Guillaume Habert

Life Cycle Assessment

Alternative materials

Material and economic flow analysis

After studying biology and geology, Guillaume Habert graduated in 1999 from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, with a degree in earth, atmospheric and oceanic studies.

In 2004 he completed his PhD in Toulouse (France) on structural geology. His research focused on the relations between internal structures in granites and the tectonic context and focused on three case studies located in the Sierra Nevada (California, USA), the Colorado plateau (Utah, USA) and the Cyclades islands (Greece).

After his PhD Guillaume Habert used his knowledge of natural rocks mineralogy to explore how specific clays and pozzolans can be used as a cement substitute.
This work, funded by the CNRS and Lafarge, was followed by a post doctorate position at the Federal University of Paraiba (Brazil).
In Brazil he looked into how waste products from the ceramic industry, can be used as pozzolanic materials to improve the mechanical and water resistance of adobes.

From 2007 to 2012 Guillaume Habert conducted research at the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris (now University Gustave Eiffel). He worked on the development of sustainable concrete, which led him to address the environmental evaluation of building materials as well as the development of new binders such as geopolymers.

Since August 2012, Guillaume Habert holds the Chair of Sustainable Construction at the ETH Zürich and became full professor in 2023.

He has lectured on sustainable construction and taught in various engineering and architectural schools over the World, published over 100 scientific papers and contributed to the development of a start up on earth construction and softwares to implement sustainability into design practices.