At the start of this year, Global Impact Coalition (GIC) welcomed Maarten Wetselaar, CEO of Moeve, as Chair of its CEO Advisory Board, an integral leadership position within GIC’s governance structure.
The CEO Advisory Board, comprised of global chemical company CEOs, sets the strategic direction of the Coalition. Supported by the Executive Committee from the chemical companies, the senior leaders ensure that GIC’s transformational projects represent shared ambition, the ability to spin out and deliver commercial reality.
Maarten brings decades of leadership across the energy and chemicals sectors at a time when industry collaboration has never been more critical. He is currently overseeing Moeve’s transformation from a petrochemical company to a leading European producer of sustainable energy powered by green molecules, including green hydrogen and second-generation biofuels, as well as sustainable chemical products.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Maarten joined GIC CEO Charlie Tan to discuss the scale of transformation required to decarbonise the chemicals industry and why coalition-based action is essential.
As Maarten described: “It’s a big challenge for the chemicals industry because there’s a number of things we need to do at the same time in order to get to the promised land of the green chemicals molecule.”
Outlining the systemic transformation required, he noted: “We need to rewire the whole feedstock chain from fossil to sustainable feedstocks, and we need to really embrace circularity in the whole value chain.”
Crucially, Maarten emphasised that transformation cannot happen in isolation: “Somebody has to buy this green chemicals molecule and that’s not always straightforward.”
This underscores one of GIC’s core principles: sustainability must go hand in hand with commercial viability. A view supported by Charlie Tan who said: “To be successful, we have to lead with commercial viability. This will unlock the sustainability impacts.”
Maarten also highlighted the need for deeper collaboration across the value chain and with policymakers: “We need to look at the final customer and see which final customer might be willing to pay a premium… and work with regulators to create demand signals.”
His perspective reflects the very reason GIC was founded, which is to enable transformational projects that cannot be delivered by any one company alone. From feedstock transformation to circularity to policy alignment, Maarten’s leadership contribution to GIC strengthens the coalition’s mission: accelerating scalable, low-carbon solutions across the chemical value chain.
Welcoming Maarten to the role, GIC CEO Charlie Tan said: “Maarten brings deep industry insight and a strong commitment to advancing sustainable transformation. His leadership will be invaluable as we spin out collaborative projects across the chemical value chain and accelerate commercially viable emissions reduction and circularity solutions.”
