The effects of unsustainable development on our climate are unarguably one of the biggest global challenges of our times. Yet, the devastating impacts of decades of carbon-based economy and mass-consumption extend far beyond the purely environmental impacts of climate change. We have witnessed unsustainable exploitation of resources and land, with irreversible and devastating impacts on environment, biodiversity, our health and our communities. We have also seen these impacts affecting disproportionally marginalized sectors of our societies. The concepts of sustainable development and life-cycle thinking were born decades ago, but acceptance and actual implementation of these concepts and their learnings has so far been slower than the multiple consequences of fast technological development.

Today we are at an extremely important turning point. In the light of global climate awareness, which now more than ever is reaching the public opinion, governments worldwide are fostering a “green and sustainable transition”, for example de-carbonizing energy and transport sectors, and promoting circular economy models for resources. “Green” thus differs than previous practices, and is implicitly sustainable. However, we have already seen how transitions can potentially trigger devastating effects, for example land use change and deforestation from first generation biofuels, resource depletion from mining for chemicals for our batteries, and potential exposure from chemicals in recycled materials. Moreover, “green transition” in developed countries can still unequally affect less affluent and developed counties in the world. My ultimate aim as an environmental engineer, researcher and educator is to foster truly sustainable transition. My means are my research in sustainability assessment, application of my research in societally relevant projects, communication of my research to society and long-term impact thanks to education of younger generations in sustainable use of our resources.

My fields of research are:

Life cycle assessment (LCA) applied to waste management technologies and emerging technologies and systems
Uncertainty analysis, scenario analysis and global sensitivity analysis
Future scenario analysis
Carbon capture and storage
Carbon capture and utilization
Waste incineration

Valentina Bisinella