Mr. Karstensen is currently the Chief Scientist at the Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research (SINTEF) in Norway. He has been working at SINTEF for more than 30 years, and has been working globally with Circular Economy & Resource Efficiency for more than three decades.
He is regarded as one of the pioneers in Co-processing & treatment of wastes in resource and energy intensive industry and contributed to increase the waste management capacity in many countries and to reduce air pollutants and GHGs from the industry. He has extensive experience from Asia and initiated and implemented co-processing practice in several Asian countries, e.g. the regional project "Ocean Plastic Turned into an Opportunity in Circular Economy – OPTOCE" in China, India, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.
He obtained his Bachelors and Masters of science degrees from the University of Oslo, as well as his Doctorate in Philosophy from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.