Dr. Michel Heijdra serves as the Vice Minister for Climate & Energy at the Netherlands’ Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. Throughout his time in the public sector, Michel has been instrumental in shaping policies and initiatives that promote sustainable development and energy security. At the beginning of 2022 he joined the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Climate from the Treasury, where he worked as deputy Treasurer General and director of foreign financial affairs. In that capacity, he was responsible for the European economic and financial negotiations in the Eurogroup and EcoFin Council including on the European budget. Prior, Michel was the Deputy Director of the Financial Markets Directorate of the Netherlands Ministry of Finance, responsible for the regulation of the financial sector, and Head of Financial Risk Management of Banks at the Dutch Central Bank. He started his career as a consultant at McKinsey & Co, after having studied physics and philosophy in Amsterdam, Berlin, Utrecht and Leiden. He holds a PhD degree having written his dissertation on Darwin and the evolution of language.