Aniek Moonen

About Aniek Moonen

Aniek Moonen is one of the most visible young voices in the Dutch climate debate. For years, she was the face of the Young Climate Movement. Now she is a passionate builder of the future with a clear mission: to bring long-term thinking back into our decision-making. As a trained transition expert, she is committed to a society that thinks and acts in the interests of future generations. With her Future Design methodology, she opens the imagination of her audience and gets stuck short-term thinking moving again.

From 2021 to 2023, Aniek was chairman of the Young Climate Movement. As chairman, she represented the voice of more than a million Dutch young people in the climate debate. Under her leadership, the Young Climate Agenda was developed and the introduction of the generation test and the Scientific Climate Council was successfully advocated. She spoke about the experiences and demands of young people at the United Nations General Assembly and during the climate summits in Glasgow and Sharm el-Sheikh. She became a frequently heard voice in the climate debate.

Her work with the Young Climate Movement laid the foundation for a varied working life focused on systemic change. She studied transition studies with Derk Loorbach and Ginie Servant at DRIFT and became one of the first Masters of Transition in the Netherlands. She then founded the Future Design Institute, which helps organizations embed long-term thinking in their decision-making in a playful and structural way. She is also a member of the Supervisory Board at Greenpeace Netherlands, co-host of the radio program BNR Duurzaam, ambassador for the Jane Goodall Institute, and advises institutions such as the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences as a member of their Advisory Board. In recent years, Aniek has been a member of several advisory committees, such as the Broad Prosperity Committee at the Council for the Environment (Rli) and the independent Expert Team for the Energy System in 2050 commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.

The future is not a given — it is something we create ourselves.

In her keynotes, Aniek invites her audience to think about the future they are creating right now – and what they themselves would think about it from the future. Her stories can be abrasive and even confrontational – but above all, they stimulate our own imagination and capacity for action. Afterwards, participants say they feel inspired to take action themselves. Some say they are moved to have rediscovered their perspective on action after many years.

In addition to being a keynote speaker, Aniek is also an experienced moderator and discussion leader. She is known for her fresh energy, sharp questions and ability to make complex topics accessible to a wide audience. Whether it’s a conference on the energy transition, a management session on sustainability or a youth panel on future policy, Aniek knows exactly how to set the right tone: strong on content, but with warmth, humour and a touch of constructive activism. Her background as a manager and change agent means that she doesn’t just present, but really deepens the dialogue and connects people.