Leiden University is very aware of its role in society. Good scientific research and teaching are crucial for a safe, healthy, sustainable, prosperous and just world; this is one of the premises of the University's 2015-2020 Strategic Plan 'Freedom to Excel'. You can read in this dossier about how…

The Sustainability Research Cluster fosters dialogue and collaboration among anthropologists and sociologists researching aspects of socio-cultural, ecological, and economic sustainability in and affiliated with the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. It also seeks to stimulate…

Environmental Humanities in the New Himalayas: Symbiotic Indigeneity, Commoning, Sustainability showcases how the eco-geological creativity of the earth is integrally woven into the landforms, cultures, and cosmovisions of modern Himalayan communities.

Presence of LUGO

What role should the university play in the climate crisis?

KOG, PDLC and Lipsius will soon be welcoming vegetarian cafés

How did Leiden University score in terms of sustainability this year?

Vegetarian cafés/ Vegetarische cafés

The LUGO team is searching for 3 enthusiastic new team members to join us in August 2020. Will you be one of them?

How is sustainability an important part of our physical and mental health at Leiden University?

Leiden University takes its place at the heart of society seriously, and the university is committed to helping build a sustainable society. Making buildings more sustainable contributes to achieving Dutch and European environmental standards. Leiden University takes this into account in all its building…

Leiden University is a integral part of the community and contributes to a sustainable society. Over the coming years our University will become even greener.

The Leiden University Sustainability Network is the platform for Leiden University staff to combine their efforts and support each other in making our university more sustainable.

During the development of the Humanities Campus, many aspects of sustainability are combined. For example:

Just as in phase 1, phase 2 of the Gorlaeus Building will focus on sustainable building.

The moment is there: LUGO can finally announce the winner of the Sustainability Award 2020!

The moment is there: LUGO can finally announce the winner of the Sustainability Award 2020!

Twenty years from now, the world population is estimated to be around 8.7 billion people, compared to the current 7.3 billion. In combination with the improvements in living standards and the corresponding growth in consumption, this will result in an enormous increase in the demand for food, consumables,…

Several buildings need to be demolished to make way for phase 2.

Knowing how to resolve global problems is one thing, but how do you make sure that it actually happens? That’s the real challenge, because there are powerful movements everywhere that want to reconstruct the walls of nation states. In an attempt to resolve this issue, Leiden researchers are experimenting…

How can we organise society so as to keep our planet habitable for us and for all other life forms around us? To answer this question, Leiden researchers collaborate across disciplines, from biology to data science, and from environmental economy to archaeology.

Students are the future. In the long-term, teaching our students about sustainability could potentially have an even greater impact than making the University’s operations more sustainable.

Check this page regularly for more information about incorporating sustainability within the education of Leiden University.

The master’s specialisation Biodiversity and Sustainability at Leiden University provides students with a much better understanding of the biological processes which are essential for creating a sustainable society.

In the Governance of Sustainability programme you learn to become a future ‘change maker’ who is able to develop governance solutions to major and complex environmental sustainability challenges.

Watch the Sustainable Career Event back!

Leiden University enables students to play a role in the sustainability challenges of the coming decades. Good scientific research and education are crucial for a safe, healthy, sustainable, prosperous and just world. In Leiden students are being taught the knowledge and skills that are important for…

How to get involved in sustainability? Read more about four projects that Leiden University helped realise in the past few years.

Research carried out at Leiden University contributes to our knowledge of sustainability. This is essential if we want to work together to find solutions to pressing issues, such as the current climate emergency and the shortage of raw materials.

Are you in the final stage of your bachelor or master program? And do you want to research a topic that has to do with sustainability? Then, this document is the right one for you. In this document, several sustainability related topics from a variety of studies is coming together which can give you…

Leiden University works on sustainabilty in three particular areas: business operations, teaching and research. We also communicate on this issue with students, staff and external partners to explain what we are doing and to promote awareness of sustainability.

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 be educated to be a future ‘broker’ or ‘change maker’ to improve the quality of governance solutions to major sustainability challenges. This programme is offered in The Hague, in collaboration with the Faculty of Governance and global affa…

Take a view on the slides of the presentation and read what the event of Sustainable Travel was about.

This interdisciplinary minor addresses sustainabilty challenges from a systems perspective, and investigates ways to sustain society within planetary boundaries.

Exploring linkages between energy and material use and implications for sustainable development.

Institute of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Leiden University

Marc Koper’s research focuses on electrocatalysis and electrochemical surface science for sustainable energy and chemistry. Reactions of interest are the redox reactions of the oxygen/hydrogen cycle (water oxidation, hydrogen evolution), the carbon cycle (reduction of carbon dioxide, oxidation of small…

Conservation of biodiversity is one of the main challenges today. A higher degree of biodiversity results in ecosystems that can withstand adverse conditions and better provide essential ecosystem services. This is the case for both agricultural and natural systems.

Making public space more sustainable is considered very important in this project. The Humanities Campus will become a pleasant place to spend time, with lots of greenery. Here, people can relax and find coolness on hot summer days.

We would like to present to you a simple guidebook about living a sustainable life as a student in the cities of Leiden and The Hague. Whether you are a first-year student still trying to find your way around or already doing your masters – students wanting to explore more sustainable options and save…

During the development of the Humanities Campus, as many 'green choices' as possibile are being made. This concerns the buildings as well as the surrounding area. Making the campus more sustainable is measured using the BREAAM.NL method.

More than 30 members of Programme Committees, Faculty Councils and the University Council met online on 27 November with a mission: how can university co-participation work towards a more sustainable university in terms of education, research, and operations? The Leiden University Green Office and the…

The relationship between States and foreign corporations are regulated by international economic law and international investment law in particular. Any disputes between States and foreign corporations must therefore also be solved by reference to this body of public international law, for example when…

If mankind wants to survive into the 22nd century, we will need to change the way we live drastically. The human impact on our planet is everywhere, we are changing the atmosphere, the oceans and the land, leading to global warming, climate change, loss of biodiversity and pervasive pollution. There…

Twenty years from now, the world population is estimated to be around 9 billion people (now 7.8 billion). In combination with the improvements in living standards and the corresponding growth in consumption, this will result in an enormous increase in the demand for food, consumables, water and energy.…

Creating a framework to assess the sustainability of fish farms which will set sustainability standards and give consumers information about the the sustainability and safety of their seafood.

Central in coordination and organometallic chemistry is the synthesis of new chelating ligands, the synthesis and characterization of metal complexes with these ligands, and the study of their properties. An important goal in my research is to create understanding of the relation between the structures…

In-use stocks of products can be considered as intermediaries between human needs and the physical world.

Latest since Rutger Bregman’s “Utopia for Realists”, Universal Basic Income (UBI) has caught public attention again as a possible solution for many societal issues. Watch the event back via the video below.