Research chair on net zero strategies and sustainability assessment
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Why a research Chair
SUPPORT RESEARCH ON MAJOR SOCIETAL ISSUES
- A complex and hot topic.
- There is a crying need for knowledge generation to equip society to face this great challenge.
- Support for the proclamation by the UN General Assembly: 2022, International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development.
OUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
- First research chair in Quebec and Canada on Net Zero strategies (e.g., Carbon Neutrality);
- An interdisciplinarity approach, i.e., the ability to critically support the development and deployment of models that will be used to assess the efficiency of Net Zero strategies.
ABOUT
Net Zero
The imbalance between the released emissions into the environment by humans and the absorbed amount by natural sinks results in a net accumulation of emissions. For example, the accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere is the main driver of anthropogenic climate change.
For example, the accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere is the main driver of anthropogenic climate change.
For example, to limit global warming, we must achieve an equilibrium between anthropogenic emissions sources and their removal or sequestration.
A state known as Net Zero Carbon Emissions (or carbon neutrality).
To limit global warming to 1.5°C, we must achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Research themes
Environmental Life Cycle Assessment
- Carbon Footprint Modeling: Direct, Indirect and Offset Emissions
- Advanced life cycle assessment
- Optimization and development of tools to analyze and monitor environmental performance
Social assessment and implementation science for the environment
- Social life-cycle impact assessment
- Epistemological challenges of environmental performance modelling and measurement
- Net-zero strategy assessment and prospective scenario design
Case studies
- Micro: from one material to a complex system of materials.
Example: a university campus - Meso: An economic sector
Example: construction sector, energy, mobility - Macro: A city, a province or a country
Example: The city of Sherbrooke
The Research chair holders
Our team
Ben Amor is an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Building Engineering at the Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS) with research and teaching activities in sustainable engineering, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and circular economy. He is also Director of Sustainable Development in the Faculty of Engineering and Director of the Building undergraduate Engineering Program, in addition to supervising graduate students working on the methodological development of LCA, including its application in the building, materials and energy sector. Since joining the UdeS, several significant contributions have been made by Professor Ben Amor. Through the creation of the Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory in Life Cycle Assessment and Circular Economy (LIRIDE), Ben has developed multidisciplinary and interuniversity expertise in LCA and circular economy through collaborations with other researchers, chairs, research centres and industries. Prof. Ben Amor is strongly involved in several national and international scientific committees, such as the UNEP/SETAC life cycle initiative and in the methodological development of LCA, particularly in the updating of ISO standards and the development and advancement of LCA tools.
With a background in both engineering (Life-Cycle Assessment) and the social sciences and humanities, Marie-Luc Arpin is currently an assistant professor of management at the Université de Sherbrooke’s Business School. Her research focuses on the paradoxical structure and limits of "problem solving" in engineering and management. Her expertise pertains to organizational and social paradoxes (for ex. the innovation paradox, rebound effects, etc.), the social dynamics of digital technologies (especially in urban settings), and the applied epistemology of environmental performance modeling and measurement (namely through Science Based Targets). Marie-Luc’s research program aims to understand the increasing complexity of decision-making and policy analysis in the face of the environmental crisis, as well as to design novel strategies for dealing with this complexity at the collective level (organizations and institutions).
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