Edgar Hertwich is the International Chair of Industrial Ecology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Executive Fellow at the Yale School of the Environment.
Dr. Hertwich lectures and researches life-cycle assessment, sustainable production and consumption, trade and environment, and risk analysis. He has co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and has led multiple reports produced by the International Resource Panel (IRP).
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Edgar Hertwich’s research addresses sustainable production and consumption, the circular economy, trade and environment, and the environmental impacts of energy systems.
Edgar Hertwich has pioneered the quantification of environmental footprints tracing the connection between resource extraction, production, trade, and consumption using multiregional input-output models. In addition, he has worked on understanding the environmental impacts of energy systems using life cycle assessment, often in combination with energy systems models. Currently, he seeks to understand possible sustainable development pathways, taking into account economic, technological, and physical dynamics shaping development and its impacts on ecosystems, health, and natural resources. Professor Hertwich teaching courses in industrial ecology and input-output analysis.
Professor Hertwich has led the development of three IRP reports: Resource Efficiency and Climate Change (2019), Green Energy Choices (2016) and Priority Products and Materials (2009). In addition, he has served as a co-author of the reports on Resource Efficiency for Sustainable Development (2019), Resource Efficiency (2017) and Green Technology Choices (2017). The work for the IRP led to the development of the THEMIS and ODYM-RECC models. In addition, he has served as a lead author of the energy chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) 5th assessment report and a lead author of UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report (2019).
He has served as president of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (2017-18) and as professor for Industrial Sustainability at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (2015-19). He is a member of the editorial board of Environmental Science & Technology, the Journal of Industrial Ecology, and the Journal of Economic Structures. Edgar Hertwich grew up in Austria. He earned a PhD in energy and resources from the University of California, Berkeley, in the USA.