The transition to a circular economy – opportunities and challenges

Arnold Tukker

Scientific Director and Head of the Department of Industrial Ecology, CML - Leiden University

Arnold Tukker is since 1 October 2013 the Professor of Industrial Ecology and Scientific director of the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) at Leiden University for 70% of his time. He retains a 30% position as senior researcher at TNO, a large Dutch not for profit research organisations. Arnold set up prominent EU projects in the field of sustainable product design (SusProNet) and sustainable consumption and production (SCORE!) and was core member of the 10 Million Euro Dutch Knowledge Network on Sustainable System Innovations. He currently co-ordinates a string of major programs of some 15 million Euro with some 20 key European research institutes in the field of resource-efficiency, a.o. constructing the world's most ambitious and detailed global energy/resource/economic input-output databases and models (EXIOBASE). He further set up with 6 partner universities an EU Marie Curie Innovative Training Network of 15 PhDs researching the circular economy (Circ€uit). He authored 6 books, over 70 refereed papers and 7 special issues on sustainability research. He has been engaged with work of the UN on the Green Economy Initiative, the Resources Panel, the Ten Year Framework of Programs on SustainableConsumption and Production, and Sustainable Development Goals.