Tom Zoete is a Belgian political advisor and environmental advocate, known for his roles in political strategy and environmental campaigns. He worked in shaping environmental policies in Belgium and the Netherlands and has been involved in various national and EU-level political campaigns.
Zoete began his professional career in journalism, working for the Belgian press agency Belga. His role at Belga involved reporting on banking, insurance companies, and developments in economics, providing him with insight into financial and economic matters that would inform his later political work.[2][bettersourceneeded]
At the age of 23, Zoete was appointed as a political advisor to Isabelle Durant, who was the Belgian Vice Prime Minister in the Verhofstadt I Government and subsequently served as Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Zoete's role in Durant's staff was providing strategic advice on the legislative work in the Belgium parliament and the communication to the Dutch-speaking Belgian media, marking his entry into high-level advisory roles.
From 2007 to 2014, Zoete served as Head of Political Staff for the Ecolo-Groen group in the Belgian Federal Parliament, the joint green caucus formed out of members of the Dutch-speaking party Groen and the francophone party Ecolo.[3] He worked on the political strategy of the group on promoting sustainability, environmental protection, and social justice.[2]
Zoete later transitioned to a communications-focused role, working as a PressOfficer for the Groen Party in the Flemish Parliament (2014–2017),[4] managing media relations promoting green policies.
While being the spokesperson [5] of the Dutch-Belgian NGO Recycling Netwerk Benelux (now Fair Resource Foundation[nl]), Zoete co-founded the Deposit Return Alliance[nl], an environmental initiative in Belgium and the Netherlands with the goal of introducing a deposit return systems for plastic bottles and cans.[6] The alliance succeeded when the Dutch Second Rutte cabinet decided to introduce a deposit return system for plastic bottles, and the Third Rutte Cabinet enlarged it to beverage cans.[7] Tom Zoete contributed with several OpEds in Dutch and Belgian press, notably in Knack,[8]BNNVara,[9] or De Morgen,[10] all on the topic of reduction of plastic waste and promoting recycling efforts.