highly regarded expertise in this space.

Head of the energy law practice, Dominik Kurzmann, assists mutliple clients, including PVTechnologies and Dor -Turbinen, with the establishment of energy communities. A pioneer in this space, he lectures on the topic at the University of Vienna.

Stefanie Werinos-Sydow and her team are involved in cutting-edge work involving the development of PV projects in the instance of dual land use, having assisted PVTechnologies with the development of a PV project in an open-cast mining area. Kurzmann and Werinos-Sydow regularly advise Amarenco Solar Austria on various PV projects with a complex real estate aspect, such as the establishment of PV plants to feed produced electricity to the state-owned railway grid. Werinos-Sydow’s knowledge of the sector is further demonstrable in her role as an environmental law lecturer at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna.

The firm is also active in sustainable financing deals, with Wolfram Huber and Lisa Urbas leading the advice to Mayr Melnhof regarding the client’s first sustainable financing to be certified in compliance with the Green Loan Principles,  valued at €65m. Urbas, who is co-chair of the Sustainability Board of AIJA (Association Internationale des Jeunes Avocats), is also key to the development of the firm’s sustainability law advisory practice; she works across departments focusing, for instance, on ESG compliance and the development of sustainability strategies.

Internally, the firm has taken considerable steps towards carbon neutrality, using 100% green electricity and offering 100% remote working to further reduce its carbon footprint. It also offers e-scooters as transportation for staff as opposed to company cars.