Our working group
Our working group is concerned with issues regarding the sustainable production, utilisation and regulation of biomass as a raw material in bioeconomy. This includes the sustainability assessment of processes for the production and utilisation of biomass, the safeguarding of sustainability criteria in practice through certification and the analysis of the political framework of bioeconomy.
Central topics of our working group
- Sustainability assessment of various energy utilisation options of biomass (greenhouse gas emissions, land use changes, water balance, humus balance, etc.)
- Method development and standardisation in sustainability assessment, e.g. in the fields of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and in the social sustainability dimension (SLCA)
- International cooperation in committees (e.g. IEA Bioenergy)
- Creation of individual greenhouse gas calculators for companies
- Support of enterprises in the creation of GHG balances for sustainability assessments with regard to the Renewable Energy Directive and/or the GHG Quota
- Analysis of the political framework in the bioeconomy sector
Team
The following team members form the working group Applied Sustainability Assessment:
| Bothe, Sophia | Specialist in the field of soil and agricultural sciences, particularly biochar and GHG balancing, data analyses |
| Götz, Inga Katharina | Specialist in the field of life cycle assessment of biorefinery systems, sustainability certification requirements and eligibility of biobased products |
| Lange, Nora | Specialist in the field of sustainability assessment, flexibilisation of energy systems and system services of bio-based value chains |
| Majer, Stefan | Working group leader, specialist in the field of life cycle assessment and sustainability certification |
| Meisel, Kathleen | Specialist in the field of life cycle assessment of biorefinery systems, sustainability certification requirements and eligibility of biobased products |
| Oehmichen, Katja | Specialist in the field of life cycle assessment and sustainability assessment |
| Schindler, Harry | Specialist in the field of governance of the bioeconomy, coordinator of scientific policy advice |
| Schmieder, Uta | Specialist in the field of policy advice, monitoring projects and GHG balancing |
| Seidel, Lena | Project management and foreign language assistant |
| Siol, Christoph | Specialist in the field of life cycle assessment and sustainability assessment; PhD student on the topic of sustainability assessment of technical utilisation options for agricultural and forestry residues in the context of a circular economy in bioeconomy |
| Sumfleth, Beike | Specialist in the field of sustainability certification; PhD student on the topic of an integrated assessment framework for sustainability certification of low-risk indirect land use change biofuels |