How this concerned dad shifted his company away from fossil fuels for his daughters’ future

At first, working in the oil and gas industry was great, Jordi Zonneveld recalls.

Near his home in the Netherlands, there was an oil and gas company that, back in 2005, was growing and hiring.

Zonneveld knew nothing about its business, which was designing and building equipment used to separate oil and gas from the salty water they're mixed with deep underground. That was a far cry from what he had studied in college, aviation. But he was happy to get a job.

At just 21, Zonneveld found himself working as a project engineer with customers and managing engineering teams. It was heady and challenging. The company, Frames Group, in the city of Alphen aan den Rijn, did very well. Zonneveld was promoted every few years.

But in the oil and gas industry the year 2015 was a turning point for many people, and Zonneveld was one. The price of oil crashed. Major companies around the world halted or postponed large projects. Sales at the Frames Group plummeted.

The same year, the Paris climate agreement was signed, committing countries to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the same emissions produced by his industry.

“The whole world is declaring to phase out fossil fuels,” Zonneveld said. It wasn't going to be immediate, “but we were relying on those fossil fuels 100 per cent.”

Zonneveld and his coworkers discussed all of this and decided the oil and gas industry was not where they wanted to make their careers. They were still young.

"I still needed to work about 30 years until my retirement, I imagine. So you know, just wait and see what happens - this was not an option," he said.

He had become a father, with two daughters, and didn't want them to live in a world reliant on burning oil, gas and coal, warming the planet.

“I don’t have the