BNEF Briefing Brussels

Anthony (Tony) Agotha (1970, USA) is a Dutch diplomat and is the Ambassador at Large – Special Envoy for Climate and Environment Diplomacy for the European External Action Service (EEAS).  He has worked in two cabinets of Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans who was the architect of the European Green Deal. Tony Agotha joined the Netherlands Diplomatic Service in 1996 and started at the Office of the Secretary General in the MFA (The Hague) as a speechwriter before being posted at the Permanent Representation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the EU. He was Deputy Ambassador at the Netherlands Embassy in Ljubljana (Slovenia).

In 2008 he joined the European Commission in the Turkey Team (DG Enlargement) as a national expert. When the euro crisis broke out in 2009, he was asked to return to the Dutch diplomatic service and become the spokesperson of the Permanent Representation of the Netherlands to the EU. In 2015 he was appointed Deputy Director of the EU Integration Directorate responsible for general management and organisation of the Dutch EU Presidency in 2016 after which he joined the European Commission. He is a graduate of the University of Twente at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Arlene McCarthy OBE is Special Advisor to the Chairman of Bloomberg on Strategic Affairs and Special Advisor to the Bloomberg Philanthropies Team on Climate, Climate Finance and Environment programmes.

During 20 years as an MEP, she chaired the European Parliament’s Internal Market Committee (2006-2009) and was Vice Chair of the Economic Committee and Monetary Affairs Committee (2009-2014). She was named as one of the top 100 influential women in European finance in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and was awarded MEP of the year in 2014 for her work in financial services. She was also awarded an OBE in the Queen’s 2015 New Year’s Honours List for Parliamentary and Political Services.

Dana is Head of Market Development and Partnerships for BloombergNEF (BNEF), based out of London. Her role includes oversight of BNEF’s Global Summits and Regional Forums, strategic partnerships, and business development activities. She is also the host of Bloomberg Switched On, a weekly podcast focused on the future of energy, transport, and sustainability, told through weekly interviews with BNEF analysts and leading industry experts. During her time at BNEF, Dana has led various teams including EMEA Research and EMEA Sales.

In 2018, Dana became a C40 Women4Climate mentor. Prior to joining Bloomberg in 2010, she worked for Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) in their Energy and Industrials practice, focused on credit and equities clients. Dana has a B.A. in International Affairs and M.A. in Environmental Public Policy from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. In her free time, she participates as an Executive Committee member of the 21^st Hammersmith Scout Group.

As Head of Global Policy at BloombergNEF, Victoria leads analysis of cross-regional and cross-sectoral trends in policy and regulation around the climate transition. Having joined the company in 2009, she leads the ‘G-20 Zero-Carbon Policy Scoreboard’ – BNEF’s annual assessment of the G-20 countries’ decarbonization policies, the ‘Climate Policy Factbook’, and all analysis of international climate and biodiversity negotiations. She also oversees the database of low-carbon policies and regulations known as the ‘Policy Navigator’.

In addition, Victoria has written many one-off reports on a wide range of topics, including impact of electrification of industry, buildings and transport, government responses to declining fuel tax revenue, carbon markets, local content requirements, heat decarbonization and sustainable agriculture. Before BNEF, Victoria spent seven years as an editor working with the European Commission and Parliament in Brussels; and for an economics consultancy in Oxford. She holds two Master’s degrees from the University of Cambridge, and another Master’s from the University of Durham.

Maia is a research analyst in the sustainable finance team for BloombergNEF (BNEF). She particularly focuses on sustainable debt, transition finance and sustainable finance regulations. Maia was part of the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance as support of Bloomberg member Nadia Humphreys (also known as “Sherpa role”) up until October 2022. Maia holds a Bachelor in Philosophy from Université Pierre Mendes France, as well as an MSc. in Management and an MSc. in Finance from Grenoble Ecole de Management.

BloombergNEF (BNEF) is a strategic research provider covering global commodity markets and the disruptive technologies driving the transition to a low-carbon economy. Our expert coverage assesses pathways for the power, transport, industry, buildings and agriculture sectors to adapt to the energy transition. We help commodity trading, corporate strategy, finance and policy professionals navigate change and generate opportunities.