Donald Pols leaves Friends of the Earth Netherlands

Executive Director Donald Pols is leaving Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands). He has decided to join Tata Steel as Director of Sustainability. In the view of the Supervisory Board, this move to a company whose pollution Milieudefensie is targeting is incompatible with his continued role as Director of Milieudefensie until he starts with his new employer in June.

Marty Smits, Chair of the Supervisory Board: “We are surprised by Donald Pols’ departure and very disappointed in his decision to join Tata Steel, one of the largest polluters in the Netherlands. We are therefore parting ways with him as Executive Director with immediate effect. Milieudefensie holds companies accountable for their responsibilities. We are driven by science, critical and unwavering. We are only satisfied when all major polluters are Paris Proof. In doing so, we actively seek dialogue but always maintain our independence. We therefore have no understanding for Donald Pols’ choice.”

Milieudefensie will continue its fight for climate justice unabated. It will keep holding large polluting companies accountable for their responsibility to stop dangerous climate change. In the short term, the Supervisory Board will appoint an interim Executive Director to take over Pols’ duties together with Managing Director Jessica Mahn and the management team. A permanent successor will then be sought.

Donald Pols, born in Pretoria in 1972, had been Director and Executive Board member of Milieudefensie since 2015.