Frits Verhoef
Frits Verhoef is an entrepreneur, author, ambassador, and co-initiator of Follow This (the shareholder movement aiming to push Shell toward sustainability), a member of the Investment Committee of the Amsterdam Climate and Energy Fund (AKEF), board member of a social enterprise, and guest lecturer at secondary schools.
As a physicist, Frits believed for many years that technology could solve the climate crisis. With enough solar panels, heat pumps, and wind turbines, we would be able to tackle the climate crisis and keep global warming under control. For years, he focused on the physical implementation of the energy transition. Reality, however, proved to be more complex.
After a career at companies such as KPN and AEGON, Frits founded Energieker in 2007: one of the first initiatives in the Netherlands to sell solar panels online. Once the panels were installed on thousands of rooftops, he shifted his focus to the next major step in the energy transition: the shift from fossil-based to sustainable heating.
He became co-founder of econic, through which he helped make thousands of homes more sustainable by transforming them into so-called e-homes with smart heating and energy systems offered through a monthly subscription. Within a short period, the company grew from 3 founders to 150 employees in Amsterdam and Aachen.
In 2023, Frits left econic and began dedicating himself to cooperative ownership within the energy transition. His conviction: the energy transition is local, and therefore decision-making power should also remain local — not in the hands of shareholders on the other side of the world.
After building several organizations within the energy transition, he became convinced that technology and growth alone are not enough to solve the climate crisis. Our underlying beliefs also need to change.
In 2026, he wrote the book: Verhalen voorbij de toekomst (Stories beyond the future).
Stories Beyond the Future
Climate agreements and solar panels alone will not stop the climate crisis. Nor will we succeed if we continue to see the climate crisis as an isolated issue. The transition to a sustainable future is only possible if we question the very foundations — the stories upon which we have built our societies. The belief that green growth will save us. That technology will solve everything. That we have endless energy available. That pessimism is paralyzing. That shareholders should have the final say.
These deeply rooted beliefs fuel not only the climate crisis, but also a whole series of interconnected crises: ecological, energetic, social, and geopolitical.
Stories Beyond the Future is structured around seven of these stories. For each one: what do we believe, why has it shaped us, and what new story could take its place? Inspired by the thinking of Charles Eisenstein and Nate Hagens, Frits Verhoef combines his experience as a pioneer in the energy transition with a deeper philosophical question. The book does not offer ready-made solutions. It offers something more important: a different way of seeing the times we live in.
Frits previously wrote the book Lef en Moed (2018), about the climate problem, the energy transition, and his personal journey through ideals, fears, and obstacles.
In his talks, Frits shares his knowledge, experience, and vision in an energetic and personal way. He connects the energy transition to broader societal transformations, explains why systemic change is inevitable — and how it can only succeed if we dare to change the underlying stories and beliefs as well.