To this end, Jos Keurentjes will take over the PBE board from Luuk van der Wielen, the current board chairman, on 1 February 2022. Jos has over 30 years’ experience in developing technology, business and policy for circularity, innovation and business in the chemical sector,
Jos Keurentjes comments: “In the coming decades, we will have to make the step towards a raw material and energy supply without fossil sources. The carbon source of the future will largely be bio-based. Together we will have to initiate the necessary system transformation.
Also, Martijn Sinke is appointed Executive Director of PBE: “The development towards a sustainable, CO2 neutral and circular economy is necessary and inevitable. Government, science and business are all taking steps to enable the transition. I look forward to working with the Platform Bio-Economy to establish partnerships between all the parties and sectors involved to accelerate the transition from fossil-based to circular & bio-based in the Netherlands wherever possible.”
Luuk van der Wielen will be responsible for shaping the academic side of PBE as Vice President Research Development & Innovation. “I am looking forward to the cooperation with Jos and Martijn. This will further accelerate and strengthen the implementation of PBE’s vision that energetic and non-energetic use of sustainable bio-based raw materials and other renewables are indispensable in the transition to an affordable, reliable, CO2-neutral and circular economy.”
The development of a concrete investment agenda remains central, flanked by a quantitative macro economic and climate impact study and a proactive communication aimed at supporting green economic recovery in the Netherlands as the pandemic comes further under control.
PBE is the Dutch organisation that promotes the sustainable and socially accepted use of bio-based and circular raw materials in the Netherlands within an adequate and stable policy framework. PBE represents the industry and other stakeholders who are active in the production, trade and use of bio-based raw materials for the food, chemical, materials, energy, transport and construction sectors.
Jos Keurentjes (1963) studied Environmental Health at Wageningen University and obtained his doctorate cum laude in 1991 as a bioprocess technologist. He worked at AkzoNobel and TNO, among others, and was a full-time professor at TU Eindhoven. Since 2019, he has led the Center for Energy Innovation at the University of Twente.In addition, he is Chairman Transitionagenda CE Plastics, member of the expert panel KIDV and advisor and commissioner to a number of startups, such as Ventinova, Photanol, CarboOrO and Relement.
Martijn Sinke (1980) studied Business Administration at Radboud University in Nijmegen. After that he was active in the international biomass market for more than 10 years, among others at Essent, Eneco and UPM Kymmene Oy. In 2014 he switched to the International T.I.C. (Testing, Inspection & Certification) Industry.He led the Dutch branch of Bureau Veritas and held additional positions as a board member at the RBCN and the Royal Association The Committee of Grain Traders. Currently, he is Chief Operational Officer at Twinnovate BV and active in identifying, developing and implementing projects in the field of sustainability, CO2, circularity and biobased.
Luuk van der Wielen: see his CV on the TU Delft website.
Image: Piotr Krzeslak/Shutterstock
