Interview with EU Affairs Director-Green Power Denmark and Compliance Manager-Sony Electronics-Lars Koch


Mr Koch, you are Dane living abroad, and you been working for international organisations such as Sony Europe and Green Power Denmark. Your job titles range from Product Environmental Compliance Manager and Director of EU Affairs.
How did you manage to get into those important positions?
So I started with Sony in September of 2015 as an analyst in their Product and Environmental Compliance team. Compliance means ensuring that Sony’s products fulfil all EU regulations. It covers everything from safety, energy efficiency to waste management and product design, I especially worked on the two last topics. It was a really interesting time, because Sony was building up a whole new team in Brussels. I was one of the first people to join that new team and ended up managing four people before I left.
When I was offered the job with Sony, I was working for a trade association in Brussels called Orgalim. They represent Europe’s electro-mechanical sector, and so I learnt about EU regulations and how they affect businesses.
I currently work as Director of EU Affairs with Green Power Denmark, managing our office in Brussels. I joined in 2020, and enjoy focusing on energy issues, which indeed has become a major topic.
Is Sony Electronics a major player in the Danish appliance market?
Sony has undergone a huge transformation since the late 2000s to the 2010s. Before that, they were a huge player in the TV market, I believe having a market share in Europe of 50% or more. Unfortunately, they missed the flat-screen TV transition and lost major parts of their market share to companies like Samsung and LG. Today Sony focuses mostly on high-end TVs. And that strategy seems to work well, also in Denmark.
You previously worked at the Confederation of Danish Industry, Dansk Industri (DI), as a policy assistant. What did that position entail?
Well I worked for six month at Dansk Industri (DI) in Brussels as a policy assistant – that’s a fancy way of saying ‘intern’. It was in 2013/2014 and at the time energy and sustainability was really coming into focus so it was interesting seeing the developments from a Danish perspective. DIs Bruxelles office mostly monitor policy developments and try to influence key areas as much as possible, either through Business Europe or directly via Danish Members of the European Parliament (MEP).
How would you characterize Dansk Industris (DI) attributes and influence over Denmark’s political and economical framework?
DI is a key actor in Danish society and politics. I believe they represent more than 10.000 companies in Denmark, and so their members have a huge part of the Danish GDP. DI is therefore consulted by the Danish government on a broad range of issues, and a big part of the political landscape.
What are the most important branches of Danish Industry? Where does Denmark currently stand as a producer, exporter and importer of modern technology?
I see Denmark as being on the forefront on many issues globally such as shipping, healthcare and green technologies. Our members at Green Power Denmark are global front-runners in terms of the
green transition. This includes heat-pumps, solar- and wind technology, but also the know-how needed to construct and run energy islands, which is a new concept to be tested out in Denmark.
I think overall Denmark is well-positioned as exporter of sustainable technologies. Other examples include pumps and building-solutions (isolation, energy efficiency etc.).
How was the education training period in France for you?

As part of my Bachelor studies, I did a BA in European Studies at the Hague University, I did a six months Erasmus at Science Po in Lille in 2011. I remember it was a challenging time, it was my first really learning French – the hard way! We had classes on the French politics and history, not to mention EU law etc. It was interesting also to see how their teaching methods differ from countries like the Netherlands and Denmark. There is a heavy focus on listening to the teacher present a subject, and less on discussion and reflection with your class-mates.
What are your connections in Brussels?
I have been living in Brussels for 10 years now, I came here back in 2012. So meanwhile I have quite a good network of people, both Danish and international. I try to keep in touch with former colleagues and people I studied with as much as I can.
Brussels has an amazing international environment that I love. But it’s also a place where people come and go, especially in my field, which is the EU-sector. So it can be tough to keep yourself updated on all the new people coming into various positions in the Parliament or EU Permanent Representations, but that’s also what makes it interesting.

For several years, a plethora of organizations has established themselves firmly online using social media, which are engaged directly with the public on issues such as communication, business and education.
What is your opinion of such organizations generally, and do you think their communications are helpful to global development?
It’s true that the rise of social media and people being connected online 24/7 with their phones has meant a lot of shifts in the way we work and communicate. I feel it’s made people more aware of whats going on due to the constant news floods. That’s good when raising awareness, e.g. on climate change, but also carries an added risk of false information or detrimental content spreading which ultimately sets us back.
From a business point of view, I would absolutely expect companies to use social media any way they can to sell their products and services. That’s what businesses do to thrive. However, I do see a worry when it comes to ‘green-washing’ which is when companies communicate falsely or incorrectly about supposed sustainable or environmentally-friendly practices they do. This is especially true since most people are so concerned with our planet and its future, especially at the moment. Life cycle analysis of products or measuring which solutions are actually ‘green’ is complicated and not something the average consumer can be expected to understand. So here companies have an extra obligation.
Bruxelles is an interesting melting pot for dialogue and understand. Essentially, policy-makers, businesses and NGOs all come together to makes solutions that hopefully work broadly. Actually, sustainable finance, i.e. what constitutes a ‘green’ investment, is a topic I have been working on for the past years with Green Power Denmark.
Among other things, you have directed some movie projects and also write books…
How many books have you written and what topics do your books cover?

So I finished my first book this year called Tofu Brains: Life on Zeeta 21. It takes place in post-apocalyptic setting in the future, with a story focused around how humanity tries to rebuild itself after nuclear war. It’s a science-fiction novel that is heavy on character-building. I wanted to focus less on the world, but more on the actual people living in it. How they would react to each other, to society around them, and try to bring out emotions we can all relate to such as: loneliness, estrangement, and our relation to nature. You can read more about the book on www.monkwax.com. This a website I have with a good friend of mine. It also has the movie projects we did, such as two short-films. The book will be out by Christmas this year. Look for it at abc.nl and amazon.com. I am including a picture here of the final cover art, just finalized a few days ago. It’s a world premiere, first time it’s being published.
What future projects do you have in mind?
So right now my mind is on my work at Green Power Denmark. I have an interesting role with a lot to learn and discover still, so staying focused on that. I started the job right after COVID hit in 2020, so it is welcome to finally work under more ‘normal’ circumstances. Otherwise really excited to finally see Tofu Brains come out. I had the overall idea way back in 2007, and it was a lot of work to make that initial idea into a complete book with professional art and proof-writing. But I cant stop there, so the prequel, Enantiodromia: The Pendleton Files, is already in pre-production.
Interview conducted by Manuela Dan