Mario Giampietro

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Engineering Sciences

Mario Giampietro was born in Italy in 1953. He graduated in Chemical Engineering (1978) and Biological Sciences (1981) at Universitá La Sapienza, Rome. He has a MS degree in Food System Economics (CEFAS/Universitá La Tuscia) and a PhD in Social Sciences (Wageningen University, NL). Mario was a researcher at Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca per gli Alimenti e la Nutrizione (INRAN) from 1985 to 2007, but pursued most of his research as visiting scientist at leading universities, such as Cornell University (1987-1989 and 1992-1995), Wageningen University (1997), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1998-2000), University of Wisconsin, Madison (2002), Penn State University (2005-2006), and Arizona State University (2006-2007). He joined ICREA and UAB in 2007. He has more than 150 scientific publications and is author of several books.


Research interests

Mario works on integrated assessment of sustainability issues. Using concepts from complex systems theory, he has developed an innovative scientific approach: Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM). MuSIASEM integrates biophysical and socioeconomic variables across multiple hierarchical scales, thus establishing a link between the metabolism of socio-economic systems and potential constraints of the natural environment. MuSIASEM allows the use of integrated sets of indicators that can be chosen “à la carte” by social actors in relation to multiple criteria of performance. Recent research has focused on the analysis of energy systems and energy scenarios and directives (projects EUFORIE, NETEP, PARTICIPIA), food systems (GLAMUR), and the nexus between energy, food, and water in relation to sustainable development goals (MAGIC).

Selected publications

– Giampietro M 2018, ‘Perception and representation of the resource nexus at the interface between society and the natural environment‘. Sustainability, 10(7), 2545.

– Velasco-Fernández R, Giampietro M & Bukkens SGF 2018, ‘Analyzing the energy performance of manufacturing across levels using the end-use matrix‘, Energy, vol. 161, pp. 559-572.

– González-López R & Giampietro M 2018, ‘Relational analysis of the oil and gas sector of Mexico: Implications for Mexico‘s energy reform’, Energy, vol. 154, pp. 403-414.

– Di Felice LJ, Ripa M & Giampietro M 2018, ‘Deep Decarbonisation from a Biophysical Perspective: GHG Emissions of a Renewable Electricity Transformation in the EU‘, Sustainability, vol. 10, 3685.

– Parra R, Di Felice LJ, Giampietro M & Ramos-Martin J 2018, ‘The metabolism of oil extraction: A bottom-up approach applied to the case of Ecuador‘, Energy Policy, vol. 122, pp. 63-74,

– Strand R, Saltelli A, Giampietro M, Rommetveit K & Funtowicz S 2018, ‘New narratives for innovation‘, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 197, pp. 1849-1853.

– Allen TFH, Austin P, Giampietro M, Kovacic Z, Ramly E & Tainter J 2018, ‘Mapping degrees of complexity, complicatedness, and emergent complexity‘, Ecological Complexity, vol. 35, pp. 39-44.

– Giampietro M & Mayumi K 2018, ‘Unraveling the Complexity of the Jevons Paradox: The Link Between Innovation, Efficiency, and Sustainability‘, Frontiers in Energy Research, vol. 6, article 26.

– Chifari R, Lo Piano S, Bukkens SGF& Giampietro M 2018, ‘A holistic framework for the integrated assessment of urban waste management systems’, Ecological Indicators, vol. 94, pp 24-36.

– Giampietro M 2018, ‘Food credence attributes, multi-criteria analysis and the ethics of food choice‘, in: Matsumoto S & Otsuki T (Eds.), Consumer Perception of Food Attributes, CRC Press, pp. 157-170.