Climate Action Programme


The Climate Action Programme was launched in 2021 and functions as a community for climate action on the TU Delft campus and beyond. We coordinate various events, activities and functions, providing a central platform for climate related research, education and innovation at TU Delft. Through these efforts, we help to bring to fruition our university’s goal of creating impact for a sustainable society.

Our four overarching themes of Climate Science, Climate Change Mitigation, Climate Change Adaptation and Climate Change Governance are composed of Flagships. Researchers from different disciplines co-operate within the Flagships, and dedicated researchers have been appointed to each Flagship. We foster co-operation within Flagships, between the Flagships, with other climate related researchers and with external stakeholders and partners to secure societal impact.

We actively collaborate with other TU Delft initiatives including:

There is always a reason not to act. Let’s do something about this. Time is running out

― Prof Herman Russchenberg

Climate Action News

03 November 2022

NPO Radio 1 broadcasts live from The Green Village during National Climate Week

NPO Radio 1 broadcasts live from The Green Village during National Climate Week

From October 31 until November 6 it is National Climate Week. As a climate university, TU Delft is committed to take part, because climate action is more urgent than ever. This week you will hear various NPO Radio 1 programmes live from the Climate Studio at The Green Village, the field lab for sustainable innovation on TU Delft Campus.

01 November 2022

Jonas Lechner is Best Graduate of TPM 2022

Jonas Lechner is Best Graduate of TPM 2022

Jonas Lechner is Best Graduate of TPM 2022! He now competes for the TU Delft Best Graduate award with his thesis 'Role of household climate change adaptation in reducing coastal flood risk: the case of Shanghai’. On 22 November the eight brand new engineers from the faculties presented their excellent graduation theses during the TU Delft Best Graduate Award Ceremony 2022.

23 September 2022

Developing a global standardization agenda against rising sea levels

Developing a global standardization agenda against rising sea levels

Filippo Grillo and Martijn Wiarda, both PhD candidates at TPM, have managed to secure a project from ISO, the International Organization for Standardization. They believe that standardization could help coastal communities and infrastructures adapt to sea-level rise and want to establish a global standardization agenda against rising sea levels.

22 August 2022

Measurement campaign maps GHG emissions and air pollution in Rotterdam

Measurement campaign maps GHG emissions and air pollution in Rotterdam

Scientists from TU Delft, together with scientist from other research institutions, will investigate how the reduction of urban greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution can best be monitored with atmospheric measurements. Monday, August 22, the measurement campaign will start in the Rotterdam region. TU Delft is using mobile rader equipment to measure urban emissions.

02 August 2022

How coastal seas help the ocean absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

How coastal seas help the ocean absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

The biologically productive North Sea impacts the global climate through exchange of carbon and nutrients with the Atlantic Ocean. A Dutch consortium of scientists will investigate how big this role of the North Sea really is. Under the leadership of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), conduct a combination of field studies and computer model simulations will be conducted over the next four years to address this question. Models will be used to determine future effects of environmental and climate change on the North Sea, Atlantic Ocean and ultimately Earth’s climate. TU Delft's Peter Herman and Bram van Prooijen (Civil Engineering & Geoscience) are involved in the research.


Climate Action News

12 January 2023

Can nature-based climate change adaptation measures benefit the Dutch housing market?

Can nature-based climate change adaptation measures benefit the Dutch housing market?

The Netherlands needs to account for climate-driven flood risks when planning new housing advises the Deltaprogramma: where and how we build houses and what governments and homeowners can do to adapt to the increasing flood risks.

19 December 2022

Rose Sharifian is speeding up!

Rose Sharifian is speeding up!

PhD defensed her thesis: "Electrochemical oceanic carbon capture using bipolar membrane electrodialysis" and begins her start-up company op CO2 removal

19 December 2022

Emergent behaviour in the energy transition

Emergent behaviour in the energy transition

A research agenda including a concrete action plan for the following research challenges: behavioural theory and modelling of the energy transition, 2) anticipating emergent behaviour to scale up the energy transition, 3) developing transition narratives, and 4) embracing key/change agents and emergent leadership. The action items vary between quick wins and fundamental research ideas that may, together, help us to better shape the energy transition.

14 December 2022

NWO Perspectief grant for flood protection research

NWO Perspectief grant for flood protection research

Large areas of the Netherlands are at risk of being flooded. It was only last year, 2021, that rivers in the province of Limburg overflowed. A rise in sea levels and weather extremes, caused by climate change, calls for new technical and nature-based solutions for flood risk management and climate adaptation. The Future Flood Risk Management Technologies (Future FRM Tech) programme, led by TU Delft's Bas Jonkman, will receive an NWO Perspectief grant to work on flood-resilient and climate-adaptive coasts and rivers.

01 December 2022

Most nitrogen deposition from aviation comes from high altitude

Most nitrogen deposition from aviation comes from high altitude

Aircraft emit nitrogen oxides and other emissions during both the LTO-phase (taxiing, take-off and landing) and when flying at high altitudes. These emissions return to the ground, resulting in nitrogen deposited over land and water bodies. Using an atmospheric model, researchers at TU Delft have quantified - for the first time - that in 2019 aviation was responsible for just under 1.2% of total global nitrogen deposition from all sources.