Impact portfolios

About our impact portfolios

Climate change is having direct and clear impacts through temperature rise, extreme rainfall and sea level rise. It is also increasingly linked to the knock-on effects of biodiversity loss, food insecurity, migration, and health crises—requiring interdisciplinary and intersectoral responses that buffer, reduce or adapt to these effects.

Fueled by the need to address this human-induced challenge, we envision a world where climate mitigation and adaptation actions are embedded in every layer of society. As scientists and educators we have an important role to play in advancing climate science and solutions, to co-create, together with society, sustainable and equitable futures, to educate future leaders in climate adaptation and resilience, energy transition and innovation, and to make this possible through demonstrations on our own campus and field labs for innovation in the region and beyond.

To this end, coalitions of scientists with diverse expertise from multiple disciplines have been established within the UT Climate Centre to work together with our societal stakeholders to address both adaptation and mitigation. We currently focus on two impact portfolios, with two more in development.

Climate Resilience and Weather Extremes

This portfolio covers technical and social innovations for enhancing climate resilience and managing weather extremes, drawing on interdisciplinary expertise to address challenges such as drought, water scarcity, disaster resilience, for example, through climate-proof agriculture, climate justice, environmental ethics and urban planning and governance.

Energy Transition and Innovation

The continuous growth of renewable generation, accompanied by their decentralized operation, is leading to massive grid investment needs if no appropriate actions are taken. The transition to a society completely based on renewable energy is one of the greatest challenges of our time.

Planetary Health (in development)

Planetary health is a new field of interdisciplinary research dealing with the effects of global environmental change on human health. It is not limited to understanding the effects of global environmental change on health, but it also aims to understand the drivers of global environmental change.

It is increasingly clear that besides reducing CO₂ emissions through energy transitions, carbon dioxide removal techniques (CDR) are vital to reaching global net-zero emissions by 2050. CDR requires a multidisciplinary approach, including ethical and societal considerations, geo-observation, and technical optimization of direct air capture.

Circular economy

By 2050, the Netherlands aims to be a fully circular economy. All products and raw materials will then be continuously reused. Waste no longer exists in such a system. Is something broken? We’ll repair it until that’s no longer possible. Then the product is recycled or converted into new raw materials. Welcome to the future of economic sustainability: the circular economy.

Welcoming All Impactful Contributions

At the Climate Centre, we embrace all impactful contributions made by UT co-workers to address the challenges posed by climate change. Together, we are building a community. We are defining certain challenges and programmes that highlight the Geo-Techno-Social approach and demonstrate its added value, and we strive to distinguish UT by further developing it. As we continue to develop our agenda at the Climate Centre, we investigate climate mitigation and adaptation measures to tackle the challenges presented by climate change, such as decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing infrastructure and policies to adapt to varying climate conditions.

UT leverages the knowledge and expertise of all faculties, which offer a diverse array of geological, technological, and social disciplines. Experts worldwide recognize UT's contribution to climate goals, especially our distinctive approach of combining these three areas of knowledge.

Linking Research with UT Faculties and Institutes

The Climate Centre builds on the knowledge and expertise available in research groups, faculties, and institutes at UT, including:

Connecting with the Dutch Climate Research Initiative (KIN)

Active participation in the KIN enables UT to pursue impactful collaboration nationwide. The UT Climate Centre aims to contribute to the three interconnected tracks of KIN, namely:

A national programme of integral climate research,
A climate pact,
A national centre

Visit the Dutch Climate Research Initiative (KIN) website

The UT Climate Centre participates in the foreseen KIN Programme, and we collaborate on developing climate-friendly and climate-resilient societies' system transitions. Our cross-disciplinary approach integrates socio, geo, and techno sciences, incorporates system transition aspects, and promotes living labs, such as the UT FieldLab and FiDETT. Above all, we believe that it is crucial to act swiftly and without delay because climate change demands nothing less.