Niclas Scott Bentsen

Short presentation

Mitigating climate change and supporting a circular economy requires access to biological resources. That, however, raises a number of critical questions yet to be answered: Which biological resources? Where are they? How much is there? How do we best use them? How do we ensure sustainable use of biological resources?

My research and teaching targets four main areas:

Biomass resources - Quantification and characterisation of biomass resources from agriculture and forestry on local to global scales.

Resource allocation - How can we allocate biomass resources to different uses, mainly energy, to maximise utility and minimise negative impacts.

Climate impacts of bioenergy - Although considered carbon neutral bioenergy and biomass exploitation has its impact on GHG gas emissions either through direct GHG emissions, through altered CO₂ sequestration potential or through so-called indirect effects mediated by economic dynamics. Quantifying the true climate impact of biomass use requires due consideration of physical, biological and economic dynamics.

Sustainability of bioenergy - Sustainability is more that climate impacts. My research also targets quantification of other potential impacts of bioenergy within the environmental, social and economic pillars of sustainability using different tools as e.g. LCA, Lifecycle thinking, Material Flow Analysis.