He studied Environmental Chemistry at Leiden University between 1986 and 1990 and received his PhD at Delft University of Technology. He worked at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) of VU Amsterdam between 1996 and 2013. His research projects dealt with making environmental information transparent for decision-makers, such as developing a decision support system for soil remediation, sustainability indicators for Amazonia, socio-economic scenarios for climate assessments, measuring the environmental performance of industries, financing adaptation in developing countries and many others.