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The Climate Action Seed Fund enables researchers at the TU Delft to explore innovative ideas. Researchers can develop educational programmes, organise working sessions or undertake other relevant activities to plant seeds and further research and education on climate-related topics. There are two calls for proposals per year. A committee evaluates the proposals.

More efficient port calls can make maritime transport faster and greener. To achieve this ambition, the PortCall.Zero project has been awarded 4 million euros through the NWO Perspectief programme. Led by TU Delft, and with contributions from 16 partners, the project aims to significantly reduce the CO2 emissions of port activities by making use of AI and electric shore power.

Trees are excellent teachers when it comes to making materials for load-bearing structures with as little resources and energy as possible. One of their secrets? When a tree grows, the direction of the wood grain adapts itself to fit the load that part of the tree is going to bear.

In Nature Partner Journals, ten researchers advocate the use of imagination in tackling the climate crisis. They focus specifically on urbanising river deltas, which are of great social and economic importance and highly vulnerable to climate change. "We scientists should not merely outline doomsday scenarios," says Professor Chris Zevenbergen. "Create a vision for people to believe in and work towards.”

A safe and liveable delta, who doesn't go for that? Storm surge barriers play a crucial role in this. Yet there are many choices to be made in the short term to keep the storm surge barriers in a good condition, to eventually cope with rising sea levels in the longer term. A new project receives funding from NWO for five years to explore the best routes to a liveable delta.