Leiden University is committed to reducing our water consumption.

Capture the emissions of ships and use it to cultivate algae, which you can then use to make biofuels. This was the idea that won the team from Leiden, led by Public Administration student Hein Laterveer, the Rotterdam100 competition.

In Montreal, the 34th Meeting of Parties on the Montreal Protocol (MOP), dealing with ozone layer damage, just ended. This protocol is ratified by all countries in the world and is very successful. Shiming Yang, a university lecturer and member of the Leiden University Global Transformations and Government…

Crises like climate change and loss of biodiversity threaten our planet. That’s why sustainability is an important topic in research and education across Leiden University. On this website you read how scientists from many disciplines work together in researching sustainability.

Promotor: S.M. Verduyn Lunel, Co-promotor: O. van Gaans

Promotores: Prof.dr.G.R. de Snoo and Dr. R. Heijungs

Andrew Littlejohn published the article 'Ruins for the future: Critical allegory and disaster governance in post-tsunami Japan' in American Ethnologist about the ruins left by Japan's 2011 tsunami.

There is an increasing amount of attention on EU and its Member States contributions to implementation of two landmark agreements: the Paris Climate Agreement and the UN Agenda 2030 with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Absent from the current literature is an analysis of the political effect of…

Promotores: G.R. de Snoo, W.T. de Groot, Co-promotor: C.J.M. Musters

What is the influence of non-hereditary factors on our health, such as lifestyle, diet and exposure to harmful substances? The Exposome-Scan project, led by Leiden professor Thomas Hankemeier, has been awarded 3.2 million euros from the NWO Investment Grant Large programme to answer this question. With…

Europe can only maintain its level of consumption by structurally relying on resources extracted abroad. This finding was published in the September issue of the prestigious journal Global Environmental Change, in a paper that was co-written by scientists at Leiden University.

What is the environmental impact of different waste collection systems across Europe? How can the collection be improved when considering collection, sorting, and treatment, as well as use options for secondary materials?

Freshwater is an important resource, but at a great risk of species decline due to habitat loss, pollution and over-exploitation, and invasive alien species.

The Night of Discoveries is an annual event in Leiden, focusing on science and culture. The Young Academy Leiden is a recurring contributor to the Night of Discoveries.

Promotor: C.U. Keller, Co-Promotor: F. Snik

This pilot project will initiate research on how heritage has been and can be mobilized to address climate change governance in Himalayan Asia. Climate adaptation strategies frequently include the sourcing of heritage, encompassing landscapes, built environments 4 and cultural practices. However, effective…

Eine Archäobotanische untersuchung zu Umwelt und Landwirtschaft der Ältesten Bankkeramik.

What are the key issues in conducting LCA of bioenergy systems? What is the environmental sustainability status of second generation bioethanol? How much would the final results of biogenic carbon neutrality assumptions deviate from the true values based on a complete inventory? How to assess the impact…

Lecture

Overview of all dissertations published by PhD candidates from CML.

The coronavirus pandemic has had us working and studying at home, and this has had a positive effect on Leiden University’s sustainability results. This is apparent from the university’s new Sustainability Report 2020. The report also shows that nearly all the targets from the Environmental Policy Plan…

Indonesia is experiencing various environmental challenges related to its fast economic growth. Therefore, it is necessary to have measurable and applicable indicators to obtain accurate data and information regarding the costs of adverse environmental impacts arising from economic activities to support…

The walls of Paul van der Velde’s study at the International Institute for Asian Studies are full of neat rows of post-it notes. As organiser in chief, he is right in the middle of the upcoming ICAS 11, the 11th International Convention of Asia Scholars, which is returning to where it was first held…

Inaugural lecture

What are the global relationships between environmental conditions and abundance of distinct types of mycorrhizal fungi in soil and plant roots?

Accumulation of metals in economy and environment and its associated risks, within the Netherlands and the EU.

Decarbonizing the building stock is critical for realizing the climate-neutral target for the Netherlands.

Education in Environmental Biology

The Advisory Board is an external Advisory Council, to advice the Board of Directors of CML about general strategies, research and education activities and evaluation procedures (Dutch: visitatie).

Contact the department of Environmental Biology

The Institute of Environmental Sciences, also known as CML, is an institute of the Faculty of Science of Leiden University. CML is the abbreviation for the name of our institute in Dutch 'Centrum voor Milieuwetenschappen in Leiden'.  The main area of work is research and education in the multidisciplinary…

In 2018, the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), born out of activism, exists for forty years. The institute celebrated this on 28 June in the Stadsgehoorzaal in Leiden. In the morning, proud directors and researchers looked back and forth. After this several experts discussed the current environmental…

Development of indicators to assess decoupling of economic development and environmental pressure in the EU-25 and AC-3 countries.

Leiden University offers its students a wide range of bachelor's, master's and minors that explore sustainability or climate. Here, you find an overview of those programmes in the academic year 2020-2021.

In the Governance of Sustainability programme students will learn to become a future ‘change agents’ who can develop and inform governance solutions to complex environmental sustainability challenges.

To be eligible for Governance and Sustainability at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

Promotor: Prof. dr. Arnold Tukker & Prof. dr. René Kemp (Maastricht University)

Overview of CML publications

The development of new environmentally sound technologies is seen as a key route towards achieving sustainability.