Dr. Edwin Zea Escamilla
Center for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at the University of Zurich, Switzerland

Abstract
One of the main prerequisites to achieve sustainable development goals is the presence of building and infrastructures to support the activities associated to them. As a consequence of the production of construction materials large amounts of CO2 are released into the atmosphere. The main source of emissions can be associated to the energy used to produce cement and bricks and the transport of construction materials. This shows that to achieve sustainable development we need strategies not only to produce construction materials with low levels of CO2emissions but also to reduce the transport distances of construction materials. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been established as the main methodology used to assess the environmental impacts of products and services. LCA proposes a relation input-output between human activities and the environment, which can be assessed through the production, use and disposal of products. LCA is described in the ISO norm 14040 and had been used for more than three decades in the building sector. LCA can be used to model possible scenarios for the production of goods and provides information relevant is a decision making process. The seminar focuses on the challenges to assess whole life environmental impacts of bio-based construction materials. Moreover, the role of bio-based materials in circular economies will be explored through the Life Cycle Assessment perspective. Finally the seminar will present the challenges faced on the implementation of Circular Economy in the Built environment. These topics will be illustrated with case studies in Colombia (South America), and Switzerland (Europe).

Biography
Dr. Zea is head of the research area sustainable building and real estate from the Center for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at the University of Zürich. He holds a MSc degree in Urban environmental Management from Wageningen University in The Netherlands and PhD from the ETH Zürich in Switzerland. His work focuses on the sustainability assessment of construction materials and buildings. Specially, on the development of simplified methodologies to assess the Life Cycle costs and environmental impacts related to the construction industry. His case studies are mainly focused on the assessment of post-disaster reconstruction and social housing projects in a wide variety of geographical context. His work has been published in many renowned scientific journals of his field of research and presented in several International conferences. Currently, his research aims to bridge the gap between innovation and development from research institutions and their application on the construction industry. He also advises several projects and programs in Africa and Latin America in subjects of Environmental Assessment, Carbon Crediting and circular economy measures on the built environment. He is member of the Bamboo Construction Task Force from the International Organization for Bamboo and Ratan and Founding Member of the International Collaborative Laboratory for Bio-Based Materials and Structures from Nanjing University.

For enquiries, please contact Miss Kelly Kwong at Tel: 2358 8477.