Thomas Sonderegger

Last Name

Sonderegger

First Name

Thomas

ORCID

0000-0002-7881-3752

Organisational unit

01109 - Lehre Bau, Umwelt und Geomatik

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Publications 1 - 10 of 10

Criticality of Water: Aligning Water and Mineral Resources Assessment
Sonderegger, Thomas; Pfister, Stephan; Hellweg, Stefanie (2015)
Environmental Science & Technology
The concept of criticality has been used to assess whether a resource may become a limiting factor to economic activities. It has been primarily applied to nonrenewable resources, in particular to metals. However, renewable resources such as water may also be overused and become a limiting factor. In this paper, we therefore developed a water criticality method that allows for a new, user-oriented assessment of water availability and accessibility. Comparability of criticality across resources is desirable, which is why the presented adaptation of the criticality approach to water is based on a metal criticality method, whose basic structure is maintained. With respect to the necessary adaptations to the water context, a transparent water criticality framework is proposed that may pave the way for future integrated criticality assessment of metals, water, and other resources. Water criticality scores were calculated for 159 countries subdivided into 512 geographic units for the year 2000. Results allow for a detailed analysis of criticality profiles, revealing locally specific characteristics of water criticality. This is useful for the screening of sites and their related water criticality, for indication of water related problems and possible mitigation options and water policies, and for future water scenario analysis.
Mineral resources in life cycle impact assessment—part I: a critical review of existing methods
Sonderegger, Thomas; Berger, Markus; Alvarenga, Rodrigo; et al. (2020)
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Environmental impacts of natural resource use
Hellweg, Stefanie; Pfister, Stephan; Cabernard, Livia; et al. (2019)
International Resource Panel ~ Global Resources Outlook 2019
Decoupling economic growth and environmental degradation requires sustainable sourcing and management of resources over the whole life cycle. While the mass-flow indicators of chapter 2 are very useful for understanding the environmental pressures from material consumption, information about the environmental impacts of resource use and resource management practices is also needed to support policymaking for the sustainable use of natural resources (Voet et al., 2005). This chapter focuses on the environmental consequences of resource extraction and processing. It illustrates the legitimate need for appropriate policy to manage natural resources, which is required if we are to remain within the safe operating space (Steffen et al., 2015) and achieve the SDGs.
Global Assessment of Agricultural Productivity Losses from Soil Compaction and Water Erosion
Sonderegger, Thomas; Pfister, Stephan (2021)
Environmental Science & Technology
Assessing Impacts on the Natural Resource Soil in Life Cycle Assessment: Methods for Compaction and Water Erosion
Sonderegger, Thomas; Pfister, Stephan; Hellweg, Stefanie (2020)
Environmental Science & Technology
Regionalized LCA in practice: the need for a universal shapefile to match LCI and LCIA
Pfister, Stephan; Oberschelp, Christopher; Sonderegger, Thomas (2020)
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Raw material criticality assessment as a complement to environmental life cycle assessment: Examining methods for product‐level supply risk assessment
Cimprich, Alexander; Bach, Vanessa; Helbig, Christoph; et al. (2019)
Journal of Industrial Ecology
Towards harmonizing natural resources as an area of protection in Life Cycle Impact Assessment
Sonderegger, Thomas; Dewulf, Jo P.; Fantke, Peter; et al. (2017)
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment ~ 1927
Purpose In this paper, we summarize the discussion and present the findings of an expert group effort under the umbrella of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Life Cycle Initiative proposing natural resources as an Area of Protection (AoP) in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). Methods As a first step, natural resources have been defined for the LCA context with reference to the overall UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) framework. Second, existing LCIA methods have been reviewed and discussed. The reviewed methods have been evaluated according to the considered type of natural resources and their underlying principles followed (use-to-availability ratios, backup technology approaches, or thermodynamic accounting methods). Results and discussion There is currently no single LCIA method available that addresses impacts for all natural resource categories, nor do existing methods and models addressing different natural resource categories do so in a consistent way across categories. Exceptions are exergy and solar energy-related methods, which cover the widest range of resource categories. However, these methods do not link exergy consumption to changes in availability or provisioning capacity of a specific natural resource (e.g., mineral, water, land etc.). So far, there is no agreement in the scientific community on the most relevant type of future resource indicators (depletion, increased energy use or cost due to resource extraction, etc.). To address this challenge, a framework based on the concept of stock/fund/flow resources is proposed to identify, across natural resource categories, whether depletion/dissipation (of stocks and funds) or competition (for flows) is the main relevant aspect. Conclusions An LCIA method—or a set of methods—that consistently address all natural resource categories is needed in order to avoid burden shifting from the impact associated with one resource to the impact associated with another resource. This paper is an important basis for a step forward in the direction of consistently integrating the various natural resources as an Area of Protection into LCA.
Defining freshwater as a natural resource: a framework linking water use to the area of protection natural resources
Pradinaud, Charlotte; Northey, Stephen; Amor, Ben; et al. (2019)
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Assessing the environmental impacts of soil compaction in Life Cycle Assessment
Stoessel, Franziska; Sonderegger, Thomas; Bayer, Peter; et al. (2018)
Science of The Total Environment

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Thomas Sonderegger

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