Maria van Veldhuizen is an associate partner at Millwater Partners. She is a sustainable development consultant based in Vienna, Austria. Though her core expertise lies in just energy transitions, she also works on climate-smart agriculture and climate change adaptation.
Maria specialises in the design of gender-responsive projects and policies in the energy sector and beyond, and has supported regional organisations, UN organizations, non-profits and development cooperation agencies to enhance their policies and access funding. For example, she developed a toolkit for gender-responsive energy policy development for 14 Pacific Island States and Territories, together with the Pacific Community (SPC). Maria has co-authored and contributed to various reports on gender and the energy transition and subnational government leadership in the energy transition, published by organisations including GIZ, the World Bank, and the Organization for Security Co-operation in Europe. She also contributed to the Asian Development Bank’s Asia-Pacific Climate Report 2024.
Before starting out as a freelance consultant, Maria worked as Senior Communications and Outreach Manager at the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP). She has extensive international experience and speaks six languages. She holds an Erasmus Mundus master’s degree in environmental science, policy and management jointly awarded by Central European University, Budapest, Hungary; the University of Lund, Sweden; and the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.