Meet the Grantee: Professor Guido Sonnemann
Sustainability Assessment of Future Battery Material Life Cycles
Our Short Term Grantee, Prof. Dr. Guido Sonnemann from University of Bordeaux, is pioneering sustainable product design by integrating life cycle assessments with geopolitical supply risks. With his research, he thus contributes to ensuring that environmental performance and supply chain resilience go hand in hand. During his stay in Bayreuth, Prof. Sonnemann and his host, Prof. Dr. Christoph Helbig, complemented their expertise to develop a better life-cycle based sustainability assessment of technologies.
If you had to explain the research project of your Short Term Grant to the person you metin the elevator, how would you describe it?
Guido Sonnemann: The Geopolitical Supply Risk (GeoPolRisk) method assesses raw material criticality in Life Cycle Assessment, complementing traditional resource and environmental impact indicators. It is also applied for comparative risk assessment. However, calculating values for the GeoPolRisk method, such as characterization factors for the Geopolitical Supply Risk indicator and the supply risk score for comparative assessment, can be complex. To address this, the geopolrisk-py library has been developed to operationalize the method, simplifying the calculation process. This library processes data inputs like raw material names, countries, and years, making it more accessible. A notable feature is its ability to serve as a company-specific supply risk assessment tool. A plan for future work is the integration of an uncertainty model.
What is in your opinion the future of your field(s)? In what way can research in your field(s)contribute to meeting the urgent challenges of our time?
GS: A life cycle assessment plays a crucial role in guiding environmentally sustainable product design. By evaluating different alternatives and scenarios during the early stages of product development, organisations can make informed decisions that prioritise environmental performance. The integration of the criticality of raw materials in life cycle assessment allows to take geopolticial supply risk into account in the process of guidance on environmentally sustainable product design. Geopolitical supply has become a potential bottleneck for the large deployment of low carbon technologies and hence needs to be considered in decisions in the development of technologies of the future.
What does international research mobility in today's world mean to you?
GS: International mobility positively affects scientific productivity, the transmission and circulation of knowledge. Quite often, international research experience is also promoted as the best fast-track route towards excellence and exposure, in particular in such an international topic as sustainable development. In general, I try to find a research group with complementary knowledge to mine so that we can integrate our expertise for a better life-cycle based sustainability assessment of technologies.
However, while international mobility clearly benefits scientific development, international mobility comes at a cost: especially early-career researchers leave their home, their professional and social network, sometimes even their families, in the hope that an international research stay will increase their career chances.
If you could choose a famous researcher or scientist to have dinner with, who would it be?
GS: Thomas E. Graedel
Clifton R. Musser Professor Emeritus of Industrial Ecology, Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering,
Yale University
Have you noticed any differences or similarities between UBT and your home university?
GS: I have noticed that a professor at the University of Bayreuth has fewer teaching obligations than at the University of Bordeaux. That allows a professor at the University of Bayreuth to dedicate more time to research.
However, I have noticed that both universities have the same bureaucratic procedures when it comes to the payment of research stays based on the justification of expenses instead of per. I would suggest to make the programme less bureaucratic by providing daily subsistence allowance in the same way how I was paid for missions when I was employee of the United Nations.