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.

For more information, see:

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

07 April 2022

Sharlene en Lieke droegen bij aan het IPCC rapport: ‘een onvergetelijke ervaring’

En dan ben je ineens een van de schrijvers van het indrukwekkende IPCC rapport deel II over impact, adaptatie en kwetsbaarheid dat afgelopen februari werd gelanceerd. Het overkwam TBM onderzoekers Sharlene Gomes en Lieke Brackel. Beiden hadden de ervaring niet willen missen.

04 April 2022

Immediate acceleration of global climate action needed to realise 1.5°C goal

Immediate acceleration of global climate action needed to realise 1.5°C goal

The goal of the Paris Agreement on climate change, limiting global warming to a maximum of 1.5°C, is becoming increasingly unrealistic unless countries collectively decide to take action immediately. This is the opinion of the five Dutch climate experts who contributed to the IPCC report that appeared today. Such an acceleration and strengthening of policy measures is still possible, but requires a far-reaching transformation of the systems that underpin our economy, including energy, industry, transport, and agriculture. The coming years will be crucial in this respect. These are some of the most important conclusions from the IPCC report published today.

15 March 2022

Documentary on solar energy expert Miro Zeman gains film award

Documentary on solar energy expert Miro Zeman gains film award

It isn’t often that a scientist wins a prestigious film award, but it happened last week to Miro Zeman, a solar energy expert at TU Delft. In his mini-documentary on energy transition, he elaborates on his scientific dream and how he is pursuing it at the brand new ESP Lab. The film was awarded a Green Heron during the Evening of the Corporate Film – The Golden Herons are awarded annually to the best commissioned films. The Green Heron is bestowed specifically on young film makers.

15 March 2022

Climate scientists launch national climate research initiative

TBM onderzoeker Andrea Ramirez Ramirez maakt deel uit van een breed gezelschap van Nederlandse klimaatonderzoekers die zich hebben verenigd op verzoek van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (KNAW) en NWO in een taskforce. Deze groep zal nog voor de zomer een rapport uitbrengen over de oprichting van een nieuw netwerkinstituut voor wetenschapsbreed klimaatonderzoek.

25 February 2022

Delft scientists present “green” series of children's lectures

Delft scientists present “green” series of children's lectures

We generate more and more electricity from solar panels and windmills, but what if there is no wind and the sun is not shining? Will you still be able to charge your phone? This is one of the many questions that will be addressed in a brand new series of lectures by the MuseumJeugdUniversiteit. For this "green" series – made especially for children between the ages of 8 and 12 – this long-term collaboration between MuseumJeugdUniversteit and Science Centre Delft travels to the TU Delft campus, which celebrates its 180th anniversary this year.


Climate Action News

05 September 2023

Clearing up the sky: reducing the uncertainty caused by clouds in the climate system

Clearing up the sky: reducing the uncertainty caused by clouds in the climate system

Wolken zijn verantwoordelijk voor een groot deel van de onzekerheid in klimaatprojecties. Met een Starting Grant van de European Research Council (ERC) wil Franziska Glassmeier de evolutie van wolken en hun invloed op het toekomstige klimaat beter begrijpen. Glassmeier is Assistant Professor atmosfeerwetenschappen aan de faculteit Civiele Techniek en Geowetenschappen van de TU Delft: "Als we de onzekerheid veroorzaakt door wolken kunnen verminderen, zouden we een veel beter idee hebben van hoeveel de planeet opwarmt door antropogene emissies."

01 August 2023

Premiere of “Dancing in the Desert”

Premiere of “Dancing in the Desert”

The premiere of Dancing in the Desert will take place on Wednesday, 23 August, at 2 pm on the Delft Markt town square. Admission is free. In this beautiful documentary, a team of filmmakers including Bram van Splunteren follow the student team working on the Nuna 11. It’s an exciting job, especially when you realise that the Nuna 10 caught fire during the previous Solar Challenge in Australia. Will these students succeed in designing and building an entirely new Nuna from scratch? Will it finish the race through the Moroccan desert and maybe even win it?

31 July 2023

Expedition to the Norwegian Trench to explore carbon burial

Expedition to the Norwegian Trench to explore carbon burial

To explore the role of the North Sea in the global climate system, the NIOZ research vessel Pelagia embarked on an expedition to the Norwegian Trench. On 15 June, the ship docked back at the NIOZ port on Texel, with on board Anna Enge, PhD student Hydraulic Engineering at TU Delft.

17 July 2023

TU Delft launches online course Sustainable Building with Timber

TU Delft launches online course Sustainable Building with Timber

“The way we construct our buildings needs to change.” says Arjan van Timmeren professor of Environmental Technology & Design at TU Delft. Over 35% of our global greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to the built environment. A third of that amount is specifically related to the production of abiotic (non-renewable) materials such as concrete, metals and plastics. The associated challenges are not only climate related, but also concern resource scarcity, health and housing provision.

07 July 2023

Extra-resilient crops through integration of plant biology, simulation models and AI

Extra-resilient crops through integration of plant biology, simulation models and AI

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) announced its contribution of 15 million euros to PlantXR, a CropXR research programme into 'smart breeding' of extra resilient crops (eXtra Resilient, XR). This impulse brings CropXR's total budget to over €90 million for the next 10 years. NWO’s grant marks the start of the new Dutch institute CropXR, which integrates plant biology, computational modelling, and artificial intelligence into 'smart breeding methods'. Those will be used to develop crop varieties that are more resilient to climate change and less dependent on chemical crop protection. In CropXR, TU Delft works together with Utrecht University, Wageningen University and Research, the University of Amsterdam and dozens of plant breeding, biotech and processing companies on basic scientific research, data collection and data sharing, education, and advancing broad application of the results.