Thomas is one of ecoinvent’s Database Content Leads. He works on the implementation of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods in the database and corresponding inventory modeling developments. Previously, he led ecoinvent’s participation in the ORIENTING project and supported the nomenclature group of the GLAD project of the Life Cycle Initiative.
In this post, Thomas shares his insights from his five years of working with ecoinvent.
As a Database Content Lead, I have two roles, one in people management and one in technical work. I currently manage the sector teams for metals, batteries and electronics, and until this year, I also managed the transport sector. This means that I regularly check in with team members, make sure they are doing well, that they don’t face any blockers, and together we reflect on their work to define the path forward for them and their sectors.
On the other hand, I work on the implementation of life cycle impact assessment methods in the database. This requires cross-cutting analyses and projects to make sure our inventory modeling is aligned with what these methods aim to assess. This ensures good calculations of carbon footprints, water footprints, and other impacts.
Sustainability to me is a holistic view of the effects of human activities on the world, and hence back on humans. The environmental part is substantial here, and life cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the core tools to understand and govern these effects. I came to ecoinvent with an LCA background already, but my work at ecoinvent has still deepened my understanding.
There are two things that are hard to separate: the people and the work. We have an amazing team of fun, smart, and motivated people, and my work is in a sweet spot somewhere between academic and conceptual challenges and hands-on publication of relevant data.
I started as a project manager for an international project that lasted for 3.5 years. Since then, I have shifted focus more to internal database developments, and since mid-2024, I am also a team lead.
Hugging people in a professional context.
We are unlocking something called “regionalized life cycle impact assessment” for the future releases of ecoinvent. While in theory it is very clear how this can be done, it needs time and effort to make it meaningful and part of a solid computational infrastructure. It is beautiful to see how contributions from different database content teams and the software team come together to enable this feature.
I am really excited about what parts of the younger generation already know. If you read publications from the “climate youth”, it becomes obvious that they have a very “LCA mindset”, meaning that they have a holistic view on human activities, they understand life cycles, and they are aware of the environmental and other consequences of human activities.
Enjoy!
I have many, mostly late-night moments from team events 🙂
If Thomas’ ecoinvent story inspires you, check out our careers page for more information about our current job openings.
We are excited to announce that Jonas Dennler has been promoted to the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO) at ecoinvent, joining the organization’s management team. This well-deserved promotion acknowledges Jonas’ contributions during his tenure as Chief of Staff, where his leadership, innovation, and dedication have been instrumental in driving the organization’s success.
Jonas has already made a significant impact at ecoinvent. He joined ecoinvent one year ago as our Chief of Staff, where he played a key role in enhancing collaboration, improving operational alignment, leading high-performing teams, and supporting the implementation of key strategic initiatives.
In his new role as COO, Jonas serves as the execution backbone of ecoinvent, translates strategic priorities into operational delivery, and drives the structures, processes, and capabilities needed to scale. He works closely with the leadership team to ensure organizational effectiveness across teams.
He now leads three key pillars that facilitate essential work at ecoinvent: Operations & Transformation, Communication & Advocacy, and IT. Additionally, Jonas supports operational HR topics to strengthen coordination across people and operational practices.
As COO, Jonas drives cross-functional collaboration, aligning the whole organization’s efforts towards shared goals. His passion for sustainability and pioneering mindset direct Jonas to improve, innovate, and create impact in all areas of his life. His work at ecoinvent is guided by his academic background in Environmental Science from ETH and an Executive MBA from HSG, with extensive experience in senior sustainability and transformation leadership roles, including Global Environmental Manager and Global Chief Marketing and Solution Officer for the Sustainability Business Unit at SAP.
Jonas’ leadership will drive ecoinvent’s next phase of growth and operational excellence, taking our organization closer to our goals and mission: to deliver value to our users and the broader sustainability community.
We post our latest team updates regularly on LinkedIn. Follow us for frequent updates on our team, new product features, upcoming events, and more.
Last year, twelve members of ecoinvent donned their cycling helmets and completed the Bike to Work challenge of 2024. This is the largest biking promotion event in Switzerland, and we have eagerly reentered the challenge in 2025.
This year, we doubled the length of our commitment to two months and nearly doubled the participants from twelve to twenty. This is a fantastic show of determination and team spirit in line with ecoinvent’s mission to support more sustainable decisions.
But that isn’t the only news from ecoinvent’s devoted cyclists in 2025; we also participated in the Dutch Climate Classic!
Discover our stories from across two events and more than 4,600 km of cycling!
The Climate Classic is a cycling challenge with a powerful call to action against climate change. This extraordinary challenge combines athletic endurance with environmental advocacy, mobilizing cyclists worldwide to confront the climate crisis head-on while generating vital funds for sustainability initiatives.
The event takes place in various countries, and this year we participated with our partner of many years, PRé Sustainability, in the Netherlands, where PRé was first established in 1990.
In the Netherlands 2025, the race stretched along the border of what will become the new coastline if no action is taken against the effects of climate change. Two of our cyclists experienced 175 km of this route first-hand, with two more cycling 100 km.
Whilst promoting more sustainable action, the initiative also raises money for charity. In 2025, the Dutch Climate Classic raised money for JustDiggit, an organization committed to regreening degraded landscapes with nature-based solutions.
Our collaboration in the Climate Classic represents more than shared kilometers; it embodies two decades of commitment to sustainability excellence and high-quality life cycle assessment. Our organizations have been partners for years, integrating ecoinvent’s transparent datasets with the analytical strength of PRé’s SimaPro software, offering environmental insights to a worldwide user base.
We are proud to finally share ecoinvent’s results from the race:
Together, the ecoinvent cyclists achieved a total of 550 kilometers in one day for a sustainable cause!
Before the race, we captured the passion and determination driving our cyclists. Their insights reveal why this challenge transcends sport—it’s about building bridges between organizations united in environmental stewardship.
Watch the video now:
Together, we can achieve more!
What was the most challenging part of the Climate Classic?
Nick Van Berckelaer (CPTO): Cycling along the Netherlands’ future coastline in a heatwave really brings the message home. If we don’t act, we won’t solve it.
Carl Vadenbo (Database Content Lead): I think the biggest challenge was the logistics needed to take part in the event. Suitable train connections with bike reservations were sparse, and finding an electric vehicle large enough for us and the gear was a hassle. But I was also positively surprised by how convenient it was to travel to the Netherlands and back with the charging infrastructure. The main challenge at the event was probably the sheer number of riders (so the luxury problem of popularity) in our category, which caused quite a bit of congestion on the normal bike paths (which were otherwise really good).
Do you feel closer to our partners at PRé Sustainability after this cycling experience?
Carl Vadenbo (Database Content Lead): It was great to interact with people at PRé whom we don’t usually engage with in our daily work or meet at LCA conferences. I think it gave a better mutual understanding of how we are growing as organizations, but also showed that the spirit and commitment to sustainability go beyond the ‘environmentalists’.
What are your key learnings from the 2025 Climate Classic?
Nick Van Berckelaer (CPTO): Nothing beats the creative flow of discussing the future of sustainability data and insights technology while on the bike. I’m going to do more of my meetings on the move.
Carl Vadenbo (Database Content Lead): A notable quote from the race is that we don’t have the problem in Switzerland of bike races or challenges being halted by bridges opening over canals…
Congratulations to all the participants!
Featuring images from the ecoinvent team and the official Climate Classic photographers.
Some of these faces are also participating in the Bike to Work Challenge…
Twenty cyclists. Five teams. Two months of pedaling for a more sustainable future. This significant jump from our 2024 Bike to Work challenge includes returning advocates and enthusiastic newcomers.
The results are in—and they’re great!
Bike to Work promotes fitness and team spirit for those brave enough to commit to the challenge. The event highlights the sustainability benefits of cycling to work, as cycling produces notably fewer emissions than driving a car or taking public transport.
The challenge embraces all abilities and circumstances. Participants usually compete in teams, with most cycling. One team member is permitted to participate by using a scooter or skateboard, walking, or using any other muscle-powered mode of transport. The rules also accommodate individuals who live too close or too far away from their office, enabling more people to participate in the spirit of the event.
Several members of the ecoinvent team already commute to our headquarters in Zurich regularly by bike, but the cycling gets serious in May and June when pride and prizes are at stake.
Bikoinventers (1264 km)
Pedal & Furious (644 km)
Rest of the World (845 km)
Two-Tired Pensioners (831 km)
Vélos Chics (514 km)
Why did you choose to participate in the challenge?
Veronika Madzinova: Try something new. Force myself to bike more.
Cyrille Szymanski: I feel aligned with the values of the challenge—small actions that have big impacts. I thought that this was a very good way to trigger change, and have fun doing so!
António Silva: To be honest, I already bike to work daily all year, but with the challenge, I get the chance to win prizes!
Nick Van Berckelaer: I just love biking to work!
Armin Agic: I chose to participate in the challenge to raise awareness about how even one person can make a meaningful impact in reducing CO₂ emissions.
Francesco Cirone: I think it’s important to exercise and I like to bike.
Demetrio Carrara: For the environment! and the competition between teams.
Will you keep cycling now that the challenge is over?
Nick Van Berckelaer: For sure, never stop.
António Silva: As long as I live close enough to the office 🙂
Jacomina Van der Merwe: Definitely! We are delaying our decision to buy a car so cycling and public transport will remain our main modes of transport.
Teodora Stefan: Sure, biking gets my energy up in the morning on the way to work and clears my head in the afternoon on the way home.
What was your favorite part of the challenge in 2025?
Vanessa Döringer: I loved the bike to work app. It’s really motivating to see your own and your teammates’ development. I also saved a lot of money by taking the bike instead of public transport. I did the calculations… I saved 166 Swiss francs in only two months 😉
Carl Vadenbo: More teams, team members, and km gathered, showing that the ecoinvent team “walk the walk” on this.
Paul Beckert: That Avraam asks me frequently to bike with him to work (although he never bikes to work :P)
Sebastian Kunde: The moment I win a prize.
Margaux Cepeda: Seeing the scores of every team member.
Share any additional insights on your Bike to Work experience here.
Mattia Clementi: I managed to convince a fellow to start biking, and now he also loves it.
Vanessa Döringer: I’ve fallen in love with Zurich all over again, because cycling through the city by the lake on a sunny morning is simply awesome!
Olivia Karleela: We had quite a lot of rain in Zürich in May, and very hot days in June. Without the challenge, I would have taken the bus on many days instead of cycling.
Want to know the real environmental impact of your bike? It’s not just about riding; it’s also about what went into making it. In a recent LinkedIn post, we shared insights about how the ecoinvent database enables bicycle production LCA research in different regions and encourages manufacturers to make more sustainable choices.
From frame to spoke, every material has a story, and the ecoinvent database can help sustainability experts tell it.
Our life cycle inventory database provides the foundation for important environmental assessments that enable informed, sustainable decision-making. Make a difference today by sharing our database with a sustainability manager or environmental researcher.
For more regular updates on ecoinvent team activity, follow us on LinkedIn. If you’re feeling inspired to join our team, check out our open positions via our careers page.
Amy is our Sales Administrator. She is the first point of contact for all sales-related matters. As of 2025, Amy has been with ecoinvent for five years. We asked her to share some insights on her ecoinvent experience.
I am a Sales Administrator for the Key Account team, which involves creating licenses for our partners, creating renewal invoices for existing customers, and I also help with customer support tickets that relate to licenses or integration with partner software.
I do not come from a sustainability background, but working at ecoinvent and being part of a team that actively considers how we can reduce our carbon footprint has made me realise there is so much more we can do in our everyday lives. We have some wonderful processes and concepts in our office, and it has inspired me to also make more ethical choices outside of the workplace.
One of my favourite things is that I get to work for a company that is doing something good for the world, and knowing that sustainability is the priority and not profit.
I also enjoy that ecoinvent is a fun, inspiring, and flexible workplace. I appreciate the support of employee wellbeing and open communication in the workplace.
For me, it is the personal achievements: entering an industry I knew nothing about, learning new terms and initiatives, knowing my work supports a bigger goal even behind the scenes, and personally adopting new sustainable approaches.
I do not have one specific favourite memory, but a favourite time of year.
Each year, just before Christmas break, everyone is on a wind-down, good moods, people are traveling home to see friends and family, the office is full of treats and decorations—although it can be busy for the sales team due to closing deals before year-end, it’s the highlight of my year!
Funniest memory: probably when I had a new pet spider delivered to the office, and there was a moment of panic when we could not find it in the box! Luckily, she was just camouflaged!
If Amy’s ecoinvent story inspires you, check out our careers page for more information about our current job openings. You can read more milestone stories on our blog.
Three Board members continue to represent our founding institutions:
In addition, we now welcome two distinguished external experts to the Board:
This strategic change enhances the Board’s ability to support ecoinvent’s future direction. While maintaining our strong scientific foundation in life cycle assessment (LCA), we now have also in-depth expertise in business strategy, innovation, and product development at the Board level—ensuring that our management team, led by CEO Nic Meyer, benefits from a well-rounded advisory body when discussing strategic challenges as well as opportunities in all dimensions.
“This new Board composition is a crucial step in ensuring ecoinvent is well-equipped to navigate future challenges and opportunities. With a balanced mix of scientific excellence and business expertise, we are strengthening our ability to drive innovation, expand our impact, and continue delivering high-quality sustainability data to the global community.”
— Nic Meyer, CEO of ecoinvent
We are confident that this refined Board structure will enhance ecoinvent’s ability to navigate future challenges, drive innovation, and create greater value for our users and the broader sustainability community.
“Having setup a management with a much more comprehensive and in-depth business knowledge over the past years, the Board needed to adjust in a similar manner. Then this is the only way, how a governing body such as ecoinvent’s Board of Directors can keep its capabilities and capacities in order to fulfil its mission – i.e. to steer the entire organization on a day-to-day basis.”
— Roland Hischier, President of the Board of ecoinvent
Read more about the ecoinvent Board on our mission and history page.
For quarterly updates about our organization and the ecoinvent database, subscribe to our newsletter.
We are pleased to announce that Nick van Berckelaer has been promoted to the role of Chief Product & Technology Officer (CPTO) at ecoinvent, joining the organization’s management team. This well-deserved promotion acknowledges Nick’s contributions during his tenure as Head of Software Products, where his leadership, innovation, and dedication have been instrumental in driving the organization’s success.
Nick has already made a significant impact at ecoinvent, where he built and led a high-performing software team that has played a key role in advancing our mission. His ability to drive product development and foster an engaged, collaborative team environment has made him an indispensable member of our organization. Under his leadership, ecoinvent has seen remarkable progress in aligning its technology development with customer needs and market trends.
In his new role as CPTO, Nick will provide strategic direction in software product development. He will lead the development of innovative technology and products that will position ecoinvent to take the next leap in its growth and play a key role in redefining the sustainability data market. He will oversee the entire software product lifecycle from ideation to implementation and focus on aligning product development with customer needs and emerging industry trends, driving ecoinvent’s continued leadership in the sustainability sector. His leadership will also extend to mentoring and guiding our product development teams, nurturing a culture of innovation, trust, and accountability. As CPTO, Nick will be a key driver of cross-functional collaboration, ensuring that all parts of the organization are aligned and working towards shared goals.
Nick’s passion for bringing people together, inspiring creative solutions, and maintaining a focus on delivering meaningful outcomes makes him a natural fit for this new role. He combines an engineering education with a proven track record in building and scaling product development organizations and bringing software products to the market. Having founded and scaled a successful SaaS company, he has extensive experience leveraging technology to drive business growth and deliver customer value. His experience building and leading high-performing teams will enable him to execute ecoinvent’s vision and lead the next phase of innovation and growth.
We are confident that his leadership will continue to propel ecoinvent forward, helping us achieve our mission and deliver greater value to our users and the broader sustainability community.
2024 was a great year at ecoinvent; our team grew significantly, we released a new version of our database (explore v3.11), participated in more events than ever before, engaged in meaningful projects, published academic papers, and connected with partners all over the world.
In November, we published the latest version of our database featuring 2,066 new and 4,497 updated datasets and provided an update to version 3.10. Learn more about these database updates in our introductory webinar.
In 2024, we also published various video resources to help our users understand our database and mission.
Introducing:
Subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest updates about our work.
The license calculator is a series of short videos created to help users discover which license type best suits their use case.
To use the license calculator, watch the video and click the answers to the questions when prompted. At the end of the journey, users will receive a description of their recommended license type.
For pricing information, please consult our licenses page.
We were pleased to feature IPC and Mura Technology in our partner spotlight series this year. Thank you to Timothée Harvey, Catherine Colin, and Dr. Geoff Brighty for sharing their insights on the importance of collaboration for the availability of robust, high-quality data and how the ecoinvent database supports more accurate Life Cycle Assessment.
Read our partner spotlights:
We are also grateful to our version 3.11 data providers for enabling us to provide transparent, accurate data.
The ORIENTING research project was finalized this year.
This 3.5-year project aimed to create a robust, operational methodology for product Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA). It allows practitioners to understand and manage possible trade-offs, whilst also supporting a societal shift towards a more sustainable and circular economy.
More information about our contributions and the final results are available on our ORIENTING project page.
We joined 30 events around the world, delivering presentations, posters, and lectures and attending many more events in 14 countries.
As well as sharing our knowledge and facilitating discussion, we’ve also collected insights to share on our blog.
Read our reflections:
We keep a regularly updated list of our upcoming events on our website. Announcements can be found in our quarterly newsletters or through LinkedIn.
There has been significant evolution behind the scenes at the ecoinvent headquarters in Zürich. This year, we welcomed a new addition to our management team and the anniversaries of some of our extraordinary employees.
For our latest management update, we welcome Ondrej Szabo to the ecoinvent team as our new Chief Revenue Officer. Read more about our new leadership here.
This year, we celebrated our team members whose tenure has reached a significant milestone. Thank you again to Guillaume, Tessa, and Tarja for sharing your unique perspectives on ecoinvent’s growth and history. We will share more milestones in 2025 via the blog.
As a team, we came together to celebrate various festivities and successes. Whilst fostering a collaborative and positive team culture at ecoinvent, we socialized, explored, and enjoyed lots of good food!
In 2024, our team grew to 80 passionate professionals, and counting! Check our careers page for available positions and more information about joining the ecoinvent team.
Thank you for your continued trust and partnership. Our team wishes you a holiday season filled with joy, peace, and renewal, and we look forward to working together in the coming year to continue driving positive environmental change.
Tarja is our Finance and Accounting Specialist. She manages ecoinvent’s financial and accounting activities and provides support to the Sales team. As of 2024, Tarja has been with ecoinvent for ten years. We asked her to share some insights on her ecoinvent experience.
At the moment, I am a Finance and Accounting Specialist. I work in the Finance team with Fabrice and am mainly responsible for accounts receivable, as well as big resellers’ monthly maintenance extensions.
Flexibility. The fact that I can work quite independently from my home office, even from abroad, makes it possible for me to spend longer at home in Finland.
It has really changed a lot! I started as an assistant for Administration (HR), Accounting, and Sales, basically everything but the technical stuff. We were only six people.
Over ten years, ecoinvent grew a lot and my workload increased, so it was impossible to do it alone any longer. My main focus has remained in sales and finances. In Sales, more people were employed over the years, but only two years ago Fabrice joined ecoinvent. Until then, I was alone in finance.
The change is huge. From a six-person start-up in three small rooms to a company of over seventy employees with a huge office.
In the first years, it was very familiar. We all had lunch together, we all talked with each other, and we all knew each other well. Now, everything is more organized, there are team leads, and different tools to be used.
There are many nice and funny memories. One I find really funny is the story of how we moved from EMPA to Technopark.
We had a small van where we put some plants and a sofa, as well as documents and our computers. Gregor, our former executive director, went by bike to the new office to help us unpack. Me and my former colleague, Linda, sat in the van and Tereza, another former colleague, drove around Zürich, trying to find the right way to Technopark.
Back then we did really everything ourselves. We had our first apéro in Technopark and me and Linda carried the big apéro food plates from Migros to the office in our hands. We baked the cookies ourselves and prepared gift bags. Also, our summer BBQs were simple but fun. We went shopping and carried the food to the park and prepared the BBQ ourselves.
If Tarja’s ecoinvent story inspires you, check out our careers page for more information about our current job openings. You can read more milestone stories on our blog.
Tessa is our Human Resources Specialist. She has been with ecoinvent for five years now and supports the Finance and HR teams with several projects. We asked her some questions about her time with us.
I recently moved from Finance to HR, as my main responsibilities in managing our software for time, absences, and expenses tracking now belong on the HR team. I still work closely with Finance in supporting the payroll process; tracking changes, confirming monthly salaries, and overseeing the documentation of salary increases and bonuses.
With the move, I have become more involved in other HR matters such as onboarding and offboarding, and I am the main point of contact with our fiduciary partner on topics such as accidents and illnesses and employee changes.
The people, of course! Everyone is so passionate about what they do, and all roles are treated with respect. I’ve had numerous opportunities for growth and there is also understanding when I need to prioritize my family life. To have this balance at work is rare in my experience.
I would say that I have been in a unique position to experience several different roles at ecoinvent. When I joined in 2019, the team was very small and there was a need for general back-office support. I started out as Team Assistant, supporting with sales, invoicing, HR, admin—whatever was needed at the time.
As ecoinvent grew, my role inevitably became more defined, but I had the opportunity to keep the tasks I liked best and this is essentially what I am doing today, although I do miss working with the sales team!
When I started, there were thirteen of us in total at ecoinvent, and now we are almost eighty! Because of that we’ve moved to a bigger office, embraced hybrid working, changed how we work together, and we’ve also had to change how we meet for team days and events.
A memory that sticks out in my mind is the 2021 ecoinvent BBQ. After numerous lockdowns, I was finally able to meet new team members I’d been working with virtually for months. It was fun seeing the old colleagues again, all rocking their lockdown hairstyles and working hard to hold their drink after some time in social isolation.
If Tessa’s ecoinvent story inspires you, check out our careers page for more information about our current job openings.
ecoinvent is excited to welcome Ondrej Szabo as its new Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Ondrej will be pivotal in expanding the organization’s global client base and shaping a customer-centric commercial strategy. In his role, Ondrej is responsible for setting up end-to-end revenue operations that drive growth while advancing ecoinvent’s mission of making a significant impact on global sustainability efforts.
With a strong background in market intelligence, analytics, and SaaS, Ondrej brings a wealth of experience from leadership positions across Europe, Asia, and South America. His previous work with world-leading technology and consumer electronics companies has equipped him with a unique global perspective. Before joining ecoinvent, Ondrej led a transformation at GfK, a market research company specializing in market intelligence and analytics, where he helped transition the company’s legacy data business into a SaaS-powered, predictive analytics leader.
At ecoinvent, Ondrej sees his role and that of his team as crucial to extending the reach of the organization’s data and products to more users and organizations. As the sustainability space continues to grow, he is committed to positioning ecoinvent at the forefront of this field, ensuring the organization continues to add value and advance its mission.
With Ondrej’s leadership, ecoinvent is well-positioned to accelerate its growth and continue providing impactful data solutions for a more sustainable future.
