Michael Braungart

Michael Braungart is founder of EPEA International Umweltforschung GmbH, Hamburg, Germany and co-founder of MBDC McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry in Charlottesville, Virginia. Michael Braungart's work has been published in numerous journals on science, public affairs, design and environment in Europe and the US. After completing his studies in Process Engineering in Darmstadt, Germany, Michael Braungart went on to explore the chemical processes of industrial production techniques with the Chemistry Department at Konstanz, Germany. He subsequently spearheaded the formation of the Chemistry Section of Greenpeace International. By the time he completed his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Hannover in 1985, he had assumed leadership of Greenpeace Chemistry. Michael Braungart is currently professor of Process Engineering at Leuphana University Lüneburg and guest professor at the Darden Business School in Charlottesville, Virginia and at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff. In 1987, Professor Michael Braungart founded the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA) in Hamburg. At the heart of EPEA is the "Intelligent Products System" (IPS), which creates products oriented toward a life-cycle economy and earned the Océ-van der Grinten Award in 1993. In addition to his achievements within the EPEA, Michael Braungart also serves as Scientific Manager of the Hamburg Environmental Institute, the non-profit research center which edits the "Top 50 Study", a ranking of the environmentally quality of companies of the chemical industry. Working in concert with designer and dean William A. McDonough in their product design and development firm, McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, Michael Braungart's work addresses topics from particles to policy. He has initiated world-wide scholarly and scientific inquiry into the adverse environmental and physiological impacts of industrially-produced consumer goods. In addition, Braungart's EPEA co-authored the Hannover Principles of Design: Design for Sustainability, which serves as development guidelines for the World's Fair in Hannover, 2000. Professor Michael Braungart currently concentrates his efforts at McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry and EPEA Internationale Umweltforschung by working with major industrial producers, such as Nike, Aveda and Interface on issues of materials assessment, waste and energy balances, life-cycle design, and designing for disassembly. He is also active in designing new products, and was instrumental in the creation of the compostable fabric line Climatex®Lifecycle™ with William McDonough. The British Science Museum in London has recently devoted an exhibition to the work of Michael Braungart and William McDonough. Products are displayed in important design-centers worldwide.

Cradle to Cradle Design makes products possible that are economically successful, healthy for users and supportive for the environment and next generations. Their innovative Design addresses not only appearance and functionality. It also addresses the definition of their composition and enables a new dimension of quality and security of theses products along with their material flow cycle. By integrating economic, social and environmental aspects, they are superior to currently produced and available products. Cradle to Cradle Design distinguishes between two types of Cradle to Cradle Products: they can be conducted safely either as products for consumption into biological systems or as products for service into technical systems for next product generations.

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