ADENE is an associative legal person with a public utility statute, governed by the provisions of Decree-Law no. associations in general, especially the provisions of articles 157 to 184 of the Civil Code.

According to the aforementioned decree-law, ADENE's purpose is to promote and carry out activities of public interest in the area of ​​energy and its interfaces with other sectoral policies, in articulation with other entities with responsibilities in these areas, and also to promote and carry out activities of public interest in the areas of efficient water use and energy efficiency in mobility. In this context,  ADENE also has other attributions:

• Collaborate with Public Administration bodies in the execution of activities essential to the implementation of policies and measures for the energy sector, including energy efficiency in mobility, and its interfaces with other sectors, as well as the implementation of policies and measures for the energy sector. environment relating to the efficient use of water;
• Promote, preferably in partnership, projects in the area of ​​energy efficiency and water efficiency;
• Promote and participate in actions for the dissemination and dissemination of new energy technologies and cleaner technologies;
• Foster the transfer of technologies in the energy area, promoting the formation of partnerships between R&DT institutions, companies and international counterparts;
• Stimulating the implementation of plans and actions aimed at taking advantage of existing intervention capacities at the national level and which can converge in the improvement of energy management, in the promotion of green growth and in the greater use of endogenous resources, namely at the local and regional level;
• Provide support in the identification and feasibility of measures and projects with energy purposes, also taking into account the preservation of the environment;
• Develop actions inherent to raising awareness and informing companies and the general public about energy issues and the environmental dimension associated with them;
• Promote specialized training actions in the application of energy management tools and technologies;
• Participate in national or international networks or associations of entities with a similar vocation;
• Manage other systems assigned to it by law.

ADENE is the managing body of the Building Energy Certification System (SCE) (cf. articles 26 and 27 of Decree-Law no. to buildings to improve their energy performance and regulates the SCE, transposing Directive (EU) 2018/844 and partially Directive (EU) 2019/944), and the operational management entity of the Intensive Energy Consumption Management System ( see article 3, no. 4, of Decree-Law no. 71/2008, of 15 April, in its current wording).

ADENE performs the activity of Logistics Operator for Change of Supplier within the scope of the National Electricity System and the National Gas System, pursuant to the provisions of article 2 Decree-Law nº 38/2017, of 31 March.

Under the terms of Council of Ministers Resolution no. 104/2020, of 24 November, which approved the Public Administration Resource Efficiency Program (ECO.AP) for the period until 2030, ADENE ensures operational support for the execution of this Programme, in conjunction with the coordinating entities (the DGEG and the APA), under the terms set out in no. 1 of article 11 of Decree-Law no. 223/2000, of 9 September.

ADENE manages the ADENE Academy, which promotes specialized training in energy certification of buildings and reinforcement of skills in the fields of energy efficiency, renewable energies, water efficiency and efficient mobility.

In September 2019, ADENE was classified by the National Statistics Institute as a Public Entity Reclassified from the general (non-simplified) regime in the national accounts, subject to the applicable general regime (cf. article 2, paragraph 4 of the Framework Law 151/2015, of 11 September, in its current wording), with effect from 1 January 2020, once it has been notified by the Directorate-General for Budget to submit its draft Budget to integrate the perimeter of the State Budget.