On November 5th, Viegand Maagøe, a leading international consultancy specialising in sustainability, acquired the EU Policy Team of COWI based in Brussels and Denmark. Through this acquisition, Viegand Maagøe is strengthening its advisory team supporting EU institutions and other clients implementing policies and programmes on sustainability and ESG. The acquisition adds 19 new experts to Viegand Maagøe, as well as existing contracts and service agreements. The Brussels subsidiary - now owned by Viegand Maagøe - has been named VM Europe.

Copenhagen/Brussels 5 November 2024: On this date, 19 experienced EU experts, who previously worked for COWI, walked through the door at Viegand Maagøe in Copenhagen and Brussels as new employees. They will, among other things, expand and strengthen the work in Europe for the European Commission and other EU institutions. At the same time, the new colleagues will strengthen the EU pol- icy advisory services to European companies and enhance work with the European Investment Bank (EIB), which plays a pivotal role financing the green transition.

Brussels at the core

Søren Eriksen, CEO of Viegand Maagøe commented: “With this acquisition, we strengthen our market position in the EU by expanding our services with a more diverse and deeper skillset. We also enhance and build new client relationships across the European Commission and with international organisations such as the European Investment Bank. Furthermore, we add more highly experienced experts to sup- port our portfolio of work on European policy and the EU Green Deal. Brussels is at our core.”

Mr. Eriksen noted that today’s acquisition aligns with the environmental strategic focus of Viegand Maa- gøe. Earlier this year, the company purchased VHK, a Dutch-Belgian technical consultancy specialising in EU environmental policy. Today’s acquisition of COWI’s EU team continues that trend, enabling the company to offer a more robust and comprehensive set of client services.

Viegand Maagøe’s activities in the EU are built on nearly two decades of work for many EU institutions and organisations. Examples of its project work include Energy Star, ecodesign, energy labelling, circular economy, green procurement, environmental labels, sustainable construction, green finance, policy eval- uations and impact assessments. This kind of expert knowledge is increasingly in high demand with Dan- ish and European commercial clients, particularly as the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Di- rective (CSRD) regulation is being implemented across the 27 EU countries.

Top-shelf Experts

Søren Eriksen continued: “The new experts joining us from COWI have further expanded our skillset and knowledge of environmental sustainability, ESG and the EU Green Deal. With our outstanding team of experts, we are ready to support EU and national public and private institutions as they address require- ments and legislation in the coming years. Viegand Maagøe is proud to be at the forefront of this work, offering unique insights and knowledge through our team of top-shelf experts in Brussels and Denmark.”

The 19 EU specialists come from COWI, which as part of a major restructuring of the company, has cho- sen to focus on specific areas within their home markets of the Nordics, Great Britain and North America.

With this acquisition, Viegand Maagøe now employs approximately 40 EU experts, who have extensive experience working across more than ten Directorates-General of the European Commission.

About Viegand Maagøe

Since the company’s establishment in 2006, Viegand Maagøe has evolved from primarily helping cus- tomers with energy efficiency and communications to also working strategically and operationally with both resources and sustainability in areas such as climate and the environment, social conditions and company management. The 150 employees of Viegand Maagøe are at the front line of sustainability. The organisation succeeds because we have a diverse team of experts with deep insight into all the criti- cal areas of the green transition. We deliver client-facing value by creating teams with the right skillsets and experience across the departments and areas of expertise. Viegand Maagøe currently has offices in Copenhagen, Aarhus, Delft and Brussels.

More info on viegandmaagoe.dk/en/

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