Portuguese multi-service law firm Telles counts with an environment and climate change practice and an energy and natural resources practice, both led by key contact Ivone Rocha. Additionally, in 2022 the firm created a multidisciplinary team to help its clients embed net-zero and ESG ambitions into their corporate strategy by advising them on matters including waste regulation, energy transition and decarbonisation.

In an ongoing highlight, Rocha is leading the advice to AdEPorto (Agência de Energia do Porto) on the design of all legal and procurement frameworks needed for the implementation of the PEER project, which aims to develop the Porto Energy Hub, a renovation programme striving to fight energy poverty by promoting energy efficiency in buildings, renewable energy communities and collective self-consumption. Rocha is also acting for all the municipalities of the Porto Metropolitan Area in connection with the large-scale development of decentralised renewable energy generation in public buildings, allowing for more environmentally sustainable energy generation.

Another current highlight led by Rocha is the advice to a group of companies in relation to the H2 Driven project, a joint venture for the development of industrial facilities to produce hydrogen and ammonia, powered by solar photovoltaic plants.

Highly engaged outside of her work for clients, Rocha has co-authored publications on climate change and the Paris Agreement, and is a member of the ICC Climate Arbitration Task Force; a founding and board member of the Sustainable Growth Platform; president of the Fiscal Council of Portuguese Electric Mobility Association; and a member of the ‘Women for Climate’ movement.

The firm is a founder of Business As Usual, an NGO aiming to promote gender equality and sustainable consumption by promoting circular economy projects, as well as two associations which aim to promote energy knowledge, literacy, and policy: APDEN (Portuguese Energy Law Association) and EFELA (Energy Federation of Energy Law Association).