Welcome

Hello! I am Pablo Busch, a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Sustainable Solutions Lab at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, where I am also part of the STEER initiative.

I am an interdisciplinary researcher with training in industrial and environmental engineering, public policy, energy systems, industrial ecology, and statistics. My research focuses on scientific analyses to support a clean energy transition, and to help identify risks to equity and sustainability in the emerging energy transition mineral supply chain.

My main PhD work on lithium demand and supply was recently published on Nature Sustainability. In this article we quantify the required lithium supply chain expansion in form of mine openings or expansions to meet different lithium demand scenarios, showcasing the benefits of reducing lithium-ion battery size and circular economy policies in preventing mine openings worldwide.

My main research goal is to conduct scientific analysis to diverse environmental and climate change problems, and to translate key insights from research into a digestible and actionable format for decision-making. I have worked on scientific publications on policies to address cement decarbonization barriers; review of the carbon intensity of different hydrogen production pathways; modelling of the future electric vehicle supply chain; and on the empirical evidence on the effect of air quality on elderly mortality. My research is fueled by tools from engineering, statistics, geographic information systems, economics and public policy.

I obtained a PhD in Energy Systems at UC Davis. I hold two Master of Science degrees in Statistics and in Environmental Policy & Management, both from UC Davis. My undergraduate degree is in Industrial and Systems Engineering with a diploma in Environmental Engineering from the Pontific Catholic University of Chile. Prior to conducting my graduate studies, I worked for three years in environmental policy consulting in Chile, in multiple projects related to air pollution, risk analysis, life cycle assessment, circular economy, public health and climate change. I am also a proud member of the first cohort (2024-2025) of scholars for the Resources for the Future’s Critical Minerals Research Lab.

You can find my full CV here.