Climate Action

There is no doubt that the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are changing our living environment. Climate change is in our hands. We need to both work on limiting it as much as we can (mitigation), but we will also have to learn to adapt to new circumstances. TU Delft will harness its innovative powers to support the world-wide transition to non-fossil resources, and adaptation of the living environment to the consequences of global warming.

The problem is complex and urgent – but we have no other choice than to be optimistic and use all of our capacity to face the challenge, through our education programs and our research.

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In the Climate Action research programme, we start from four themes we consider to be paramount for future Climate Action:

The TU Delft vision on Climate Action is deeply founded in preceding decades of university wide climate action research. The goal of the Climate action research programme is to build on current strengths and identify the areas where there is a need to strengthen our capacities to keep up our (inter)national reputation as climate action university.

Climate Action News

13 January 2023

A plant-powered camera and better AI to detect atmospheric threats

A plant-powered camera and better AI to detect atmospheric threats

At the very end of last year, NWO Open Technology Programme (OTP) announced two new grants in the fields of environmental monitoring and atmospheric threat detection. Both projects are part the department of Microelectronics, and both will help scientists and society better understand our environment – to limit or otherwise mitigate the consequences of climate change.

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.


Climate Action Stories

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Climate Action News

04 October 2018

Using aircraft as weather stations

Using aircraft as weather stations

To fly safely, aircraft need accurate updates on wind and temperature. But together, aircraft can also act as a sensor network that provides information to make weather models and predictions better, researchers at TU Delft have found. This week they publish their findings in PLOS One.

26 September 2018

Two TU Delft proposals chosen to compete in ESA Earth Explorer mission

Two TU Delft proposals chosen to compete in ESA Earth Explorer mission

TU Delft has provided two of the three proposals that are competing for the tenth Earth Explorer mission by ESA, which is planned for 2027-2028. The Earth Explorer missions are aimed at Earth observation, one of the important aims of the European Space Agency (ESA).

25 September 2018

Opening of Ruisdael Observatory

Opening of Ruisdael Observatory

The Ruisdael Observatory – named after the 17th-century painter Jacob van Ruisdael – combines a nationwide dense network of measuring points with high-resolution simulations and the necessary computing power in order to map out changes in local weather, air quality and climate. The official opening of the observatory is on 27 September, with a meeting in the grounds of the KNMI measuring station at Cabauw (Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research, CESAR). In April this new top-class research facility was awarded a certificate from NWO’s National Roadmap for Large-Scale Scientific infrastructure.

04 July 2018

Extreme sea levels predicted to increase along global coastlines

Extreme sea levels predicted to increase along global coastlines

Future global warming will lead to an increase in ‘extreme sea levels’, with consequent flood risks to coastal infrastructure and human populations. An international research team from Italy, Greece, the Netherlands (TU Delft / Deltares) and the UK published this new research in Nature Communications.

21 June 2018

Bedrock below West Antarctica rising surprisingly fast

Bedrock below West Antarctica rising surprisingly fast

Researchers have found that the bedrock below the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is rising much more rapidly than expected, revealing a very different Earth structure than previously believed. This discovery has important implications in understanding climate changes in Antarctica. The team of researchers, from ten universities including TU Delft, report on their findings in Science on June 22th.