Reid J. Lifset

My research is driven in significant part by my interest in exploring the intellectual productivity, practical value of tools and frameworks, and insights emerging from industrial ecology. This field examines the environmental consequences of production and consumption by studying the flows of materials and energy in industrial and consumer activities, of the effects of these flows on the environment, and of the influences of economic, political, regulatory, and social factors on the flow, use, and transformation of resources. My research efforts have been significantly informed by my work in setting the intellectual direction of the Journal of Industrial Ecology through my role as editor-in-chief of that publication.

My primary area of research focuses on the emergence, rationales for, and evaluation of extended producer responsibility (EPR). EPR is an environmental policy strategy in which the responsibility of producers for their products is extended to include the costs and sometimes the management of end-of-life (EoL) waste, especially the recycling of their products. I am especially interested in the efficacy of EPR in achieving policy goals and the extent to which EPR has led to changes in product design. I published the first peer-reviewed journal article on EPR in 1993 and have worked on it since.  My interests in EPR have led me to work with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and to a series of columns in the Journal of Industrial Ecology. Recent work on EPR includes an analysis of the opportunities and challenges in the use of eco-modulation to enhance the incentives facing producers for eco-design, creation of an extensive online bibliography of publications on EPR, participation in LIFE4EPR, a research project on EPR in the EU, and serving as an expert witness in federal trial over packaging EPR.

I serve as a member of the International Resource Panel (IRP), a global science–policy platform that provides authoritative analysis of natural resource use and its environmental, economic, and social implications.  Much of the work of the IRP makes use of industrial ecology methods and insights. I served as a lead author for Resource Efficiency and Climate Change: Material Efficiency Strategies for a Low-Carbon Future, a major study prepared by the IRP for the G7. 

I am also working with colleagues at the Environmental Law Institute and the University of California Berkeley in the Digital Economy and the Environment Program (DEEP). DEEP seeks to improve the understanding of and address the environmental impacts of digitalization and digital technologies by catalyzing research and enhancing the interface between science and policy.  As part of the DEEP, I co-authored an analysis of research on “Red AI,”  the environmental impact of artificial intelligence.

As a member of the research faculty, my teaching activities are an adjunct to my research and publishing activities.  I am particularly interested prompting students to connect industrial ecology with related fields and to wrestle with its policy implications. I teach teach courses in industrial ecology and in waste and the circular economy. I teach sessions in industrial ecology, business strategy & the environment,  and related classes.