Sebastian

Luckeneder

PhD

Postdoctoral researcher

sebastian.luckeneder@su.se

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Profile summary

  • Ecological Economics
  • Natural Resources
  • Ecologically Unequal Exchange
  • Development Economics
  • Applied Econometrics
  • Spatial Statistics

Sebastian Luckeneder explores the spatial and systemic links between global resource extraction, environmental change, and socioeconomic inequalities

Luckeneder is a postdoctoral researcher at Stockholm Resilience Centre, contributing to the Mistra Utmana project ‘Circular Economy and Ecologically Unequal Exchange’, jointly with Tiina Häyhä and David Collste. His expertise and research interests lie in applying statistical methods to questions rooted in ecological economics and political economy, with a particular focus on the interplay between natural resources and socioeconomic systems.

Luckeneder has a background in economics and development studies and received his PhD in ecological economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) in 2025. His dissertation investigated the direct and indirect environmental and socioeconomic consequences of mining activities using geospatial data approaches.

Before joining Stockholm Resilience Centre, he was a research associate at the Institute for Ecological Economics at WU. He was a visiting scholar at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, in 2023, and at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, in 2022. In 2021, he participated in the Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). He is a member of the editorial team of the Austrian Journal of Development Studies (JEP).

Awards and achievements

  • WU Award for Outstanding Research Achievements (2020-2024)
  • Austrian Agency for Education and Internationalisation (OeAD) Marietta Blau scholarship (2022)

Key publications

  • Luckeneder, S., Maus, V., Siqueira-Gay, J., Krisztin, T. & Kuhn, M. (2025). Forest loss and uncertain economic gains from industrial and garimpo mining in Brazilian municipalities. Nature Communications 16, 6543. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61930-8
  • Giljum, S., Maus, V., Sonter, L., Luckeneder, S., Werner, T., Lutter, S., Gershenzon, J., Cole, M.J., Siqueira-Gay, J. & Bebbington, A. (2025). Metal mining is a global driver of environmental change. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 6, 441–455. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-025-00683-w
  • Luckeneder, S., Giljum, S., Schaffartzik, A., Maus, V. & Tost, M. (2021). Surge in global metal mining threatens vulnerable ecosystems. Global Environmental Change 69, 102303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102303

Publications by Luckeneder, Sebastian

Spatial data approaches for assessing the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of mining activities

Journal / article | 2025

Sebastian Luckeneder. 2025. Spatial data approaches for assessing the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of mining activities. Doctoral thesis. Institute for Ecological Economics. WU Research.

The growing human population, economic expansion, urbanisation, and rising affluence have driven global resource consumption to unprecedented levels. Metals and minerals have experienced particularly rapid growth, and mining activities are projected to intensify due to higher demand in emerging economies, the global energy transition, and declining ore grades. While mining increasingly encroaches on vulnerable ecosystems, syst...

Increasing Water Use in Global Copper Production Threatens Freshwater Availability

Journal / article | 2025

Stephan Lutter, Victor Maus, Sebastian Luckeneder, Michael Tost. 2025. Increasing Water Use in Global Copper Production Threatens Freshwater Availability. Ecological Economic Papers. https://doi.org/10.57938/441b6e21-b914-4565-a2af-623f78ed92c6

Water input in copper mining varies substantially across sites worldwide, with implications for local sustainable resource management. We quantify water use in global copper mining at unprecedented spatial resolution, using machine learning to estimate site-level water withdrawal and identify geographic hotspots of pressure on water resources. Results reveal that global water intensity is two-fold higher than previously known....

Forest loss and uncertain economic gains from industrial and garimpo mining in Brazilian municipalities

Journal / article | 2025

Sebastian Luckeneder, Victor Maus, Juliana Siqueira-Gay, Tamás Krisztin, Michael Kuhn. 2025. Forest loss and uncertain economic gains from industrial and garimpo mining in Brazilian municipalities. Nature Communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61930-8

Environmental and social risks in mining regions often juxtapose promises of local economic growth. Brazil, a major global mineral supplier and conservation leader, has pursued resource-led development despite mining’s threat to its forests. Yet, the efficacy of this development strategy is uncertain. In this study, we examine mining’s contribution to deforestation and regional economic growth in Brazil. For garimpo mining con...

Metal mining is a global driver of environmental change

Journal / article | 2025

Stefan Giljum, Victor Maus, Laura Sonter, Sebastian Luckeneder, Tim Werner, Stephan Lutter, Julia Gershenzon, Megan J. Cole, Juliana Siqueira-Gay, Anthony Bebbington. 2025. Metal mining is a global driver of environmental change. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-025-00683-w

Global metal extraction is increasing, owing to rising mineral demands from infrastructure development and the growing need for metal-intensive renewable energy technologies to mitigate climate change and phase out coal mining. However, extraction of metal ores also drives impacts on land use, water resources and biodiversity. In this Review, we evaluate mining trends of 47 metal ores between 1970 and 2022 and explore the envi...