2024

Our new study published in Nature Communications conducted the largest systematic assessment of carbon credit quality to date and found that less than 16% of studied carbon credits represent real emission reductions.

Our PhD candidate Ricarda attended INC-5 in Busan, Korea, where countries aimed to finalize a global plastics treaty. While UN member states failed to reach an agreement, unity amongst those member states favoring an ambitious framework offers hope for future negotiations.

The third and biggest Circular Building UnConference 2024 so far was a great success! On the 24^th of October, the third edition took place at the Switzerland Innovation Park Zurich and welcomed almost 200 participants to exchange innovative and collaborative approaches to make circularity a reality.

This paper examines how increasing recycled content in plastics, while addressing sustainability goals, can inadvertently amplify microplastic pollution due to material degradation during production, use, and recycling. By proposing a risk assessment framework and analyzing cases like textiles and wood–plastic composites, the study highlights critical areas for policy intervention and sets a research agenda to guide informed decision-making.

Tatjana joined the group in October 2024 as an intern at the Sustainability in Business Lab (sus.lab). 

SusTec Phd Candidates Alberto Arcà and David Pfeffer presented their research at the STEPS Towards Sustainable plastics conference in Lund 7-9th of September.  

Our senior researcher, Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez, has secured an Ambizione fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Over the next four years, Alejandro will lead a team in developing a modelling framework capable of simulating policies for net-zero emission technologies from a new perspective.

Our PhD candidate Ricarda Fieber was nominated to participate in the Ad Hoc Intersessional Open-ended Expert Group Meeting for the Global Plastics Treaty Negotiations at the United Nations Conventions Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.

Hareesh joined the group in September 2024 as a project assistant at the Sustainability in Business Lab (sus.lab). 

Jenni joined the group in August 2024 as a senior researcher at SusTec. 

Senior Researcher Alejandro Nuñez Jimenez presented his latest work at a gathering of applied economists in Sicily and took part in an expert roundtable on climate change and rural development.

Emily joined the group in August 2024 as a project manager at the Sustainability in Business Lab (sus.lab). 

PhD candidate David Pfeffer joins a PhD honours program to promote sustainable development and research across Europe and Africa. The program includes summer schools and collaborative teaching projects aimed at high-school students.

We are proud to share that Alberto Arcà was selected to speak about his research at the Pint of Science festival.

Our PhD candidate Ricarda Fieber has joined the Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty and will attend the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee (INC-4) in Ottawa.

The launch of phase II of the NCCR (National Competence Center of Research) Catalysis was celebrated at the Paul-Klee-Zentrum in Bern. We are happy to join phase II to accelerate the efforts towards safe and sustainable chemistry in circular value chains.

New article by Lucas Miehé and his colleagues Maximilian Palmié, Johanna Mair, and Joakim Wincent. It explores how Tesla leveraged product design strategies and reputational politics to induce favorable customer evaluations of electric vehicles.

The Innosuisse Flagship SWIRCULAR (Circular Construction Digital Ecosystem) was officially kicked-off at the ETH Dozentenfoyer. Dr. Catharina Bening led discussions with the work package collaborators on value creation models for digital circular construction technologies.

James Kneebone joined the group in March 2024 as a PhD candidate focused on clean hydrogen and industrial policy.