The environmental impacts of human activities are more and more visible, and societies worldwide are working towards more sustainable lifestyles. By helping people evaluate and forecast the effects of their choices, science-based assessments are becoming an increasingly essential tool. However, the accuracy and credibility of these assessments rely on the availability of relevant, high-quality data.
The ecoinvent association is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting and supporting the availability of environmental data. We believe that people all around the world should have access to high-quality, affordable data for environmental assessments. To achieve this, we work with and for all societal actors, including policy-makers, private enterprises, NGOs and the academic community.
We compile and review the best available environmental data and publish them in a regularly maintained, transparent Life Cycle Inventory database. We support people working with ecoinvent data and methodologies. We promote good practices in lifecycle-based assessment and in data and database management by participating in environmental and sustainability projects or initiatives.
The goal was to create a comprehensive, consistent, and transparent Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) database for environmental assessments. The organization evolved from a project within the ETH domain to become the ecoinvent Association, a globally trusted entity managing data for environmental assessments over the past 20 years.
In the early 1990s, various Swiss organizations collaborated to create public LCI datasets, leading to the BUWAL250 data pool focused on Swiss supply chains. Simultaneously, the demand for reliable LCA data increased, prompting the formation of the ecoinvent project in the late 1990s. The project aimed to establish a forward-looking LCI database with a user-friendly interface, focusing on data harmonization within the ETH domain and supporting Swiss LCA work while also considering European and global contexts.
The first version of the ecoinvent database was released in 2003. Subsequent updates and a major revision led to the release of version 2 in 2007, marking ecoinvent as the most widely used LCI database globally. Version 3, released in 2013, aimed to enhance the technological foundation and methodological base for global use, supporting regionalized data and ensuring consistency between different regions. In 2013, ecoinvent became an independent, not-for-profit association, continuing its mission to provide high-quality data for environmental assessments globally and fostering the development of a transparent and trustworthy database for the LCA community.
At ecoinvent, our dedicated team of experts comprises professionals from diverse backgrounds, including environmental science, data management, and life cycle assessment. With decades of collective experience, our team is committed to maintaining the highest standards of quality, transparency, and consistency in environmental data.
Their expertise extends globally, supporting the availability of high-quality data for environmental assessments, eco-design tools, decision-makers, industry stakeholders, and scientific research, thereby contributing to a sustainable and informed future.
Roland Hischier
Board President
Head of the Advancing Life Cycle Assessment Research Group at Empa
Board President
Roland was elected as our Board President in 2016.
He has contributed to ecoinvent’s content and management for almost 25 years. He initially supported the team as a data analyst, then as project manager, and later as deputy manager of ecoinvent.
In addition to his ecoinvent responsibilities, Roland is the Head of the Advancing Life Cycle Assessment (ALCA) Group within the Technology & Society Laboratory (TSL) at Empa in St. Gallen.
Roland has worked with Empa since 2000. He has been involved in numerous LCA studies dealing mainly with information and communication technology (ICT), mobility, and nanotechnology.
His research group is a globally leading research partner in advancing the life cycle assessment framework, including a better integration of the LCA framework into research and development (R&D) procedures. This builds on Empa’s long-lasting activities in the area of LCA.
Previous to his work with Empa, Roland spent three years in the ecology department of the central research and development branch of the Sulzer Cooperation in Winterthur.
Roland holds a PhD from ETH in Zürich in Environmental Engineering.
“To allow ecoinvent’s users—be they scientists or companies—to make qualified environmental decisions… and like this bring our society on a clear pathway towards more (ecological) sustainability.”
– Roland Hischier
Natalie Robyn
Board Vice President
Board Vice President
Natalie joined the ecoinvent board as vice president in 2025.
Natalie brings experience from leading world-class organizations, including insights into the sustainability challenges faced by the manufacturing and transport industries.
Natalie is a dynamic, multilingual executive with over twenty years of international business experience in the automotive and sports industries. Recognized as one of Switzerland’s “Top 100 Women in Business,” she specializes in business transformation and strategic growth.
As CEO of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) from 2022 to 2024, Natalie restructured the organization and transformed a €23m deficit into a break-even. Previously, she led Volvo Cars in Switzerland, elevating the brand’s market position and increasing market share by over 50%.
With experience across eleven countries in Europe and the Americas, and fluent in English, Spanish, and French, with proficiency in German, Natalie continues to drive organizational excellence and strategic growth in global business.
“I hope to support in establishing ecoinvent to continue to flourish as a standard sustainability decision-making tool to accelerate innovation for business culture shifts into data-driven decision-making for environmental impact assessment.”
– Natalie Robyn
Véronique Michaud
Member of the Board
Associate Professor, Laboratory for Processing of Advanced Composites at EPFL
Member of the Board
Véronique joined the ecoinvent board in 2021.
As a representative of EPFL, one of ecoinvent’s founding members, and a user of the ecoinvent database, Véronique recognizes the importance of supporting the development and general use of environmental assessment.
Véronique is currently head of the Laboratory for Processing of Advanced Composites at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Her fields of research address fundamental aspects of composite materials processing, often including economic and environmental aspects to lower the overall product footprint, as well as the development of smart materials and structures, including self-healing, shape and vibration control, and tailored damping.
She is the co-founder of CompPair Technologies SA, a start-up created in 2020. Additionally, Véronique has served as Associate Dean for Education for the Faculty of Engineering from 2017-2023. Since 2023, Véronique has also supported the journal Composites Part A as their European Editor.
Véronique graduated in 1987 from Ecole des Mines in Paris with an engineering degree, in 1991 from MIT with a PhD in Materials Engineering, and obtained a Research Habilitation from INPG in France in 1994.
“ecoinvent will, I certainly hope, continue to expand its portfolio of data and tools, and to be at the forefront of novel methodologies and approaches to life cycle assessment.”
– Véronique Michaud
Stephan Pfister
Member of the Board
Lecturer at the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering at ETH Zürich
Member of the Board
Stephan joined the ecoinvent board in 2016.
Stephan represents ETH Zurich, one of ecoinvent’s founding members, and has supported ecoinvent during the organization’s growth.
Stephan Pfister is a professor for quantitative sustainability assessment at ETH Zurich in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering, at the chair of Ecological Systems Design.
He researches Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Multi-Regional Input-Output Analysis (MRIO) with a focus on evaluating water consumption, land use, and biodiversity loss. Stephan has advanced innovative concepts such as the water footprint, regionalization in life cycle inventory and impact assessment, and advanced investigation of the impacts of international trade. Stephan’s work is highly interdisciplinary, with applications spanning multiple sectors, including agriculture and forestry, material extraction and processing, and power production.
With over 100 original publications, Stephan has significantly contributed to the evolution of sustainable evaluation systems and was recognized as a highly cited researcher in 2019. He also contributed to several international working groups, including the IPBES business and biodiversity assessment and UNEP’s life cycle initiative. Stephan also has business experience as a co-founder of Aveny, a spin-off of ETH.
Stephen earned his PhD from ETH Zurich and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UC Santa Barbara in 2011.
“ecoinvent is unique in the transparency and coverage as a large background LCI database and also a pioneer that still is on top of the developments.”
– Stephan Pfister
Markus Popp
Member of the Board
CEO of mühlemann+popp
Member of the Board
Markus joined the ecoinvent board in 2025.
Inspired by ecoinvent’s mission, Markus supports the ecoinvent board with his experience in general management, business model innovation, and product development.
Markus launched Europe’s leading event platform, tillate.com, as his first startup. Currently, he is the CEO of mühlemann+popp, a company he founded with his CTO partner, Silvan Mühlemann, in 2010. mühlemann+popp focuses on developing innovative digital business models, many of which have gone on to redefine industry standards.
Markus also has experience serving as a board member for various digital companies. He graduated from ETH Zurich in the MTEC department.
“As someone deeply passionate about product development, I believe that extending functionality and improving usability will make ecoinvent data even more impactful—ultimately contributing to greater environmental protection.”
– Markus Popp