Paulien wanted to be a geologist from a very early age. She is fascinated by earth system processes. After obtaining her MSc. in geology she started working as a researcher on the petroleum potential of the Rotliegendes sandstone below the Wadden Zee for The Netherlands geological survey, which is a subdepartment of the Dutch TNO research centre.
With a short interruption as a policy developer for the department of geoscience at Utrecht University, she built a career as a geologist for Total (Energies) focussing on well operations and exploration geology. Paulien has experience working in several countries and in different disciplines.
Paulien decided to broaden her horizons and widen her skill set. She completed an executive Master in Management in Energy in 2022 (BI Norwegian Business School, Norway and IFP school, France) and has worked for Northern Lights JV DA on creating business models for CDR with CCS, while studying. This experience lit a spark to understand better the mechanisms of the carbon market, which she is able to do with Perspectives Climate Group. Her areas of interest are VCM, CCUS and Article 6.