Rainer Grießhammer

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Rainer Ulrich Grießhammer (born July 14, 1953 ) is a German chemist , senior advisor at the Öko-Institut and chairman of the Future Heritage Foundation, honorary professor for sustainable products at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg . He is the author of numerous scientific papers and a bestselling author.

Career and work

Grießhammer studied chemistry at the University of Basel and at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen . After completing his studies, Rainer Grießhammer started as a scientist at the Öko-Institut , whose development he helped shape for more than 30 years until his retirement in 2018 - u. a. as a board member and member of the management. His career reflects the development of the environmental movement : from the thematic stepchild to the central social and political issue of today.

Parallel to his work at the Öko-Institut, he was editor of the Information Service Chemistry and Environment (1984–1997) and wrote several popular science books, including a. the bestseller “The eco-etiquette”. Since 2000, Grießhammer has also been Executive Director of the Future Heritage Foundation, and since 2012 Honorary Professor for Sustainable Products at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. and member of the research advisory board of the research center “Consumers, Market and Politics” at the Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen. Since March 13, 2020, Grießhammer has been a member of the National Advisory Committee , which accompanies the state search for a location for a repository for high-level radioactive waste.

Fields of work and projects (selection)

Griesshammer's main areas of work were or are "chemistry and the environment" (around 1982–1992), product evaluation and life cycle assessments (around 1989–1995), sustainable development and material flow management (around 1992–2000), sustainable products and consumption (around 1996 to today) as well as transformations (since 2010). With his product-related work, he significantly shaped the international method development in the area of ​​life cycle assessments ( life cycle management , material flow analyzes and product line analysis ). Corresponding projects and critical reviews were carried out at EU level and in Denmark, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

The research projects in the “Chemistry and Environment” focus (around 1982–1992) concentrated on the one hand on problem analyzes and environmental impacts caused by chemicals, on the other hand on chemicals legislation , the Ordinance on Existing Substances and the conception of a new chemical policy. The highlight and conclusion were the work in and for the Enquête Commission “Protection of people and the environment” of the German Bundestag. The concept of a socially changed handling of chemicals and the results of the study commission in the German Bundestag were significantly influenced by Grießhammer.

The focus on “product evaluation and life cycle assessments” (around 1989–1995) was primarily due to the significant co-development of the life cycle assessment method (also internationally within the framework of SETAC) and through practice-oriented life cycle assessments and product evaluations of various products ( detergents , household appliances , TV sets , computers , CFC-containing products, recycled paper, packaging, surgical drape materials, plastics, textiles, coffee). As part of the ISO 14040 standard, the implementation of complex "critical reviews" is required for published life cycle assessments - here, Grießhammer is one of the most frequently requested experts internationally.

The research work in the focus on sustainable development and material flow management (around 1992-2000) concentrated on overarching environmental goals and sustainability indicators, on the specification and implementation of the model of sustainable development in the area of ​​products and materials in general and specifically on individual industries and areas of need (information and communication , Building and living, clothing and washing), as well as the design of stakeholder cooperation.

Research on sustainable products and consumption began around 1996. The method development of the product sustainability analysis PROSA plays a major role in this field of work. At PROSA and in relation to the life cycle assessment, particular emphasis is placed on the analysis of social and economic aspects, as well as on the inclusion of benefit aspects and consumer research. When developing the associated individual tools, attention was paid to international harmonization and the exchange of experience, for example with the SETAC for life cycle costing, with the UNEP-SETAC - Life Cycle Initiative for the social balance sheet (Social LCA) and with large companies for use in practice .

Grießhammer's work focuses on the EcoTopTen initiative, a cross-product campaign for sustainable products. The initiative was prepared with a project designed and managed by Grießhammer on behalf of the BMBF and several companies and has been communicated to the public since March 2005 with a large information campaign. Since 2010 he has been researching the topics of transformations, sustainable industrial policy and product policy. From 2014 to 2018, Grießhammer and Prof. Matthias Bergman (isoe - Institute for Social-Ecological Research) headed the scientific coordination of the BMBF program "Environmentally and socially compatible transformation of the energy system".

After 39 years of work at the Öko-Institut, Grießhammer retired from the management of the Öko-Institut in 2018. Since then he has been working as Senior Advisor to the Öko-Institut and continues to be spokesman for the board of the Future Heritage Foundation and honorary professor at the University of Freiburg. In 2018 he started working as a principal investigator in the LivMatS excellence cluster, which is supported by the University of Freiburg, the Öko-Institut and Fraunhofer institutes.

Memberships

Expert member of the study commission “Protection of people and the environment” of the German Bundestag (1992–1994), Scientific Advisory Board for Consumer and Nutrition Policy at the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (2002–2007); Deputy member of the Advisory Board of Stiftung Warentest (since 2003), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Government on Global Change (WBGU) (2004–2009), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of terre des hommes (2012–2017), Member of the Board of Trustees of Utopia Foundation (2008–2015) and on the scientific advisory board of the Journal for Technology Assessment in Theory and Practice (TATuP).

Awards

In 2010, Grießhammer was awarded the German Environment Prize of the German Federal Environment Foundation. In January 2020 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit with ribbon.

Fonts (selection)

  • Last chance for the forest: the preventable consequences of acid rain . Dreisam-Verlag, Freiburg 1983, ISBN 3-921472-65-2 .
  • Formaldehyde - A nation is glued together with Fritz Vahrenholt and Frank Claus, rororo aktuell, Reinbek 1984, ISBN 3-499-15543-5 .
  • Der Ökokoch , Rainer Grießhammer and Siegfried de Witt, Rowohlt-Verlag, Reinbek 1986, ISBN 3-498-02439-6 .
  • Ozone hole and greenhouse effect , together with Christian Hey, Peter Hennicke , Fritz Kalberlah, Rowohlt-Verlag, Reinbek 1989, ISBN 3-499-12603-6 .
  • Chemistry and the environment . Good arguments series, Beck-Verlag, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-406-32323-5 .
  • The eco-etiquette . Rowohlt-Verlag, Reinbek 1990, ISBN 3-499-18351-X . ( No. 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list in 1984 and 1985 )
  • Who does the banana make crooked? Rowohlt-Verlag, Reinbek 1995, ISBN 3-499-19361-2 .
  • together with Edmone Roffael : Use of thinning wood and waste paper for paper production, taking account of forestry issues, air, soil, waste . (Issue 37), Stuttgart 1995
  • Corrosive - A chemistry book . Rowohlt-Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-871-34361-7 .
  • The climate etiquette . Booklett, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-940153-02-9 .
  • "Sustainable industrial policy using the example of the household appliance industry", BMBF study by the Öko-Institut, Freiburg 2011
  • "Energy-efficient climate protection for products. Project to further develop the national part of the climate protection initiative", study by the Öko-Institut, Freiburg 2012 (funded by: Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety BMU as part of the National Climate Protection Initiative)
  • "How transformations and social innovations can succeed". Baden-Baden 2015, ISBN 978-3-8487-2611-0
  • "How Transformations and Social Innovations Can Succeed", Baden-Baden 2015, ISBN 978-3-8487-2741-4
  • #klimaretten - Now changing politics and life, Freiburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-7841-3203-7

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. oeko.de: Öko-Institut: Prof. Dr. Rainer Grießhammer
  2. ^ The Foundation - Foundation Committees - Board of Directors and employees. Future Heritage Foundation, accessed on January 15, 2020 .
  3. ^ University of Freiburg: University of Freiburg appoints new honorary professors.
  4. Bundesrat.de: Election of members of the National Monitoring Committee according to § 8 Paragraph 3 of the Site Selection Act
  5. "Environmentally and socially acceptable transformation of the energy system"
  6. terre des hommes
  7. ^ Rainer Grießhammer receives the German Environmental Award 2010. Öko-Institut, October 29, 2010, accessed on March 13, 2020 .
  8. Imprint . In: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (Ed.): TATuP . tape 27 , no. 1 , 2018.
  9. German Environmental Award 2010: Single appreciation Dr. Rainer Grießhammer. German Federal Environmental Foundation, accessed on February 10, 2020 .
  10. ^ Federal Cross of Merit for Rainer Grießhammer. January 17, 2020, accessed February 10, 2020 .