Laura Scherer
Associate professor
- Name
- Dr. L.A. Scherer
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 6832
- l.a.scherer@cml.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-0194-9942
Laura Scherer is an associate professor at Leiden University's Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML). She is interested in research on impact assessment and prioritization related to biodiversity, water, climate, and animal welfare, with applications especially in the food sector.
More information about Laura Scherer
News
-
No hunger, and not too much global warming? Current UN plan misses opportunities -
18 billion animals a year: they die, but never end up on our plate -
How polluting are the clothes in your closet? -
Bottom-dwellers thrive at foundations of offshore wind farms -
‘If we buy these imported products, we are co-responsible for the global decline in biodiversity’ -
How plant-based diets not only reduce our carbon footprint, but also increase carbon capture -
Lifestyles that avoid the world from warming up -
New study helps policymakers combat global warming with negative-emissions technology -
Here is how we can increase the effectiveness of global environment protection -
Dietary guidelines in these six countries are a win-win-win for nutrition, environment, and animals -
Was the EU’s ban on electric fishing the right decision? -
Additional efforts needed to avoid conflict in Sustainable Development Goals -
Four new editorial board positions for CML -
How your diet can improve animal welfare
In the media
PhD Candidates
Former PhD Candidates
Laura Scherer is an associate professor at Leiden University's Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML). She is interested in research on impact assessment and prioritization related to biodiversity, water, climate, and animal welfare, with applications especially in the food sector. She contributed to reports of FAO and UNEP and currently works in the Global Guidance for Life Cycle Impact Assessment Indicators and Methods (GLAM) project hosted by UNEP. She leads a work package on climate and health impacts of shifting lifestyles within the Horizon 2020 project 1.5° Lifestyles and co-leads the Horizon Europe project BAMBOO, which focuses on biodiversity impacts of non-food biomass along global supply chains. Her team's main research contribution to the BAMBOO project is the development of impact assessment methods for functional diversity.
Professional experience
Laura obtained her PhD from ETH Zurich in 2016. During her doctoral studies, she analysed the environmental impacts of water consumption and degradation at regional and global scales. She applied her research to the agriculture and energy sectors. Afterwards, as a postdoctoral researcher at VU Amsterdam, she coordinated the European research project VITAL where she evaluated the opportunities and constraints for sustainable intensification of agriculture in Europe.
Associate professor
- Science
- Centrum voor Milieuwetenschappen Leiden
- CML/Industriele Ecologie
- Zhou J., Mogollón J.M., Bogegom P.M. van, Beusen A.H.W. & Scherer L.A. (2024), Global regionalized characterization factors for phosphorus and nitrogen impacts on freshwater fish biodiversity, Science of the Total Environment 912: 169108.
- Cap S., Koning A. de, Tukker A. & Scherer L.A. (2024), (In)Sufficiency of industrial decarbonization to reduce household carbon footprints to 1.5°C-compatible levels, Sustainable Production and Consumption 45(March 2024): 216-227.
- Behrens P.A., Scherer L.A., Wang R., Yi J., Drews M., Larsen M.A.D. & Schaible C. (2024), Enforcing and improving water data reporting in the energy system is urgently needed, Next Energy 2: 100102 (100102).
- Schader S., Frehner A. & Scherer L.A. (2024), Framework for evaluating animal welfare in life cycle assessments of diets, Book of abstracts of the 14th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment of Food (LCA Food 2024). 14th International Conference LCA FOOD 2024 8 September 2024 - 12 September 2024 514-516.
- Scherer L., Hegwood M., Bartlett H., Bossert L.N., Frehner A. & Schader C. (2024), Conceptual framework for considering animal welfare in sustainability assessments of foods, Sustainable Production and Consumption 52: 179-209.
- Zhou J., Mogollón J.M., Bodegom P.M. van, Barbarossa V., Beusen A.H.W. & Scherer L. (2023), Effects of nitrogen emissions on fish species richness across the world’s freshwater ecoregions, Environmental Science and Technology 57(22): 8347-8354.
- Migoni Alejandre E., Scherer L., Guinee J.B., Aizen M.A., Albrecht M., Balzan M.V., Bartomeus I., Bevk D., Burkle L.A., Clough Y., Cole L.J., Delphia C.M., Dicks L.V., Garratt M.P.D., Kleijn D., Kovacs-Hostyanszki A., Mandelik Y., Paxton R.J., Petanidou T., Potts S., Sarospataki M., Schulp C.J.E., Stavrinides M., Stein K., Stout J.C., Szentgyorgyi H., Varnava A.I., Woodcock B.A. & Bodegom P.M. van (2023), Characterization factors to assess land use impacts on pollinator abundance in life cycle assessment, Environmental Science and Technology 57(8): 3445-3454.
- Li C., Coolen J.W.P., Scherer L., Mogollón J.M., Braeckman U., Vanaverbeke J., Tukker A. & Steubing B.R.P. (2023), Offshore wind energy and marine biodiversity in the North Sea: life cycle impact assessment for benthic communities, Environmental Science and Technology 57(16): 6455-6464.
- Visser S. de, Scherer L., Huijbregts M. & Barbarossa V. (2023), Characterization factors for the impact of climate change on freshwater fish species, Ecological Indicators 150: 110238.
- Scherer L., Boom H.A., Barbarossa V. & Bodegom P.M. van (2023), Climate change threats to the global functional diversity of freshwater fish, Global Change Biology 29(13): 3781-3793.
- Kok D.D., Scherer L.A., Vries W. de & Bodegom P.M. van (2023), Temporal variability in organic amendment impacts on hydro‐physical properties of sandy agricultural soils, Soil Science Society of America Journal 87(4): 963-984.
- Boogaart L. van den, Slabbekoorn H. & Scherer L. (2023), Prioritization of fish welfare issues in European salmonid aquaculture using the Delphi method, Aquaculture 572: 739557.
- Tölgyesi C., Bátori Z., Pascarella J., Erdős L., Török P., Batáry P., Birkhofer K., Scherer L., Michalko R., Košulič O., Zaller J.G. & Gallé R. (2023), Ecovoltaics: framework and future research directions to reconcile land-based solar power development with ecosystem conservation, Biological Conservation 285: 110242.
- Zhang Z., Huang J., Yao Y., Peters G., Macdonald B., La Rosa A.D., Wang Z. & Scherer L. (2023), Environmental impacts of cotton and opportunities for improvement, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 4: 703-715.
- Kok D.D., Vries W. de, Scherer L.A. & Bodegom P.M. van (2023), Contrasting effects of different organic amendments on the microbial responses to extreme temperature changes, Geoderma 439: 116673.
- Scherer L., Rosa F., Sun Z., Michelsen O., De Laurentiis V., Marques A., Pfister S., Verones F. & Kuipers K.J.J. (2023), Biodiversity impact assessment considering land use intensities and fragmentation, Environmental Science and Technology 57(48): 19612-19623.
- Klaura J., Breeman G.E. & Scherer L.A. (2023), Animal lives embodied in food loss and waste, Sustainable Production and Consumption 43: 308-318.
- Rueda O., Scherer L.A. & et al. (2023), What’s cooking?: an assessment of the potential impacts of selected novel alternatives to conventional animal products. Nairobi: UNEP.
- Cap S., Bots P. & Scherer L.A. (2023), Environmental, nutritional and social assessment of nuts, Sustainability Science 18: 933-949.
- Pierrat E., Barbarossa V., Nunez M., Scherer L.A., Link A., Damiani M., Verones F. & Dorber M. (2023), Global water consumption impacts on riverine fish species richness in Life Cycle Assessment, Science of the Total Environment 854: 158702.
- Sun Z., Scherer L.A., Tukker A., Spawn-lee S.A., Bruckner M., Gibbs H.K. & Behrens P.A. (2022), Dietary change in high-income nations alone can lead to substantial double climate dividend, Nature Food 3: 29-37.
- Sun Z., Behrens P.A., Tukker A., Bruckner M. & Scherer L.A. (2022), Shared and environmentally just responsibility for global biodiversity loss, Ecological Economics 194: 107339.
- Jin Y., Behrens P.A., Tukker A. & Scherer L.A. (2022), Biodiversity loss from freshwater use for China’s electricity generation, Environmental Science and Technology 56(5): 3277-3287.
- Jin Y., Scherer L.A., Sutanudjaja E.H., Tukker A. & Behrens P.A. (2022), Climate change and CCS increase the water vulnerability of China's thermoelectric power fleet, Energy 245: 123339.
- Zhou J., Scherer L.A., Bodegom P.M. van, Beusen A. & Mogollón J.M. (2022), Regionalized nitrogen fate in freshwater systems on a global scale, Journal of Industrial Ecology 26(3): 907-922.
- Kok D.D., Scherer L., Vries W. de, Trimbos K.B. & Bodegom P.M. van (2022), Relationships of priming effects with organic amendment composition and soil microbial properties, Geoderma 422: 115951.
- Scherer L.A., Gürdal I. & Bodegom P.M. van (2022), Characterization factors for ocean acidification impacts on marine biodiversity, Journal of Industrial Ecology 26(6): 2069-2079.
- Scherer L., Rueda O. & Smetana S. (2022), Environmental impacts of meat and meat replacements. In: Meiselman H.L. & Lorenzo J.M. (Eds.), Meat and meat replacements: an interdisciplinary assessment of current status and future directions: Woodhead Publishing. 365-397.
- Verones F., Kuipers K., Núnez M., Rosa F., Scherer L., Marques A., Michelsen O., Barbarossa V., Jaffe B., Pfister S. & Dorber M. (2022), Global extinction probabilities of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine species groups for use in Life Cycle Assessment, Ecological Indicators 142: 109204.
- Sun Z., Behrens P.A., Tukker A., Bruckner M. & Scherer L.A. (2022), Global human consumption threatens key biodiversity areas, Environmental Science and Technology 56(12): 9003-9014.
- Zhou J., Scherer L.A., Bodegom P.M. van, Beusen A.H.W. & Mogollón J.M. (2022), A comparison between global nutrient retention models for freshwater systems, Frontiers in Water 4: 894604.
- Chrysafi A., Virkki V., Jalava M., Sandtröm V., Piipponen J., Porkka M., Lade S.J., La Mere K., Wang-Erlandsson L., Scherer L.A., Andersen L.S., Bennett E., Brauman K.A., Cooper G.S., De Palma A., Döll P., Downing A.S., DuBois T.C., Fetzer In., Fulton E.A., Gerten D., Jaafar H., Jägermeyr J., Jaramillo F., Jung M., Kahiluoto H., Lassaletta L., Mackay A.W., Mason-D’Croz D., Mekonnen M.M., Nash K.L., Pastor A.V., Ramankutty N., Ridoutt B., Siebert S., Simmons B.I., Staal A., Sun Z., Tobian A., Usubiaga-Liaño A., Ent R.J. van der, Soesbergen A. van, Verburg P.H., Wada Y., Zipper S. & Kummu M. (2022), Quantifying Earth system interactions for sustainable food production via expert elicitation, Nature Sustainability 5: 830-842.
- Sun Z., Scherer L., Zhang Q. & Behrens P.A. (2022), Adoption of plant-based diets across Europe can improve food resilience against the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Nature Food 3(11): 905-910.
- Schulp C.J.E., Komossa F., Scherer L., Zanden E.H. van der, Debolini M. & Piorr A. (2022), The role of different types of actors in the future of sustainable agriculture in a Dutch Peri-urban area, Environmental Management 70: 401-419.
- Pfister S., Scherer L., Boulay A.M., Motoshita M., Núñez M., Damiani M., Manzardo A., Huang J., Link A., Bunsen J. & Berger M. (2022), Letter to the editor re: "The scarcity-weighted water footprint provides unreliable water sustainability scoring" by Vanham and Mekonnen, 2021, Science of the Total Environment 825: 154108.
- Rueda O., Mogollón J.M., Tukker A. & Scherer L. (2021), Negative-emissions technology portfolios to meet the 1.5 °C target, Global Environmental Change 67: 102238.
- Jin Y., Behrens P.A., Tukker A. & Scherer L. (2021), The energy-water nexus of China’s interprovincial and seasonal electric power transmission, Applied Energy 286: 116493.
- Bamberger M., Behrens P.A. & Scherer L. (2021), Environmental impacts of the nutrition transition and potential hunger eradication in emerging countries, Sustainability Science 16: 565-579.
- Lan K., Chen X., Ridoutt B.G., Huang J. & Scherer L.A. (2021), Closing yield and harvest area gaps to mitigate water scarcity related to China's rice production, Agricultural Water Management 245: 106602.
- Scherer L.A., De Laurentiis V., Marques A., Michelsen O., Migoni Alejandre E., Pfister S., Rosa F. & Rugani B. (2021), Linking land use inventories to biodiversity impact assessment methods, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 26(12): 2315-2320.
- Scherer L.A. & Huang J. (2021), Overlooked benefits of a staple food transition, Nature Food 2(8): 557-558.
- Jaroenkietkajorn U., Gheewala S.H. & Scherer L.A. (2021), Species loss from land use of oil palm plantations in Thailand, Ecological Indicators 133: 108444.
- McLaren S., Berardy A., Henderson A., Holden N., Huppertz T., Jolliet O., De Camillis C., Renouf M., Rugani B., Saarinen M., Pols J. van der, Vazquez-Rowe I., Anton Vallejo A., Bianchi M., Chadhary A., Chen C., Cooreman-Algoed M., Dong H., Grant T., Green A., Hallström E., Hoang H.-M., Leip A., Lynch J., McAuliffe G., Ridoutt B., Saget S., Scherer L., Tuomisto H., Tyedmers P. & Zanten H. van (2021), Integration of environment and nutrition in life cycle assessment of food items: opportunities and challenges. Rome, Italy: FAO.
- Sun Z., Scherer L., Tukker A. & Behrens P.A. (2020), Linking global crop and livestock consumption to local production hotspots, Global Food Security 25: 100323.
- Scherer L.A., Baren S.A. van & Bodegom P.M. van (2020), Characterizing Land Use Impacts on Functional Plant Diversity for Life Cycle Assessments, Environmental Science and Technology 54(11): 6486–6495.
- Scherer L.A., Svenning J.C., Huang J., Seymourd C.L., Sandel B., Mueller Nathaniel, Kummu Matti, Bekundai Mateete, Bruelheidejk Helge, Hochmanl Zvi, Siebert Stefan, Rueda O. & Bodegom P.M. van (2020), Global priorities of environmental issues to combat food insecurity and biodiversity loss, Science of the Total Environment 730: 139096.
- Qian Y. Scherer L.A. Tukker A. Behrens P.A. (2020), China's potential SO2 emissions from coal by 2050, Energy Policy 147: 111856.
- Huang J., Ridoutt B.G., Sun Z., Lan K., Thorp K.R., Wang X., Yin X., Huang J., Chen F. & Scherer L.A. (2020), Balancing food production within the planetary water boundary, Journal of Cleaner Production 253: 119900.
- Weathers S.T., Caviola L., Scherer L., Pfister S., Fischer B., Bump J.B. & Jaacks L.M. (2020), Quantifying the valuation of animal welfare among Americans, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 33(2): 261-282.
- Pfister S., Scherer L. & Buxmann K. (2020), Water scarcity footprint of hydropower based on a seasonal approach - global assessment with sensitivities of model assumptions tested on specific cases, Science of the Total Environment 724: 138188.
- Scherer L., Koning A. de & Tukker A. (2019), BRIC and MINT countries' environmental impacts rising despite alleviative consumption patterns, Science of the Total Environment 665: 52-60.
- Huang J., Scherer L.A., Lan K., Chen F. & Thorp K.R. (2019), Advancing the application of a model-independent open-source geospatial tool for national-scale spatiotemporal simulations, Environmental Modelling and Software 119: 374-378.
- Scherer L.A., Behrens P.A. & Tukker A. (2019), Opportunity for a Dietary Win-Win-Win in Nutrition, Environment, and Animal Welfare, One Earth 1(3): 349-360.
- Cucurachi S., Scherer L., Guinée J.B. & Tukker A. (2019), Life Cycle Assessment of Food Systems, One Earth 1(3): 292-297.
- Shiru M.S., Shahid S., Chung E., Alias N. & Scherer L.A. (2019), A MCDM-based framework for selection of general circulation models and projection of spatio-temporal rainfall changes: A case study of Nigeria, Atmospheric Research 225: 1-16.
- Huang J., Ridoutt B.G., Thorp K.R., Wang X., Lan K., Liao J., Tao X., Wu C., Huang J., Chen F. & Scherer L.A. (2019), Water-scarcity footprints and water productivities indicate unsustainable wheat production in China, Agricultural Water Management 224: 105744.
- Jin Y., Behrens P.A., Tukker A. & Scherer L.A. (2019), Water use of electricity technologies: A global meta-analysis, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 115: 1364-0321.
- Qian Y., Behrens P.A., Tukker A., Dias Rodrigues J.F., Pinke L. & Scherer L.A. (2019), Environmental responsibility for sulfur dioxide emissions and associated biodiversity loss across Chinese provinces, Environmental Pollution 245: 898-908.
- Räsänen T.A., Varis O., Scherer L.A. & Kummu M. (2018), Greenhouse gas emissions of hydropower in the Mekong River Basin, Environmental Research Letters 13(3): 034030.
- Núñez M., Rosenbaum R.K., Karimpour S., Boulay A.M., Lathuillière M.J., Margni M., Scherer L.A., Verones F. & Pfister S. (2018), A Multimedia Hydrological Fate Modeling Framework To Assess Water Consumption Impacts in Life Cycle Assessment, Environmental Science and Technology 52(8): 4658–4667.
- Scherer L., Tomasik B., Rueda O. & Pfister S. (2018), Framework for integrating animal welfare into life cycle sustainability assessment, International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 23(7): 1476-1490.
- Scherer L.A., Behrens P.A., Koning A. de, Heijungs R., Sprecher B. & Tukker A. (2018), Trade-offs between social and environmental Sustainable Development Goals, Environmental Science & Policy 90: 65-72.