I hold a MSc in Industrial Sciences Biochemical Engineering and have an Advanced Master's degree in Environmental Sanitation. During the 90s, I served as the policy director and spokesperson for Bond Beter Leefmilieu, the umbrella organization for environmental NGOs in Flanders. Between June 2004 and June 2014 I was a member of the Flemish Parliament where I was chairman of the environment committee. For five years, I was also a member of the Belgian Senate where I succeeded in inserting ‘sustainable development’ as a guiding principle for all government decisions into the Belgian Constitution. In 2014 I worked as an independent consultant and published a study commissioned by Greenpeace on the socioeconomic impact of a severe nuclear accident at the nuclear power plant of Doel. Between January 2015 and February 2019 I worked as an environmental policy advisor in the European Parliament. There I was the aid of MEP Kathleen Van Brempt, vice-president of the S&D group, responsible for sustainability, and chair of the Dieselgate inquiry committee EMIS. As policy advisor I was involved in the development of key environmental legislation such as those on the Energy Union, the Circular Economy, InvestEU and Horizon Europe. Between February 2019 and November 2024 I assisted the alderman of the city of Antwerp, responsible for environmental and social policies, to turnover Antwerp into the first climate-neutral city of Belgium.Since November 2024, I am working as energy and climate advisor to the Flemish vice-minister president Melissa Depraetere.