Jules Kortenhorst is the Chief Executive Officer of Rocky Mountain Institute. He is a recognized leader on global energy issues and climate change. His background spans business, government, entrepreneurial, and nonprofit leadership.
Since 1982, Rocky Mountain Institute has advanced market-based solutions that transform global energy use to create a clean, prosperous and secure future. An independent, nonprofit think-and-do tank, RMI engages with businesses, communities and institutions to accelerate and scale replicable solutions that drive the cost-effective shift from fossil fuels to efficiency and renewables.
Prior to RMI, Jules was the founding CEO of the European Climate Foundation, the largest philanthropic organization dedicated to policy development and advocacy on climate change in Europe. Before launching ECF, he served as a member of the Dutch parliament for the Christian Democratic Party.
During the first 20 years of his career, Jules worked in the business world. He was the CEO for International Operations of ClientLogic Corporation, a global leader in outsourced customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. He worked for almost 10 years for Royal Dutch/Shell, among others as managing director of Shell Bulgaria, and he began his career as an analyst at McKinsey & Co.
Jules currently serves on the Energy Transition Commission, and is the co-chair of the WEF Future Council on Energy. He also is a non-executive board member of the Energy Web Foundation and of Solidia Technologies, Inc. and an advisory board member of Land Life Company. Jules is married to Searl Vetter and has four children.
Boulder, CO
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Having lived the last seven years in the United States, I am still Dutch and European at heart. During the past few months, I have watched with growing excitement as Europe has been gathering momentum around the European Green Deal. Europe’s progressive politics, buffeted by mass social movements across the…
We live in times of great uncertainty. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought suffering, indescribable loss, and suffering all around the world. It also has shown us just how quickly our whole world can change, but it is not the only big change that we are facing in the early 21st…
Dear RMI community, friends, As the situation with the coronavirus quickly evolves, please know that we have taken proactive steps to protect our staff and partners, and the communities where we live and work globally. We have a team dedicated to our response during this challenging time, and we are…
BP made headlines earlier this week, announcing ten new climate ambitions to bring both its business and the economy it serves toward net zero emissions by 2050, the goal post science dictates is needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. As one of the world’s largest oil…
That the world is engaged in a profound transition in the way we use energy is undeniable. The era of carbon-intensive energy derived from the burning of fossil fuels is coming to an end, and a cleaner, more reliable energy future based on renewables like wind and solar will be…
This blog post was originally published in Health and Climate Solutions Blog: George Mason University. Rocky Mountain Institute, the nonprofit I lead, has been a part of the community of Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley since its founding 37 years ago. Our Innovation Center headquarters is there, and the people…
Earlier this week, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) celebrated the public release of the Poseidon Principles, a pioneering agreement to reduce the carbon emissions of the global maritime shipping sector some 18 months in the making, and the first global agreement among financial institutions to align investments with Paris commitments.
Originally posted at weforum.org here. Coordinated public-sector support once kick-started the technologies, business practices, and markets needed for a clean, prosperous, and secure low-carbon energy future. Over time, the increasing profitability of clean energy activity has come to drive exponential growth in global annual investment—amounting to more than $333 billion…
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) most recent Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) should give anyone watching today’s energy markets a jolt of surprise. Not for projecting that U.S. energy demand will grow by an average of 0.4 percent per year after two decades of evidence to the contrary. Not…
Yesterday, the U.S. government presented a new challenge for the clean energy industry. The confused logic of the solar PV import tariff challenges all reason: intended to boost the domestic manufacturing of cells and modules—which currently employs less than 38,000 people—and add some jobs while reducing imports, the tariff also…
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