Have you ever calculated the environmental cost of every pair of socks you own or every flight you’ve taken since birth? In this episode of Material Minds, we sit down with Professor Matthias Finkbeiner, head of the Sustainable Engineering Department at TU Berlin and a world-leading researcher in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

We dive deep into the science of assessing impact "from cradle to grave," covering everything from the carbon footprint of high-altitude marble mining in Italy to the complex social impacts of lithium mining in Chile. Professor Finkbeiner also shares the fascinating story of conducting the first detailed LCA of a human being—an entrepreneur who wanted to leave the planet with zero environmental debt.

00:00 – Intro: Assessing your life from cradle to grave 
01:23 – What is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)? 
02:29 – Game: Three Truths and a Lie 
02:53 – Statement 1: The Pop Star Tour 
09:47 – Statement 2: The High-Altitude Marble Mine 
16:07 – Statement 3: The Billionaire Boardroom Training 
19:44 – Statement 4: The First LCA of a Human Being 
28:39 – The Reveal: Which one was the Lie? 
32:32 – Object: Lithium from the Atacama Desert 
35:48 – The Rise of Social LCA 
41:29 – The Future of Sustainability Intelligence 

To get to know what our host, Shrikrishnan Sankaran, does, check out his group's webpage – https://www.leibniz-inm.de/en/research/research-groups/bioprogrammable-materials/ You can also find him on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/shrikrishnans.bsky.social), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shrikrishnans/), and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/shirish.sankaran/) 

To get to know more about Matthias Finkbeiner:
(https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_Finkbeiner)
(https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=axTo4J8AAAAJ&hl)

To get to know more about the Leibniz Institute for New Materials, visit us at https://www.leibniz-inm.de/en/ or find us on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/leibnizinm.bsky.social/), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/inm-leibniz-institute-for-new-materials/), and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/leibniz_inm/) 

Recording and editing by INM's communication designer, Lars Knaack – https://www.leibniz-inm.de/en/staff/b-a-knaack-lars/ Editorial work: Dr. Gun 

Woo Park – https://www.leibniz-inm.de/mitarbeiter/dr-park-gun-woo/ 🎧 More Material Minds episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiQEgil14LdZnHsEL9rXEmVTOE-y805tV