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:

Delft Energy Initiative

We work together with the TU Delft Energy Initiative and it's energy institutes: Urban Energy; PowerWeb; Wind Energy; e-Refinery; H2; e4Battery; Social Innovation; Ocean Energy, Energy Access 4 All.

Delft Sustainability Initiative

TU Delft aims to be carbon neutral, climate-adaptive and circular, with contribution to the quality of life and biodiversity, by 2030. We focus on all aspects that affects our climate and the environment: from buildings and energy systems to waste management and mobility.

Climate Safety & Security Centre

The Climate Safety & Security Center is an interdisciplinary research center of TU Delft | Campus The Hague that combines two important societal themes - Climate Change and Safety & Security – from an engineering perspective.

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

Climate Action Stories

What is the coolest tree?

My façade is your façade!?

The next phase in aircraft design

ESP Lab - Peter Palensky, Digital Technologies

ESP Lab - Lucia Beloqui Larumbe, Power Electronics

ESP Lab – Miro Zeman, Photovoltaics

A meaty trick: plant-based deception for good

Fransje Hooimeijer

Moved by moving water

LandShapes: made to feel real

Climate Action News

24 February 2023

16 million to keep the Dutch delta livable - even as it changes

Deltas and coastal plains are attractive places to live: fertile, flat, and open to the sea. These lowlands are, however, also vulnerable to climate change and sea-level rise. To better predict how deltas develop in the future, a thorough understanding is needed of biogeomorphology- how organisms, currents, waves, water, and sand discharge shape the delta-landscape. It was announced today that Δ-ENIGMA, a project focusing on this formation of the delta landscape, is one of the projects that will be funded from the National Roadmap for Large-Scale Research Infrastructure (LSRI) call of the Dutch Research Counsil (NWO).

20 February 2023

16 million to keep the Dutch delta livable - even as it changes

Deltas and coastal plains are attractive places to live: fertile, flat, and open to the sea. These lowlands are, however, also vulnerable to climate change and sea-level rise. It was announced today that Δ-ENIGMA, a project focusing on this formation of the delta landscape, is one of the projects that will be funded from the National Roadmap for Large-Scale Research Infrastructure (LSRI) call of the Dutch Research Counsil (NWO)

20 February 2023

€18 million for research on the sustainable use of our subsurface

Increased use of the subsurface, for example for geothermal energy production or subsurface storage, is crucial for achieving the (inter)national goals for greenhouse gas emissions. Today it was announced that EPOS-eNLarge, a research project that focuses on efficient and safe use of the Dutch subsurface, is one of the projects to be awarded through the Dutch Research Council (NWO) Large-scale Research Infrastructure call. The 10-year project will receive 17.9 million euros from NWO.

09 February 2023

From concrete waste to concrete buildings

Earth’s primary resources are finite. Human inventiveness, however, isn’t. At TU Delft’s laboratories, Francesco Di Maio is working on the recycling of concrete waste. Just like the Phoenix, the mythological bird that rises from its own ashes, Di Maio wants new concrete buildings to arise from their predecessors waste. He hopes his technologies will help to transform urban economies into self-sustaining loops.

06 February 2023

'Safe-by-design' chemical recycling of plastic waste

Ana Somoza-Tornos, Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, has received Seed Funding from the TU Delft Safety & Security Institute for the safe-by-design chemical recycling of plastic waste

Do you want to be updated on Climate Action news and events?

Climate Action Stories

What is the coolest tree?

My façade is your façade!?

The next phase in aircraft design

ESP Lab - Peter Palensky, Digital Technologies

ESP Lab - Lucia Beloqui Larumbe, Power Electronics

ESP Lab – Miro Zeman, Photovoltaics

A meaty trick: plant-based deception for good

Fransje Hooimeijer

Moved by moving water

LandShapes: made to feel real

Climate Action News

10 May 2023

Seed funding awarded for serious game to engage urban residents in climate action

Lisa Scholten receives Seed funding from the TU Delft Climate Action Programme for the project: ‘Evaluating an educational serious game to engage urban residents in behaviour change for large scale climate action’.

01 May 2023

Delft Subsurface Urban Energy Lab strengthened with geothermal source on campus

What was born almost 20 years ago as an enthusiastic plan by some Applied Earth Sciences students is now becoming reality: the construction of the wells will start this summer, and in a few years' time TU Delft's campus will be heated by a geothermal source. Earlier this week, the consortium behind Geothermie Delft decided to make the necessary follow-on investment to realise the planned geothermal wells and start the research programme.

01 May 2023

Royal Honours for Herman Russchenberg

Herman Russchenberg, Professor of Geoscience and Remote Sensing at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences (CEG) and TU Delft Pro Vice Rector for Climate Action, was made an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau in Leiden.

06 April 2023

Coastal changes not only caused by wind and waves, but also by people

Our coast protects us from the water; it is necessary understand its dynamic processes and to retain the sand at the coast. Natural influences such as wind and waves are constantly changing the coastline. Another important process affecting the coastline is often overlooked: human activity. To investigate this, Roderik Lindenbergh of TU Delft receives a grant from the NWO's Open Technology Programme for the AdaptCoast project.

27 March 2023

Making the energy transition happen for aviation

In his inaugural speech as a Full Professor of Sustainable Aircraft Propulsion Arvind Gangoli Rao will defend the right for people to move up the transportation ladder and explain how he intends to reduce the climate impact this causes: by making the energy transition happen in aviation. Gangoli Rao’s inaugural speech will take place in Delft at 15.00 on 31 March. It will also be available online live and on-demand.