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

04 July 2024

Revolutionising Water Level Monitoring: TU Delft's Alticube+ Selected by ESA

Revolutionising Water Level Monitoring: TU Delft's Alticube+ Selected by ESA

Als het waterniveau ergens op aarde stijgt -of daalt- willen we dat graag snel weten, zodat niemand gevaar loopt. Daarvoor is het nodig om het wereldwijde watersysteem goed te begrijpen en het waterniveau veelvuldig en op vele plaatsen te kunnen meten. Dr. Jian Guo en zijn team van TU Delft, samen met industriële partners COMET Ingeniería en ISISPACE, hebben daarom een nieuw concept genaamd Alticube+ bedacht. Dit voorstel is recent uit meer dan 70 voorstellen door ESA geselecteerd om samen met een team van ESA experts verder te gaan ontwikkelen.

14 June 2024

Fading boundary between farmers and tigers

Fading boundary between farmers and tigers

The geothermal energy well at TU Delft campus will soon start heating various buildings on campus and in the city of Delft. But it provides insufficient heat in winter, and excessive heat in summer. Adding underground seasonal storage allows surplus summer heat to be put to good use in winter. Martin Bloemendal and his team develop the means to make integration of such an underground seasonal buffer possible at a large scale.

06 June 2024

Understanding Extreme Weather Phenomena: PHARA's 3D Radar Project's first official Summit

Understanding Extreme Weather Phenomena: PHARA's 3D Radar Project's first official Summit

Under the name PHARA, a collaborative team of scientists and engineers aim to develop a pioneering phased array weather radar – first of its kind in Europe and one of the first worldwide. This joint effort TU Delft, TU Eindhoven, TNO, Robin Radar, Astron, KNMI, and the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, officially kicked off with a summit held on May 30.

14 May 2024

Untapping the hidden resources

13 May 2024

Revolutionising deconstruction: A robot for sustainable material recovery

Revolutionising deconstruction: A robot for sustainable material recovery

In response to the need for sustainable construction practices, an international group of researchers has secured a HORIZON Europe grant. They will develop a groundbreaking digitalized, autonomous, and intelligent identification system, including a robot. This innovative technology aims to revolutionize the construction industry by efficiently identifying and extracting reusable materials, products and building components in end-of-life buildings.


Climate Action News

01 February 2020

What the Wadden can teach us

What the Wadden can teach us

Intertidal zones are crucial for the protection of our coast and as stop-overs for migrating birds. But, increasingly, many of these sand and mudflats are disappearing permanently underneath the waves. Cynthia Maan investigated how by cooperating with nature and using a systems-based approach these precious resources can be saved.

30 January 2020

Making dikes safer with a bass guitar

Making dikes safer with a bass guitar

Playing a bass guitar on top of a dike. It’s not something you see a TU Delft scientist do every day. Yet this is exactly how post-doc Juan Aguilar-López tested his experiment on dike monitoring with the use of fiber optic cables. A technology which could greatly improve dike safety in the future.

25 January 2020

Plastic-free Rivers

Plastic-free Rivers

The oceans of the world are filling up with plastic waste carried there by rivers. Where it all comes from no one knows. Wim Uijttewaal, professor of Experimental Hydraulics and professor of Resources & Recycling Peter Rem are on a mission to make the rivers plastic free. ‘We want to turn the removal of plastic from rivers into big business. And we want to devise a plastic waste radar that will show where the plastic is, and how it got there.’

22 January 2020

Climate adaptation starts (roof) top down

Climate adaptation starts (roof) top down

TU Delft is going to become a little bit greener on top: the roof of one of the lecture rooms of the faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences has been turned into a sustainable ‘polder roof’. The green blue roof can collect, store and discharge rainwater in a controlled manner. For researcher Olivier Hoes (Watermanagement) the roof is a field lab to research how this smart roof deals with heavy rains and heat stress.

16 January 2020

Flatpack Buildings

Flatpack Buildings

Taking apart an entire multi-storey car park in the space of a couple of days and putting it back together again somewhere else without wasting any materials? It may sound like the engineering of a far-away future but it may happen sooner than you think. Recycling materials is common practice nowadays but is it the best solution for the environment? Milan Veljkovic and his team at TU Delft’s faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences knew there had to be another way. In partnership with other universities, institutes and companies in the EU they started REDUCE, a project aimed at finding technological solutions which contribute to the circular economy.