Maria leads E3G’s work on energy diplomacy, international development finance institutions and geopolitics to drive the sustainable and just transformation of the energy systems.

Maria works with policymakers, academia, civil society, international organizations and businesses to build diplomatic coalitions around the sustainable and socially equitable transition to low-carbon energy systems.

Before joining E3G, Maria worked at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) covering the geopolitical aspects of energy transition and EU energy diplomacy, as well as the EU/German-Russian energy relations. Starting in 2019, she also supported the work of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) on power grid connectivity for sustainable development in Northeast Asia in capacity of an International Consultant. Prior to that, she had worked with Foresight Intelligence, developing strategic foresight formats for a broad range of (geo)political issues.

Maria has a Master’s in political science from the Free University of Berlin and a Diploma in International Relations awarded by the Irkutsk State University (Russia). In her Bachelor, she studied Japanese Studies at the Free University of Berlin and Tsukuba University (Japan). Parallel to her work at E3G, she is writing her PhD on the political economy of energy transition in Northeast Asia.

She speaks English, German, Japanese and Russian.