Publications

  • Owen A, Giesekam J & Barrett J (2018) Resource efficiency metrics, Report to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. EV0277. Main report here Short summary here
  • Roelich K & Giesekam J (2018) Decision making under uncertainty in climate change mitigation: introducing multiple actor motivations, agency and influence, Climate Policy. Available here
  • Giesekam J, Densley-Tingley D & Cotton I (2018) Aligning carbon targets for construction with (inter)national climate change mitigation commitments, Energy and Buildings, Volume 165, Pages 106-117. Available open access here
  • Densley-Tingley D, Giesekam J & Cooper-Searle S (2018) Applying circular economic principles to reduce embodied carbon, Book chapter in Embodied Carbon in Buildings: Measurement, Management and Mitigation. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-72795-0
  • Giesekam J & Pomponi F (2018) Briefing: Embodied carbon dioxide assessment in buildings: guidance and gaps, Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering Sustainability, Volume 171, Issue 7. Available here
  • Barrett J, Scott K, Owen A & Giesekam J (2017) Invisible Energy Policy – Analysis of the link between consumption and energy demand. Proceedings of the 4th Sustainable Thermal Energy Management International Conference (SuSTEM), 28-30 June 2017, Alkmaar, The Netherlands. Available here
  • Cooper S, Giesekam J, Hammond G, Norman J, Owen A, Rogers J & Scott K (2017) Thermodynamic insights and assessment of the circular economy, Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 162, Pages 1356-1367 Available open access here
  • Giesekam J, Densley-Tingley D & Barrett J (2016) Building on the Paris Agreement: making the case for embodied carbon intensity targets in construction, In: Zero Carbon Buildings Today and in the Future 2016, Birmingham City University, 8-9th September, 2016, Birmingham, UK. Available here
  • Giesekam J, Barrett J & Taylor P (2018) Scenario analysis of embodied greenhouse gas emissions in UK construction, Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering Sustainability, Volume 171, Issue 4, Pages 178-190 Available open access here
  • Giesekam J, Barrett J & Taylor P (2016) Construction sector views on low carbon building materials, Building Research and Information, Volume 44, Issue 4, Pages 423-444 Available open access here
  • Steele K, Hurst T & Giesekam J (2015) Green Construction Board Low Carbon Routemap for the Built Environment 2015 Routemap Progress Technical Report Available here
  • Giesekam J, Barrett J, Taylor P & Owen A (2014) The greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation options for materials used in UK construction, Energy and Buildings, Volume 78, August 2014, Pages 202-214 Available here
  • Jacques D, Gooding J, Giesekam J, Crook R & Tomlin A (2014) Methodology for the assessment of PV capacity over a city region using low-resolution LiDAR data and application to the City of Leeds (UK), Applied Energy, Volume 124, Pages 28-34 Available here
  • Wiedmann T, Crawford R, Seo S & Giesekam J (2013) The Industrial Ecology Virtual Laboratory and its application to sustainability and environmental engineering - the case of low carbon living. Sustainable Engineering Society (SEng) 2013 Conference 18-20 September 2013 National Convention Centre, ACT, Australia.
  • Gooding J, Edwards H, Giesekam J & Crook R (2013) Solar City Indicator: A Methodology to Predict City Level PV Installed Capacity by Combining Physical Capacity and Socio-economic Factors, Solar Energy, Volume 95, September 2013, Pages 325-335. Available here
  • Edwards H, Giesekam J, Gooding J, Hardy P & Crook R (2012) Solar City Indicator: A methodology and ranking of the potential for PV in UK cities, 8th Photovoltaic Science, Applications and Technology Conference Proceedings, Published by the Solar Energy Society. (awarded best paper)

Presentations

  • Giesekam, J (2018) A carbon portrait of construction, 1st November, Delivering Healthy Buildings, Bristol, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2018) From Paris to projects: your role in climate action, 24th October, ICE Global Engineering Congress, London, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2018) From Paris to Powys: the need for low carbon housing, 11th October, CHC One Big Housing Conference, Llandrindod Wells, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2018) The role of timber in meeting carbon targets, 14th June, WoodBUILD Wales 2018, Cardiff, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2018) From Paris to projects: aligning carbon targets in construction, 19th April, UKGBC event on Advancing net zero: next steps in holistic carbon reduction, London, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2018) The material demand of buildings: insights from the UK and challenges for a global model, 9th March, IEA Expert Dialogue on Materials Trends in Buildings Construction, Paris, France. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2018) Sustainability report for the UK built environment - doing well or could do better?, 8th March, Ecobuild, London, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2017) UK carbon emissions in design, construction and operation, 7th March, Ecobuild, London, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2017) Healthy Planet: a resource efficient future, 15th February, Healthy Buildings Expo, UCL, London, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2016) Barriers to low carbon innovation, 30th November, Innovative paths to low carbon infrastructure, CIRIA offices, London, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2016) Building on the Paris Agreement: the role of low carbon construction in the UK, 29th November, Carbon Crunch 2016, Institution of Civil Engineers, London, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2016) Where is the carbon in construction?, 10th November, Construction Climate Challenge seminar: Reducing carbon in infrastructure construction, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Birmingham, UK. watch recording download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2016) Embodied carbon and strategies for reduction, 14th September, ASBP/ISOBIO event, University of Bath, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J., Densley-Tingley, D., Barrett, J. (2016) Building on the Paris Agreement: making the case for embodied carbon intensity targets in construction, 9th September, Zero Carbon Buildings Today and in the Future 2016, Birmingham City University, Birmingham, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2016) What is the role of the construction sector and the National Infrastructure Plan in delivering material efficiency?, 12th May, The RSA, London, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2016) Embodied carbon in construction: a CIEMAP perspective, 11th May, Sturgis Carbon Profiling Offices, London, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2016) Drivers and barriers to the adoption of sustainable materials, 5th April, CIRIA Offices, London, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2015) Reducing embodied carbon in construction: developing a UK model and policy pathways, 23rd September 2015, Nottingham Trent University, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2015) Reducing embodied carbon in construction. Demonstrating the need for a policy response with the UK Buildings Embodied Carbon Model, 23rd June 2015, University of Leeds, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2015) From targets to benchmarks: developing a UK Buildings Embodied Carbon Model, 22nd April 2015, LoLo Conference, Sustainability and Buildings - walking the tightrope to 2050, Loughborough University, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2015) Reducing embodied carbon in the UK construction sector, 23rd January 2015, University of Leeds, UK. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2013) Another Brick In The Wall? Reducing the use of carbon-intensive materials in the UK construction sector, 12th September 2013, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. download slides
  • Giesekam, J (2013) Another Brick In The Wall? Reducing the use of carbon-intensive materials in the UK construction sector, 3rd April 2013, University of Leeds, UK. download lo-res slides
  • Giesekam, J (2012) I'm forever plotting bubbles: visualizing the growth in global consumption, 28th June 2012, University of Leeds, UK. download slides
  • Edwards H, Giesekam J, Gooding J, Hardy P, Crook R (2012) Solar City Indicator: A methodology and ranking of the potential for PV in UK cities, PVSAT-8, 3rd April 2012, Newcastle, UK. download slides

Recent News

  • On the 1st November I presented at an ASBP and Green Register event on Delivering Healthy Buildings in Bristol. My presentation focussed on reducing embodied carbon and the slides can be downloaded here.

    At the end of October I attended the ICE Global Engineering Congress in London. On the 24th I chaired and presented in a session on carbon reduction in the built environment, also featuring speakers from HS2 and Landsec. Slides from my presentation can be downloaded here. On the 25th I moderated another session focussing on climate action, featuring talks by Keith Clarke and Diana Guzman-Barraza.

    On the 11th October I presented at the Community Housing Cymru One Big Housing Conference in Wales. My presentation focussed on the need for low carbon housing and the slides can be downloaded here.

    I recently co-authored a report for DEFRA exploring the link between resource use and carbon emissions. This involved calculating the UK’s material and carbon footprints and developing new carbon-based metrics of resource efficiency. These metrics were used to explore the extent of decoupling of raw material consumption from economic activity and decomposed to enable comparisons across sectors of the economy. A short summary of the work can be found in this CIEMAP Briefing Note. The full report is available from the DEFRA science & research projects site.

    On the 14th June I presented at the Woodbuild Wales conference in Cardiff. My presentation focussed on the role of timber construction in meeting carbon targets and the slides can be downloaded here. I also recently co-authored a new article in Climate Policy. The paper explores decision making under uncertainty in climate change mitigation through a case study from the construction sector.

    I also recently authored a new CIEMAP Briefing Note - Reducing carbon in construction: a whole life approach. The note explains why the UK should adopt a whole life approach to reducing carbon in construction and includes recommendations for supporting local and national policies. It is one of a series of 10 Briefing Notes summarising the outputs of the Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products.

    On the 19th April I presented at a UKGBC event on aligning carbon targets in the construction industry. My slides can be downloaded here. The event was sponspored by CIE-MAP, Edinburgh Napier University and Landsec, and featured 13 speakers across a range of topics related to carbon reduction. A full write up of the event should be available shortly.

    Earlier this year I had a new journal article published as part of a special issue of Energy and Buildings focussed on embodied carbon and energy. The article provides a brief review of current carbon reduction commitments from the UK construction industry and discusses the challenges associated with developing a common sectoral decarbonisation trajectory. I have also co-authored a chapter in a new book on Embodied Carbon in Buildings, focussed on applying circular economic principles to reduce embodied carbon.

    In March I presented at Ecobuild as part of a panel session discussing a recent UKGBC project to assess the sustainability of the UK built environment. The session was chaired by Julie Hirigoyen, chief executive of UKGBC. Other speakers include Adrian Gault (CCC), Bill Dunster (ZEDfactory), Louise Clarke (Berkeley Group) and Stephanie Wray (President of CIEEM). The slides I presented can be downloaded here.

    For older news articles please click here.

Research Interests

My research focuses on the role of material efficiency and industrial energy demand reduction in securing a low carbon future. My main research interests are in mapping economy wide material and energy flows, embodied carbon and materials innovation in the construction industry, and the automated assessment of microgeneration potential. Check out my presentation slides and publications for more detail.

About

I am a Research Fellow in Industrial Climate Policy at the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions based at the University of Leeds. My work is focussed on the adoption of material efficiency strategies in a range of industrial sectors. Before this appointment I was a Research Fellow in Energy, Materials and Climate Policy at the Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products. Prior to which I completed a PhD on embodied carbon mitigation in the UK construction industry.

I have published numerous articles on sustainable construction, the circular economy and microgeneration resource assessment (see publications). I have given invited talks, contributed to guidance documents, served on steering groups and acted as a technical reviewer for groups such as the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC). I have also undertaken work for the Green Construction Board, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) and the Scottish Government. In addition to my academic work I undertake a small number of consultancy projects each year. Please get in touch if you'd like more information about my work or would like to collaborate on a future project.

Contact

Email: jannik [at] jannikgiesekam [dot] co [dot] uk

Connect with me on LinkedIn, ResearchGate or Twitter

At every level the greatest obstacle to transforming the world is that we lack the clarity and imagination to conceive that it could be different.

Roberto Unger