My Job
Through BACC (Business Advisers on Climate & Competitiveness), I work for early movers with actual skin in tomorrow’s industrial game. I help these early movers advocate for EU energy and climate policy that rewards the investments they have already made, rather than undercutting them. That means defending the ambition of instruments such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS1) and mandates, as well as improving the enabling conditions industry needs to deliver: lower electricity prices, a level playing field on trade, and faster permitting.
My Experience
I have spent the last ten years working on EU energy, climate and industrial policy. Before founding BACC I led the heavy industry and power decarbonisation practice at #SustainablePublicAffairs, working with early movers in mining, iron & steel, cement, fossil-free hydrogen and clean power. Before that, I spent five years as the main climate and circular economy expert at BusinessEurope, where I coordinated the federation’s climate neutrality position and its annual delegation to the UN climate talks. I hold a master’s from the London School of Economics and get quoted regularly in Brussels-based as well as international media.
My Specialisms
My Proudest Achievements
Building the Business for CBAM Coalition. Alongside the EU ETS (ETS1), the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is the most important piece of EU climate and trade policy of the last decade, and it is now under serious political pressure. I saw the need for a business-led voice that could counter those wanting to water down CBAM and ETS1, and I tested the idea before building it. Companies and policymakers in my network said the same thing: there was room for a dedicated, business-led voice on these files, and appetite in the institutions to engage with one.
I rebuilt visibility around these questions with two public webinars in mid-2025, on ETS1 and on the future of CBAM, both reaching audiences well beyond Brussels. The launch itself took months of groundwork, bringing MEP Peter Liese (former ETS1 Rapporteur), MEP Mohammed Chahim (former CBAM Rapporteur) and a representative of Commissioner Hoekstra’s cabinet into the same room around an early-mover agenda. The website went live the same day with practical positions on the most contested items in both files.
Some of the Coalition’s highlights:
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More than 60 meetings so far with national ministries, MEPs and their teams, and European Commission staff.
- Participation in the October 2025 high-level CBAM Dialogue with Executive VP Séjourné and Commissioner Hoekstra, and the May 2026 high-level roundtable on ETS1 with DG CLIMA Director General Kurt Vandenberghe.
- Coordinating, with Cleantech for Europe, the We Mean Business Coalition and the Corporate Leaders Group Europe, a pro-ETS1 letter to Heads of State signed by 150 companies and investors.
The Business for CBAM Coalition is now the first major project I am bringing into BACC.
My Education
- Master of Science (MSc) in Environmental Economics and Climate Change, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
- Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Economics and Business Economics, University of Groningen
My Languages
Dutch (mother tongue) and English.
My Interests outside work
Beyond traveling, cooking and reading, I play football, fit in some fitness in the early mornings, and listen to a lot of geopolitics podcasts. My most challenging project outside work is reaching a basic level of Slovenian, so I can talk more with my mother-in-law.
My Favourite Brussels anecdote
“What we achieve in this life, echoes in eternity!” – Willem Vriesendorp, who may or may not have taken inspiration from the Gladiator movie.