A systemic approach to sustainability.
Our mission
At Metabolic, we strive to transition the global economy to a fundamentally sustainable state.
A new economic model is necessary: one that ensures the wellbeing of all people and allows organizations to thrive without transgressing the safe boundaries of the earth’s natural systems. And we don’t have much time. Metabolic advises governments, businesses, and NGOs on how to adapt to a fast-changing global context, while creating disruptive solutions that can dramatically shift how the economy functions. We crunch data, provide strategies and tools, build pilots, and create new ventures that develop scalable solutions to critical problems. Core to achieving our mission is the transition to an economy that is regenerative and ‘circular’ by design.
Our Ecosystem
Metabolic is made up of five entities working together in a symbiotic way. Each exists to address what we believe are the critical leverage points for systems change:
- Our Consultancy, to steward organizational change
- Our Institute, to build collective intelligence
- Our Ventures arm, to create future infrastructure
- Our Software arm, to develop scalable tools
- And our Foundation, to empower communities
The Metabolic Philosophy
We come from all over the globe with a range of backgrounds and perspectives, but when it comes to changing the world there are some things we all agree on.
Think in systems
Solving our biggest challenges requires always addressing them as a holistic system. By focusing on these systems, and the leverage points within them, we can ensure we affect the most impactful changes.
Do epic shit
The world needs big ideas and organizations who have the courage to follow through on making them a reality. Setting ambitious goals, engaging in pioneering projects, and expecting a lot from ourselves defines who we are.
Join forces
The challenges we all face cannot be solved alone. We work together with other organizations to maximize impact. We also ensure that our work is accessible and easy to build upon by supporting the open source community.
Make it fly
Ideas are only as good as the actions they lead to. We make sure our work is practical and scalable, paying close attention to users, stakeholders, and contexts, so things can really take off.
Empower others
We believe everyone has the potential to achieve great things. We invest in individual development and encourage the entrepreneurial spirit in us all. And where we see others doing amazing things, we help them to succeed.
Our story
Founded in 2012, Metabolic is a group of organizations based in Amsterdam, working to drive systems change and build a sustainable economy. This timeline highlights the milestones of our evolution.

Metabolic celebrates 10 years of making positive impact
The first decade of tackling systems change in the global food system, in industries, and in urban areas has produced a total of 546 projects (and counting) across 43 countries. Our team now consists of nearly 100 dedicated people from all over the world, plus the additional 30 bright interns we host annually. The next 10 years promise to continue creating a world in which economic activity stays well within planetary boundaries.

REFLOW project
That started in 2019 concludes with a digital tool to track resource flows in cities, circular strategies for the six pilot cities based on our material flow and environmental impact assessment of their urban plastics, textiles, food, energy, and timber flows. Of the six pilot cities involved, Metabolic Institute helped Amsterdam find ways to reuse textiles, Paris to remanufacture timber at an art fair, and Milan assess food at the wholesaling market level.

European industrial value chains embark on systemic change
This month launches the SoTecIn Factory, which aims to stimulate systemic ventures that connect entrepreneurs, society, and industries within key industries defined by the EU Green Deal: electronics and ICT, batteries and vehicles, packaging, plastics, textiles, construction and buildings, and food, water, and nutrients. The goal is a transformation to low-carbon and circular value chains, thus strengthening the resilience and sustainability of European industry.Team
Mathieu Dasnois
Bart Stikkers
Ben van der Burgh
Jochem van der Zaag
Simone Hesseling
Katherine Kearney
Pim Sauter
Luuk de Vlieger
Elisabeth den Boer
Martin Valkov
Peter Uithoven
Chiara Rusconi
Moritz Harzenetter
Leen Felix
Andrei Beca
Daniela Palma Munguia
Antoine Coudard
Andrew McCue
Marta Sierra García
Jasper Nijdam
Tony Sevold
Gerard Roemers
Sam van Hooff
Pieter van Exter
Imme Groet
Chris Monaghan
Emmy Scholten
Cassie Björck
Jette Dingemans
Christiaan Popma
Jonathan Aronson
Anne de Valença
Beth Njeri
Eva Gladek
Frenzi Ritter
Ivan Thung
James Souder
Benedikt Gruber
Daan Mes
Mink Rohmer
Joey Hodde
Paulina Hagemann
Elena Antonova
Gerard Boor
Sophie Hendriks
Christie Mettes
Erin Kennedy
Josine oude Lohuis
Guillermo Corella Dekker
Olivier de Schaetzen
Joris Overmeer
Louise Boehm
Jaime Vázquez
Markus Appelman
Daniel Bieckmann
Brian James Shaw
Mhairi Letcher
Sunniva Unneland
Simon van Lierde
Marine Wallace
Jorrit Vervoordeldonk
Murray Gray
Alexandra Fox
Nataliya Bondareva
Rianne Stelwagen
Martin Tauber
Joris Bouwens
Nico Schouten
Eva Laláková
Julie Phillips
Dora Xu
Angus Jinks
Marle de Jong
Brendan Jones
Douglas Tenison-Collins
Justina Damauskaite
Willow Sommer
Élodie Chatel
Join our team
We are a diverse group of data scientists, engineers, biologists, designers, systems scientists, and economists – and although we work on some pretty serious issues, we have a lot of fun doing it! Headquartered in Amsterdam, we have an international team that’s passionate about changing the way the economy functions. Find our open positions below. We also feature vacancies from across our ecosystem, including our spinoffs and ventures. Please check them out too!