News
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Higher CO2 levels are making our food more calorific and less nutritiousFood crops 14 November 2025More CO2 in the atmosphere is making food crops more calorific, less nutritious and potentially more toxic. If we do not intervene, this could cause m...
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International collaboration on environmental research with appointment Arnold Tukker at Nanjing UniversitySPECIAL APPOINTMENT 11 November 2025Arnold Tukker has been appointed as distinguished visiting professor at Nanjing University, one of China’s top research universities. ‘I am delighted ...
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René Kleijn joins UN panel on resource use30 June 2025How can we manage our natural resources more sustainably? That’s the key question behind the United Nations’ International Resource Panel (IRP). The p...
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Sterre won an award for her research on how CO₂ is changing our foodThesis prize 12 June 2025Sterre ter Haar has won the Rachel Carson Graduation Prize for her thesis on how rising levels of CO₂ affect the nutrient content of plants. For the I...
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In search of an alternative to GDP that actually measures happiness and well-beingChangemakers 13 May 2025How do you really measure how a country is doing? Researcher Annegeke Jansen is looking for alternatives to gross domestic product (GDP) to assess the...
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Lianas are taking over the rainforests – and it’s visible from space06 May 2025A pandemic of lianas is sweeping through tropical forests, reducing their ability to store carbon and limiting their role in mitigating climate change...
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Emissions from pharmaceutical consumption almost doubled in 24 years20 March 2025Greenhouse gas emissions related to pharmaceutical consumption increased by 77 percent over the past 24 years, according to a Leiden University study ...
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How to choose the optimal location for wind turbines in the North Sea21 January 2025In the next decades, thousands of wind turbines will be added to the North Sea. Environmental scientist Chen Li identified the most beneficial areas f...
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Producing ammonia with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions: this novel solution shows it’s possible16 December 2024Using biomethane to produce ammonia, a crucial chemical in agriculture, could drastically reduce the climate impact of the process. In a study publish...
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Car sharing and second-hand phones not as green as they seem, research shows14 October 2024Not all sustainable business models have the impact they claim, Leiden researcher Levon Amatuni revealed. Car sharing and phone reuse, for example, ha...
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Poor countries recycle far more of our plastic than we thought. But it's not enough.02 October 2024Countries that import plastic waste recycle an average of at least 63 percent of it. This is surprising, as we previously believed that the vast major...
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Circularity not yet a priority in energy transition and construction03 September 2024Are we on the right track towards a circular economy in 2050, with fully renewable energy technology and circular construction? The CML of Leiden Univ...
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From growth to well-being: EU should look beyond the economy25 July 2024Economic growth and competitiveness should not be the sole focus of European policy. In a paper, researchers suggest how the next European Commission ...
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Pavement gardens are crucial to urban biodiversity15 July 2024They are often little more than a square metre of plants, yet pavement gardens are a source of life. PhD candidate Joeri Morpurgo conducted research i...
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‘Transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborations lead to better scholarship and solutions’20 June 2024How can you persuade researchers who are used to conducting research within clearly defined disciplines to adopt an interdisciplinary approach? Newly ...