2025
Electrification, Flexibility, or Both? New Study Maps Europe’s Policy Evolution
SusTec researchers Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez, Siobhan Powell and Jochen Markard collaborated on a comprehensive mapping of 400+ European electrification and flexibility policies that exposes misalignments across countries and technologies.
SusTec welcomes Maximilian Olmos van Velden as a project manager!
Maximilian joined the group in July 2025 as a project manager at the Sustainability in Business Lab (sus.lab).
SusTec at IST Conference 2025, Lisbon
SusTec researchers Jochen Markard, Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez, Alberto Arcà, and James Kneebone presented their latest work at the 16th International Sustainability Transitions (IST) Conference, held in Lisbon from June 24 to 26, 2025.
Our Team at the NCCR Catalysis Annual Meeting 2025
Our SusTec colleagues Ricarda Fieber, Jenni Kaipainen, and Catharina Bening participated in and contributed to the first Phase II NCCR Catalysis Annual Meeting, held at ETH Zurich, and returned with new insights, ideas for future collaborations, and an award.
SusTec at E-Waste World Conference in Frankfurt
Together with Fraunhofer IZM researcher Theresa Aigner, our PhD candidate David Pfeffer presented ongoing research on the economic and environmental performance of producing high-quality plastic recyclates from e-waste.
PhD Honors Program AMBITION Concludes with High School Teaching and Final Conference at KNUST.
Our PhD candidate David Pfeffer participated in the PhD Honors Program AMBassadors for sustaInable transition (AMBITION), an EU-funded project bringing together PhD students from Europe and Africa to learn about sustainable development from different disciplines and contexts and develop educational content for younger generations.
The role of energy storage towards net-zero emissions in the European electricity system
Our SusTec alumni Dr. Ivalin Petkov co-authored a new open-access study that classifies European countries into three archetypes—battery, pumped hydro and hydrogen—for a cost-optimal, net-zero power system by 2050, and shows that higher-resolution grid models markedly increase long-duration hydrogen needs.
Scaling Circular Ecosystems Through Product Design
A new open-access article features a novel framework for scaling circular ecosystems through product design, co-authored by SusTec member Jenni Kaipainen and her colleagues Lucrezia Sgambaro and Davide Chiaroni from Politecnico di Milano.
SusTec welcomes Sophia Demekas as a Senior Project Manager!
Sophia joined the Sustainability in Business Lab (sus.lab) within the Group of Sustainability and Technology (SusTec) at ETH Zürich in May 2025 as a Senior Project Manager.
New Framework to Help Plan Secure Energy Transitions
A new study published in iScience addresses an essential but often overlooked pillar of the Energy Trilemma: energy supply security. SusTec Senior Researcher Dr. Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez and SusTec alumni Dr. George Mavromatidis collaborated on this study.
SusTec welcomes Caterina Croci as a PhD Student!
Caterina joined the group in May 2025 as a PhD student at SusTec.
SusTec welcomes Dr. Beatrice Bais as a senior researcher!
Beatrice joined the group in April 2025 as a senior researcher at SusTec.
SusTec welcomes Rita Ghilardi as an intern!
Rita joined the Sustainability in Business Lab (sus.lab) within the Group of Sustainability and Technology (SusTec) at ETH Zürich in April 2025 as an intern.
Congratulations Prof. Catharina Bening!
We are proud to announce that Catharina Bening has been awarded the title of Professor by ETH Zürich in recognition of her longstanding commitment and contributions to sustainability research.
The TAPIR framework: A new tool to assess climate and energy demonstration projects
The TAPIR framework evaluates climate and energy demonstration projects by integrating assessments at both the technology and project levels, enabling decision-makers to identify and scale the most promising solutions.
Running around in Circles? Uncovering Barriers in Scaling Circular Business Models
A new study highlights the barriers and how to overcome them regarding the value creation, delivery and capture of circular business models.
New SusTec publication: Analyzing policy mixes for the circular plastics economy
Our new study, published in “Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions,” examines how the EU policy landscape contributes to increased plastics recycling and use of recycled content in the electronics sector. We highlight three key barriers that hinder the mix from substantially driving the circular plastics transition.
Research, market and societal trends of sustainable energy experiments and demonstrations
A new review article uncovers the state-of-the-art and future avenues for research on experiments and demonstrations of sustainable energy technologies.
SusTec welcomes Mara Moos as an intern!
Mara joined the group in March 2025 as an intern at the Sustainability in Business Lab (sus.lab).
Investigating policy and regulatory tools to improve the profitability of V2G in Switzerland
Our new paper assesses the business case of small-scale electric vehicle-to-grid (V2G) aggregators in Switzerland.
Understanding the Decline of Technologies to Accelerate Sustainability Transitions
Our new study, published in Research Policy, introduces the concept of "decline functions" for analyzing how technology innovation systems decline. It illustrates its usefulness by investigating the decline of four energy technologies: incandescent light bulbs, oil-based heating, nuclear power, and ICE cars.
SusTec welcomes Paula Baumann as a PhD student!
Paula joined the group in February 2025 as a PhD student at SusTec.
What influences the deployment of mechanical and chemical plastic recycling technologies?
Our new study, published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, reveals how technical trade-offs and value chain configurations shape the deployment of mechanical, solvent-based, and chemical recycling technologies in the European automotive sector.