Petra de Groene is Director Economic Affairs and Sustainability for the City of Rotterdam. Rotterdam is Netherlands second largest city and has a strong history in climate change efforts and is part of the C40 cities network.
Petra studied international law at the university of Utrecht and Copenhagen. She started her career in 1998 at the Ministry of Agriculture before she moved on as a legal consultant at Brunel Legal. In 2001 she moved to the Dutch Competition Authority where she fulfilled several functions. During this time she gained a lot of experience in energy regulation, competition law and consumer protection.
In 2011 she left the Competition Authority to work as deputy director for the civil aviation department at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. She was among others responsible for bilateral negotiations and international affairs dealing with topics such as the development of a single global market-based measure to address CO2 emissions from international aviation. From 2015 to 2018, Petra was director of the Competition and Consumer department at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands.
In august 2018, Petra started as Director Economic Affairs and Sustainability in Rotterdam.
In her current position, Petra is responsible for local efforts to fight climate change. Important goals for the Rotterdam region are among others the reduction of Co2 emissions and the facilitation and acceleration of the heating transition in the built environment (natural gas-free neighborhoods). With the Port of Rotterdam in its backyard, sustainability challenges for Rotterdam are undeniably extensive, in which the city of Rotterdam partners up with the Port of Rotterdam and national government.
Petra is also responsible for the economic development of the city of Rotterdam (region). Main targets are to enhance the economical resilience of the city (post Covid19) and to stimulate strong and distinctive economic sectors such as the CleanTech sector, Maritime industry & related services, Life sciences and Health and Leisure activities. Together with Rotterdam Partners, the city of Rotterdam invests in a strong and excellent business climate for local and global entrepreneurs.
