He plays a leading role in the international standardisation of environmental management and is Chairman of the Portfolio Task Force of the whole ISO14000 series and Chairman of the ISO-Committee TC207/SC5 for Life Cycle Assessment. He is member of the International Life Cycle Board (ILCB) of the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative and the Steering Committee of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Product/Supply Chain Initiative of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. He serves on thegoverning body of the ecolabel Blue Angel. Earlier in his career, he was Manager for Life Cycle Engineering at the Design- for-Environment Department for Mercedes-Benz Cars at Daimler AG in Stuttgart and coordinated the environmental management system of Product Development. He has a multidisciplinary background of environmental science, environmental law and a MBA in sustainability management.

 The overall research interest is on strategies, methods and tools to enhance sustainability and to reduce environmental impacts. This includes carbon footprinting and water footprinting of products and organizations, life cycle assessment, resource efficiency and eco-efficiency assessment as well as life cycle based sustainability assessment.