Meet our Senior Finance Manager, Carsten Böhlhoff

Q&As with Carsten

Who are you?
In 2006 I moved from Berlin to South Africa since I wanted to live in a country with more sunshine than Germany. In 2007 I met my (now) Danish wife who took me home to Denmark. Quite the opposite of what was planned, and still one of the best decisions of my life.

How would you describe yourself?
I would like to think that I am mostly in a good mood, reliable, helpful. And social, especially enjoying groups and people with different backgrounds. Some might call me a bit crazy from time to time.

What do you do at European Energy? 
I am responsible for the making and controlling of our construction budgets and the corresponding liquidity planning during the construction phase which includes securing the funding for those so-called CAPEX budgets.

How do you try to be a creative enabler of the green transition?
I try to be a creative enabler through delivering hard work every day I work for EE. I am fortunate enough to make a difference for the green transition with every hour I work here at EE. On a personal level I try to make sustainability part of every decision I take and, most of all, also teach this sense for sustainability to my children.

What is the best thing about working at European Energy? 
It is a privilege to get up in the morning and to then look forward to going to work. It might not be like this every day (Mondays!) but clearly most of the days from when I started in 2007 until now. There is no doubt that the main reason for this are my colleagues. It is simply a pleasure seeing them, always a smile, a joke, a good and personal talk, a smooth and relaxed atmosphere despite all the ambition driving us.

Why is it important for you that European Energy is a driving force in the green transition?
The world is a beautiful place with all the resources we need and humanity still put it all at risk through greed and selfishness. And I am very well aware of that I, as someone who grew up in the Western world and with the lifestyle I lived for many years, have been part of this development. So, supporting the green transition, as the most urgent challenge our planet currently is facing, is my way of giving back. And also, to relieve my bad conscience.

What are the best things about your colleagues?
Sometimes at our company parties or company trips (and then parties) I take a minute to watch the scene and it always makes me smile. You can see that we love being together, we love having fun together. And somehow this is transferred to our day-to-day work life. In 15 years at European Energy I never had a meeting in which people were shouting at each other and I hardly had a meeting in which we did not laugh together at some point in time. And again, despite all the ambition driving us and the pressure which we also experience at times.

European Energy has six core values. In it together, Excitement, Inclusion, Agility, Trust & Courage, and Ambition. What are the most important values for you and why?
For me “In it together” and “Inclusion” go hand in hand and describe the very good sense for co-operation prevailing here at EE. We often work together in groups of 6, 7 or more nationalities and the only thing that counts is the common goal. Gender, nationality, or other background do not matter, in fact the diversity makes us stronger. Isn´t that how the world should be?

Moreover “Trust & Courage” is an important value which I have not only encountered in EE but also in general in Denmark. “Trust” into public institutions, the legal system and fellow citizens is in my point of view one of the main reasons why the Scandinavian countries always rank on top of the World Happiness Index.

What has been your best experience so far at European Energy?
On a personal level the best experiences have definitely been the many company trips and other social events we have had over the years. On a professional level it has been securing the financing for an Italian project in 2018. We had only around 2 months for a task which usually takes 4-6 months and our team consisted only of 5 people while nowadays the teams are a lot bigger. It was an incredible amount of work under high time pressure but the way we worked together as a team and finally succeeded was unique.

What do you like to do outside work?
There are 3 things which I love outside of work: Firstly, being together with my family and friends, secondly doing sports and finally, being outdoors. In the best case I can combine two or even all of them, e.g. when I go kitesurfing with my wife and/or friends somewhere at the north coast of Sealand or when I play football with my son. And after a lot of exercise, I certainly appreciate reading a good book.