Curious about how sustainability fits into our university's strategic plan, or how much energy and water we consume? Read about it here.

Policy documents

Strategic plan Leiden University

Sustainability is one of the ongoing development themes in our strategic plan 2022 - 2027: Innovating and Connecting.

Sustainability Implementation Agenda

In order to realise our guiding ambitions, the Sustainability Implementation Agenda offers practical tools for making our education, research and operations more sustainable.

Roadmap Energy Transition 

With the Roadmap Energy Transition (in Dutch) guides the energy transition towards CO₂-neutral campuses by 2030.

Reporting and monitoring

Energy Transition Monitor

How much energy does the university consume per building? How much CO₂ do we emit per year? How far have we come in the transition to green energy? The Energy Transition Monitor (in Dutch) provides detailed insight into these and other data.

Sustainability reports

Since 2017, we have been reporting on our sustainability policy in an annual sustainability monitor (in Dutch). We show which ambitions have been realised and which goals we have set ourselves for the (near) future.

External sustainability rankings

From 2025 onwards, Leiden University will no longer actively participate in sustainability rankings because it has opted for an approach that does justice to the complexity of sustainability within the university. External rankings often provide a limited picture and do not always emphasise the aspects that are essential to Leiden University. That is why the university monitors and reports on its progress using its own instruments. This ensures transparency, continuous improvement and alignment with the university's own organisational context, beyond the pursuit of a place in rankings.

Using tools such as the Sustainability Monitor, the Energy Transition Monitor and the LEAF programme, Leiden University closely monitors its progress towards CO₂ neutrality, circularity, climate adaptation and sustainable business practices. In the field of real estate, the university works with specialist certifications such as BREEAM for sustainable building design and the Building Circularity Index (BCI) for circular construction. Together with the municipality of Leiden, it is also developing a certification plan for NL-Greenlabel area development (LBSP), focused on climate adaptation, health and biodiversity.