Over the past century, the world population has grown exponentially, as has our need for energy and raw materials. If we wish to continue to live prosperously in the future, we have to radically restructure our economy and consumption. Scientific research shows us how to do this.

Over 2,700 cars on the Fremantle Highway that caught fire on 26 July have been so badly damaged that they cannot be sold. Can we recycle these cars?

Both within the university and also with outside partners, Leiden University participates in sustainability programmes. These initiatives hopefully contribute to a growing and more robust sustainability movement, locally and world wide.

Carbon dioxide capture and utilization technologies are necessary to create a truly circular economy. The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to formate is an appealing carbon utilization method as it can be performed at room temperature and pressure, it only requires two electrons, and it has…

Do you want to be an intermediary between the scientific experts, policy makers and politicians in the domain of sustainability? Are you keen on contributing to the development of governance solutions needed to work towards a sustainable society and contribute to the implementation of these solutions?…

The Leiden Advocacy Project on Plastic (LAPP) is a pro bono initiative concerning legal questions on plastics and is founded to address and research the legal issues related to plastic pollution.

Do you want to be an intermediary between the scientific experts, policy makers and politicians in the domain of sustainability? Are you keen on contributing to the development of governance solutions needed to work towards a sustainable society and contribute to the implementation of these solutions?…

Corporate R&D organizations and their relation to academic laboratories.

On 29 June May 2022 Yujing Tan successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

A complete transformation of the steel cycle in the Netherlands with the ultimate goal of a CO2 neutral steel sector by 2050. For this purpose, the Growing with Green Steel program receives €100 million from the National Growth Fund. From Leiden, Professor of Industrial Ecology René Kleijn is involv…

To be eligible for Industrial Ecology at Leiden University and Delft University of Technology, you must meet the following admission requirements.

The circular economy is typically seen as the progressive alternative to our wasteful linear economy, where raw materials are used to make the products that feed today’s rampant consumerist hunger, which are then thrown away. In a fascinating article, archaeologist Maikel Kuijpers reflects on the recycling…

The Master Honours Classes & Challenges are part of Leiden’s honours education for master’s students. While the Honours Academy is responsible for the practical organisation, the education is coordinated by teachers of all faculties.

Are you interested in taking up an extra challenge during your master’s programme? Have a look at our variety of opportunities.

Irna Hofman defended her thesis on 10 January 2019.

Your time at Leiden and Delft is about more than just studying. Some of your best experiences will stem from being a part of our lively and diverse student community, as well as from life in these beautiful cities.

Jaroslaw Kantorowicz and Rok Spruk examine the contribution of institutional reforms to economic growth.

The World of the Fullo takes a detailed look at the fullers, craftsmen who dealt with high-quality garments, of Roman Italy. Analyzing the social and economic worlds in which the fullers lived and worked, it tells the story of their economic circumstances, the way they organized their workshops, the…

On 15 February 2022, Morshed Mannan defended the thesis 'The Emergence of Democratic Firms in the Platform Economy: Drivers, Obstacles, and the Path Ahead'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. I.S. Wuisman and Prof. J.A.A. Adriaanse.

As Bolivia reels from the collapse of the government in November 2019, a wave of social protests, and now the impact of Covid-19, this book asks: where next for Bolivia?

Here you can find an overview of the offered courses provided by the Department of Economics per study program.

As one of the first environmental scientists ever, Arnold Tukker received the honorary doctorate at Linköping University on Saturday 12 November. This Swedish university awarded Tukker for his scientific work to establish a circular economy.

How do different communities of residents in The Hague perceive and manage food waste in relation to citizenship (rights and responsibilities)?

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

How can we maximize human wellbeing while keeping resource use and emissions of the economic system within planetary limits? The institute of Environmental Sciences aspires to be a global leader in this field. Our staff wants to create impact. We work on future solutions and educate change-makers.

The programme is structured along learning lines on environmental sustainability, governance and skills.

The renovation of Cluster Zuid (Van Eyckhof-Van Wijkplaats) is the third project in the development of the Humanities Campus. The circular dismantling of Cluster Zuid has started.

A wide range of metals need to be mined for solar panels, wind turbines and batteries. But the overall mining activity is set to decrease as clean energy replaces fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas.

Door het coronavirus is een groot deel van de economie stilgevallen. De regering heeft sommige activiteiten verboden, veel bedrijven hebben vrijwillig op de pauzeknop geduwd. Wie bepaalt wanneer we weer terugschakelen naar 'normaal' en hoe zou dat proces moeten verlopen?

This was the question Leiden researchers from the Institute of Environmental Sciences CML posed in an article published last week in the journal Resources, Conservation, Recycling

Where and how are critical materials currently used and how can this information be used to develop scenarios about their future demand.

The transition to new and renewable energy sources should be completed by 2050. Researchers in various disciplines at Leiden University are conducting unique research that will help us make this transition and reduce CO2 emissions.

Governance of Sustainability is a two-year programme, worth 120 European Credit Transfer System points (ECTS).

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…

Roll your sustainable sleeves! Our students and staff have found various ways to do just that, both at home and at our university.

CML’s education programme aims at training (under)graduate and graduate students for integrated and multidisciplinary sustainability research and for better decision making in managing the world’s natural resources, environmental quality and biodiversity.

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

Raw materials should no longer be excavated from mines, but reused from sources that are already present, such as unused underground electricity cables and discarded ships. At least, that is necessary for a circular economy. A new report explores where these resources are located and how we can use…

On 22 April 2022, Jan Aart Scholte presented his research to the Leiden Political Economy Group (L-PEG) and to GTGC's thematic area on Economy during a research seminar. The title of the presentation was 'Inequality and Legitimacy in Global Governance'.

On 8 April 2022, researchers of the seed grant project on 'How to Finance Climate Change Policies' presented their work to the Leiden Political Economy Group (L-PEG) and GTGC's Economy and Ecology thematic areas during a research seminar. The title of the presentation was 'How to Finance Green Investments?…

This paper sheds light on how better monetary-fiscal coordination can be expected to play out across very different political-economic contexts.

The aim of the project is to contribute to the process of archive formation ongoing in Post-Apartheid South Africa through the inclusion of photographs that have been either unacknowledged or excised from the national canon.

On January 31, 2018 the Data Economy Conference will take place in Budapest. The conference is organized by IVSZ within the EuDEco project. It’s going to be an interesting event with many knowledgeable speakers.

Dutch greenhouse horticulture is a world leader when it comes to innovative capacity and sustainability, but ‘the challenges are great in terms of energy, water, environment and biodiversity,’ says Peter van Bodegom, coordinator of AgriFood at the Centre for Sustainability of the Leiden, Delft, Erasmus…