Articles

Here we regularly publish articles by scientists affiliated with SR. In these articles, they shed light on climate change and its consequences from their personal expertise.

Climate crisis and political crisis

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Sander Otte My name is Sander Otte, professor of technical physics at Delft University of Technology. My area of expertise is quantum physics. You may not immediately associate quantum physics with the climate problem. However, there is an important connection. Only quantum physics can explain why a carbon dioxide molecule absorbs infrared radiation, while a … Read more

How Shell became deeply entrenched in academia

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Shell’s influence on the energy transition also extends to the lecture hall. The oil giant is helping to shape the language, tone and direction of the energy transition. This is a summary of an article that appeared in the daily newspaper Trouw on 12 December. It was written by Sjors Roeters in collaboration with the … Read more

With citizens at the wheel, heading in the right direction

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Sergej van Middendorp On Monday 1 December, the National Citizens’ Climate Assembly presented its advice to the government. In a comprehensive report, the 175 Dutch citizens who formed the assembly made 23 recommendations in response to the question posed by politicians to the citizens’ assembly: “How can we, as the Netherlands, eat, use goods and … Read more

Make the super-rich pay

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The myth of the ‘self-made millionaire’ conceals a system of privilege and exploitation  Eva de Bock & Anna Sach Welcome to the community of greatness. Be here & be great. At first glance, this bombastic, elitist language seems to come straight from Trumpian political theatre, far removed from the down-to-earth attitude of the Netherlands. Yet these … Read more

The EU and 1.5 °C

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Arthur Oldeman The EU presented new emission targets (90% reduction compared to 1990 by 2040 and between 66% and 72% by 2035) on top of the already established 55% by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050. The EU claims to be committed to the 1.5 °C target in the Paris Agreement. However, a calculation based … Read more

Gender equality is essential for climate justice

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Eva de Bock No country in the world has yet achieved full gender equality. Globally, women earn less than men, are less likely to be in paid employment and have less access to education, land and financial resources. Moreover, the effects of climate change hit women harder, reinforcing existing gender inequalities. At the same time, … Read more

What suffering will humanity prevent during COP30?

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This is republished from the site Covering Climate Now. “Suffering increases with each tenth of a degree of warming.” So says renowned climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, speaking yesterday in an expert panel that CCNow and Sammy Roth of the new newsletter Climate-Colored Goggles convened in response to a widely circulated and much-discussed memo by Bill Gates, in which the … Read more

Planet B

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U.S. environmental policy shifted from historic bipartisan support—embodied by the EPA, Clean Air/Water Acts—to partisan opposition driven by conservative distrust of regulation. Recent rollbacks threaten decades‑long air, water, and climate gains, prompting a call for cross‑ideological cooperation because there truly is no “planet B.” An editorial by R. Kelman Wieder “There is no planet B” in the journal Biogeochemistry reflects on … Read more