Professor Michael Braungart, CEO of the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA) Internationale Umweltforschung GmbH, Hamburg, Germany, talks about the Cradle-to-Cradle concept. This concept is based on elimating waste and developing products and production processes that are completely safe for both people and the environment.

Michael Braungart studied process engineering at the University of Darmstadt, Germany, and then went on to investigate the chemical processes of industrial production techniques at the University of Konstanz, Germany. In 1982, he helped to form the chemistry section of Greenpeace International, becoming leader of this section in 1985. In the same year, he also obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Hannover, Germany.

As well as being the scientific CEO of the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA) Internationale Umweltforschung GmbH, Hamburg, Germany, which he founded in 1987, he currently holds the Academic chair Cradle to Cradle for Innovation and Quality at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He is also the co-founder and scientific director of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC), Charlottesville, USA, and the co-founder and scientific manager of the Hamburger Umwelt Institut (HUI), Hamburg, Germany.

• Chemistry – Element of Our Life,
  ChemViews Mag. 2013.
  DOI: 10.1002/chemv.201300105
• Event: Wissenschaftsforum Chemie 2013