Into the Great Wide Open (ITGWO) is one of the most sustainable music festival in Europe. For one, they are the first in the world to replace all of their equipment with electrified versions. And even better; they have decided to clean up all their residual emissions with natural carbon removal. With Climate Cleanup they developed a Climate Transition Framework to organise this and communicate transparantly.
Financial newspaper FD came along and published a two-page report. Climate Cleanup partnered with the festival to remove their residual emissions, as well as creating a seven step framework for how to implement this into the organisation. We think this may be useful for perhaps all organisations who want to transition from fossil to regenerative. Please reach out (act@climatecleanup.org or by replying to this e-mail) if you want to know more.
SMARTCircular student challenge
The SMARTCirculair Challenge for civil engineering students yielded great results, Climate Cleanup joined again as jury members. We congratulate the winning team from Technova with their scalable plan to build on top of an apartment building in Ede. Want to see the future of bio-based construction? See video report!
Transition fun in times of chaos
Construction Stored Carbon update by Sacha Brons
Working on transitions can be tough. Especially in sectors like the construction industry where change is slow and male energy dominates. However, there are some initiatives that show us that valuable bottom-up initiatives and movements are aplenty, and that working on transitions can be fun! Our Head of Construction Stored Carbon, Sacha Brons, reflects on our contributions to the Gideon Festival on September 4th and Carbon Stories on September 11th:
“Gideon Building Transition Tribes is a bottom-up movement, organised in tribes, that aims to accelerate the material, energy and social transition of the construction sector. Their yearly Gideon Festival is a celebration of the movement, the challenges ahead and emerging innovative solutions. With fierce discussions, fiery dance and literal fire, the festival exemplified the new culture in the building sector. I had the opportunity to hold a workshop on the Value of Carbon Storage, using my best metaphors and drawing skills to show how carbon certification will revolutionise the built environment, following European legislation.
Carbon Stories is a series by Group A architects, Keilecollectief and the International Architectural Biennale Rotterdam. This edition of the lecture and debate series was titled “Transition! From theory to practice” and consisted of a dialogue between transition veteran Jan Rotmans and young pioneers Sam van Hooff, Margot Holländer and me. Again, I had the opportunity to share our vision on the Value of Carbon and how that will shape the transition of the built environment.”
What’s on the agenda for Construction Stored Carbon?
- EU workshop September 24th (we will contribute to the afternoon program)
- EU CRCF Expert Group October 21st to 23rd (we will be there on October 23rd during the specific session on Construction Stored Carbon)
- Save the date: Carbon Stories, The Value of Carbon – November 27th. We will contribute
Lieke and Huub join as interns
Hi! I’m Lieke van Zon, a master’s student in Climate Studies at Wageningen University. What drew me to Climate Cleanup is the dynamic environment, the friendly, close-knit team, and the variety of exciting projects. During my internship, I’ll focus on developing a metric for Rock Stored Carbon – using my background in interdisciplinary climate sciences, which even includes a little ‘grain’ of earth sciences. I’m excited to apply my academic knowledge to real-world solutions and contribute to the mission of doubling nature!
I am Huub Visser, a student of Climate Adaptation and International Relations at the University of Groningen. I am eager to intern at Climate Cleanup because I find it fascinating to see how we can use nature as an innovative solution for climate change. I am motivated to contribute to these solutions and to the restoration of nature. During my studies, I have come to understand the importance of international cooperation for effective climate action. That’s why I am looking forward to working on promising Carbon Removal projects, both on land and at sea, at an international level during my internship.
ONCRA welcomes miscanthus Carbon Farmers
Miscanthus giganteus, better known as elephant grass, is a perennial reed-like crop that grows incredibly fast, has the energy value of coal, requires hardly any weed control or irrigation, and stores carbon in the soil. It is a great alternative to crops that need yearly ploughing and fertiliser, so it dramatically lowers emissions and stores carbon in stems, roots and soil.
Carbon Farmers is a collective of Dutch farmers who are working on making their farms more sustainable. Several Dutch farmers have planted miscanthus and eleven now have been certified by ONCRA, with 40 hectares of miscanthus being planted in 2022 and 2023. Climate Cleanup’s Hajna Tijssen with Carbon Farmer’s Lars Hillewaere analysed and organised the certification process. Find the project description and certification documents here. And watch, among others, our good friend Marcel van de Peppel explain.
Bart van Beuzekom at BNR
New open Climate Landscape Tool developed
As part of our endeavours with Province of Gelderland to coordinate carbon removal policies across Europe, we’ve developed an open Climate Landscape Calculation Tool. It provides a quick in sight in how adding the value of carbon storage creates new businesscases to provide alternative business models for farmers and land owners. Play and plan the future! As this tool is opensource, please let us know if you want to collaborate and improve. https://climatecleanup.org/landscape-tool/
Sibella analysed climate policies
Hi everyone! My name is Sibella Brussen, and I’m currently pursuing a double-degree Master in International and European Public Policy and Politics at Bocconi University and the London School of Economics. Over the summer, I had the opportunity to intern at Climate Cleanup, where I focused on public policy analysis.
During my internship, I worked on European policy and on analysing the Provincial Regional Programmes (Provinciaal Programma Landelijk Gebied – PPLG), which aim to enhance biodiversity, reduce nitrogen levels, and address issues related to water, soil, and climate at the provincial level. I reviewed and analysed the programmes from all 12 provinces, compiling a comprehensive overview that compares the measures across key themes – nature (nitrogen), water, agriculture, and climate. This tool offers policymakers and stakeholders a quick and clear comparison of the different approaches each province is taking and highlights where their priorities lie. Please find the raw research data here (work in progress).
I had the pleasure of presenting my findings to several policy makers, and I hope that this work contributes to fostering greater collaboration and alignment across provinces. Please reach out if you want to use the results.
