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 🙂
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