Dr. Matthias Buchert

Special Expertise

Key area of research: Sustainable resource management

Topics

• Resource efficiency
• Closed-loop materials management
• Construction and housing
• Land resources management
• Rare metals

Since 2006 I have led komreg. This a project on local-authority land resources management at a regional level (see www.komreg.info) which involves a group of partners and is funded by the German Research Ministry (BMBF). The project aims to identify and tap the potential for inner-town development for residential housing purposes in the Freiburg region.

Together with its partners, the Öko-Institut is conducting surveys of this potential, is producing scenarios for residential housing development in relation to available vacant plots, is performing analyses of cost-effectiveness, and is deriving from these analyses and studies recommendations for sustainable land management in the region.

Furthermore, I am involved as project coordinator or researcher in a range of national and European projects in the fields of resource efficiency and closed-loop materials management, for instance on the material flows of platinum group metals.

Key Projects

• komreg – local-authority land resources management at a regional level
• Material flows of the platinum group metals
• Sustainable construction and housing in Germany
• Improving the sustainability performance of the housing stock
• Sustainable materials management – key potentials in Germany

Professional Training and Career

• Since 1998: Head of the Resources & Transport Division at the Oeko-Institut
• Since 1992: Researcher at the Oeko-Institut, Resources & Transport Division
• 1989-1992: Doctorate at Darmstadt Technical University, department of organic chemistry
• 1988-1989: Community service at the Oeko-Institut, Darmstadt Office
• 1982-1988: Undergraduate studies in Chemistry at Darmstadt Technical University

Language Skills

English