Gunther Glenk is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the University of Mannheim. His research examines the risks and opportunities of corporate decarbonization. Topics include the accounting for corporate emissions, the cost of decarbonization pathways, and the incentives for accelerated climate action. Recent work has focused on the competitiveness of clean energy technologies, such as energy storage, renewable hydrogen, and electric mobility.
Professor Glenk's work has been published in leading academic journals in the field of sustainability and has been awarded honors and grants. He has been invited to present his work at academic conferences and industry meetings. Industry leaders and policymakers have solicited his advice on the opportunities and challenges of corporate transitions toward zero net emissions.
Professor Glenk received his BSc, MSc, and Dr from the Technische Universität München. He has been invited to Harvard University, Stanford University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for research visits and fellowships. Before his appointment at the University of Mannheim, he worked in consulting and entrepreneurship.
Recent Research
Decision-Useful Carbon Information
Working Paper, 2024
Current carbon accounting practices often obscure firms' actual emissions and abatement progress. This paper builds on financial accounting standards to propose how to characterize the quality of reported emissions and how companies should account for their emissions to achieve a certain reporting quality. View Paper
Assessing the Cost of Industrial Decarbonization
Working Paper, 2024, with Rebecca Meier, and Stefan Reichelstein
Companies in various industries are under growing pressure to assess the costs of decarbonizing their operations. This paper develops a generic abatement cost concept to identify the cost-efficient combination of technological and operational changes firms would need to implement to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from current production processes. View Paper
Advances in Power-to-Gas Technologies: Cost and Conversion Efficiency
Energy & Environmental Science, 2023, with Philip Holler and Stefan Reichelstein
This paper examines the cost and efficiency dynamics of three prevalent Power-to-Gas technologies. Our results suggest that electrolytic hydrogen production costs will approach but not reach the $1.0/kg cost target set by the U.S. Department of Energy for 2030. View Publication
Reversible Power-to-Gas Systems for Energy Conversion and Storage
Nature Communications, Volume 13, pp. 1-10, 2022, with Stefan Reichelstein
Reversible Power-to-Gas systems can convert electricity to hydrogen at times of ample and inexpensive power supply and operate in reverse to deliver electricity during times when power is relatively scarce. Here we show that such systems can already be economically viable relative to current hydrogen prices in the context of the German and the Texas electricity markets. View Publication