GlobH2E Webinar: Evaluating future energy carriers: The role of life-cycle assessments and absolute sustainability in the global energy transition
Dr Till Weidner (based in Zurich), a Senior Energy and Climate Consultant at Implement Consulting Group will share his expertise on LCA assessment in particular ‘Evaluating Future Energy Carriers: The role of life-cycle assessments and absolute sustainability in the global energy transition.’
A fast transition away from fossil fuels is required to limit global warming below 2°C, which presents an immense challenge to the world’s energy systems and the global economy. Many decisions must be taken that require large-scale investments and somewhat lock us onto a certain path. How can we take those decisions today, without knowing how things will unfold? What methods and metrics may be useful to provide a sound basis?
Life cycle assessments (LCA) have been used in industry for decades to assess the environmental performance of individual products and vast databases have been compiled to ease the job for practitioners. This talk sheds light on how novel LCA approaches, such as prospective LCA, can be applied to the energy transition and what interpretation methods, such as absolute sustainability, can advance our understanding of the options available to us. A potential hydrogen economy is presented as a case study and the implications and limitations of such LCA studies are illuminated. Lastly, the talk attempts to infuse clarity and scientific rigour into a debate with vested interests and trillions of dollars at risk – but also plenty of opportunity.
About the Speaker
Till is a Senior Energy and Climate Consultant at Implement Consulting Group in Zurich with a broad scientific background in sustainability, having worked on research projects related to food, waste management, the circular economy and energy systems (hydrogen, heating, CCU). He has many years of experience in helping companies in the processing industries (e.g. sustainability governance, energy and operational efficiency, decarbonization) and in advising start-ups and social enterprises in the agri-food sector (e.g. scaling strategy, LCAs, design thinking sprints). He holds a DPhil in Systems Engineering from the University of Oxford, an M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Manchester and has done postdoctoral research at ETH Zurich.
