In 2025, KU Leuven will elect a new rector. He or she represents the university and is appointed for a four-year term. In the decisive years leading up to 2030, the policy plans outlined by the next rector will therefore play an equally crucial role in shaping the path that our city takes toward climate neutrality. Leuven 2030 wrote an open letter to all three rector candidates, urging them to include climate as a key priority in their policy plans - foto © Jan Crab

You can read the full open letter here:

Dear rector candidate,

Choosing a climate-neutral Leuven is choosing the best future we can build together. This includes: more greenery and less flooding, healthier indoor and outdoor spaces, more future-proof jobs, greater energy and material independence, a more just society and a stronger local democracy

For over a decade, Leuven 2030 tackles this challenge head-on, together with our many partners. KU Leuven has been at the forefront of this challenge from the very beginning: the university is a founding member of Leuven 2030, consistently shares its knowledge and research capabilities through the Leuven 2030 Urban Lab and has helped shape our Roadmap 2025-2035-2050, not to mention more recently: the Leuven Climate City Contract, developed as part of the EU Mission for Climate-neutral and Smart Cities.

Since 2023, the Leuven Climate City Contract serves as a guiding framework for accelerated climate action in Leuven. This plan, based on a thorough, science-based analysis, puts forward more than 80 projects carrying the potential to break through persistent barriers and clear the path to citywide climate neutrality. Over 30 stakeholders, among which the KU Leuven, have committed to this contract in a major innovation program that brings together divers perspectives, profiles and areas of expertise.

KU Leuven is uniquely positioned to help steer a number of the projects included in the Leuven Climate City Contract towards implementation. As an educational and research institution, KU Leuven possesses and develops a wealth of knowledge in both technical and social systems, that can be capitalized on to accelerate the local transition. In addition, KU Leuven manages significant portions of Leuvens territory, both buildings and land, providing ample opportunities for direct impact.

By fully embracing its dual role as both a knowledge institution and a property manager, KU Leuven can deliver a significant contribution to the mission that united more than 400 members of Leuven 2030: an accelerated climate neutral future for our city.

In light of this reality, we warmly invite you to reflect on the following key priorities and to articulate how they align with your vision and your strategic plan for your possible mandate as rector.

KEY PRIORITY 1 – DE-SEALING AND GREENING

The impact of climate change affects the city of Leuven and will increasingly continue to do so . To protect everyone who lives, works and studies in our city against heat stress and flooding, we need to focus on de-sealing and greening. Greenery provides cooling, and unpaved areas allow water to seep into the soil, which protects us against both extremely wet and extremely dry periods.

The land owned by KU Leuven plays a key role in addressing this challenge. KU Leuven grants full public access to all of its sites in the inner city and in Heverlee, such as, for example, the Arenberg Park, the residential courtyard Groot Begijnhof, the garden of the Van Dale college right up to the Schapenstraat, and several public passages. In addition, there is potential to provide green space access to 15,200 residents - i.e., 15% of the population - within 300 meters of their homes. Today, only a fraction of this potential - 2,500 residents - have access. (These figures are based on an analysis performed by the department Forest, Nature and Landscape of the KU Leuven.)

In addition, KU Leuven plays a key role in local water management. During the floods in the summer of 2021,  campus Arenberg III in Heverlee only nearly escaped flooding to protect the inner city. A strategic and well coordinated management of this area is essential to ensure effective action against future floodings.

Question - Is the KU Leuven, under your rectorship, willing to:

- Swiftly develop, in accordance with the already-made commitments, a strategy that is based on the inventory of all paved surfaces, to continue the process of de-paving sealed surfaces on the sites of the KU Leuven, and to include within this strategy concrete de-sealing targets for 2030?

- Free up capacity and resources to implement de-sealing projects and monitor the impact of these projects?

- Establish structural collaboration and knowledge exchange with the city of Leuven, Leuven 2030 and other key stakeholders of the De-Pavement & Urban Greening Taskforce?

KEY PRIORITY 2 – RENOVATION AND SUSTAINABLE HEATING

The sustainable renovation of buildings is a crucial element in the effort to achieve climate neutrality. If we succeed in renovating and sustainably heating residential and tertiary buildings in Leuven, we could save an estimated 190,000 tons of CO₂ emissions, which is about 50% of the required emission reductions. The buildings of KU Leuven account for a substantial share of emissions – approximately 30,000 tons. The university is already taking significant action to cut these emissions. Its energy management plan 2022-2027 sets the course to achieve a 28% reduction by 2027 (compared to 2016). The Leuven Climate City Contract however offers an opportunity to step up the pace and explore additional efforts to enable more far-reaching emission reductions.

Question - Is the KU Leuven, under your rectorship, willing to:

- Make the current energy management plan (2022-2027) more stringent and anchor ambitious reduction targets for 2030 in the new plan?

- Cooperate with the city of Leuven to develop a broadly supported green heating program focused on the deployment of a collective green heating system, and to maximize the chances of successful implementation of the projects included in this program, such as the development of the Redingen site?

KEY RIORITY 3: CIRCULAR CONSTRUCTION AND RENOVATION

Emissions are also associated with the use of building materials. These emissions are classified as ‘Scope 3’. These so-called ‘downstream’ emissions are generated beyond the territory of Leuven but are caused by and attributable to our community. Building materials are the main source of emissions within the Scope 3 category. Even more striking: they account for as many emissions as Scope 1 (direct emissions generated directly within the territory) and Scope 2 (indirect emissions associated with the purchase of energy) combined.

We can reduce this negative impact by increasingly focusing on the recovery, reuse, and reusability of building material. This can, for instance, be achieved through urban mining, which involves the selective demolition of buildings to recover as many valuable materials as possible and assign them a new use. The potential is huge: Leuven produces around 196,000 tons of construction and demolition waste each year. On this front of the transition, KU Leuven, as the owner of a significant building stock, emerges as a key actor that can help Leuven become a circular city. To realize its ambitions regarding circular construction, the university participates in various projects and cooperates with the non-profit organization ‘Wonen en Werken’ and the ‘Materialenbank Atelier Circuler’ (Materials bank). In coordination with all the partners involved, we aim to identify the opportunities for scaling up the efforts.

Question - Is the KU Leuven, under your rectorship, willing to:

- Take proactive steps to seize the vast opportunities offered by urban mining and use them in its buildings?

- More firmly anchor the use of circular building materials and dry construction techniques in its procurement policy?

- Continue investing in applied research that helps to set up a unique and large-scale Urban Resource Center for Leuven and the surrounding area?

KEY PRIORITY 4: INVESTMENTS

A successful transition to a climate-neutral Leuven requires large-scale investments. For the implementation of the projects included in the Leuven Climate City Contract, an investment of approximately 1 billion will be needed. Since these projects together represent only 10 to 20 percent of the overall challenge, we will ultimately need to mobilize several times this amount. In order to attract investment at this scale, Leuven 2030 is setting up a climate fund, a vehicle that blends different types of capital—such as patient capital, venture capital, and guarantee capital—and channels them into various types of projects. We believe that this fund, which goes beyond conventional one-to-one financing— can serve as a crucial accelerator.

Question - Is the KU Leuven, under your rectorship, willing to:

- Invest in this Climate Fund, together with a broad community of other investors, while taking into account that it will offer a more modest return than traditional financial institutions, but enables significantly more societal impact?

In our joint mission to make Leuven climate-neutral, KU Leuven occupies a unique and central position. Since the very beginning of Leuven 2030, we have counted the university among our most committed partners, and again and again we have witnessed the strength of this close collaboration. In the coming and crucial years that will shape the future ahead, we are eager to continue on this path. We present the above key priorities as guiding principles and opportunities to take collective steps forward.

We thank you in advance for joining us in taking on this challenge We wish you a productive and dynamic campaign, and we look forward to working together.

Signed:

Katrien Rycken - Director Leuven 2030

Anne Van Oudenhove - President Leuven 2030 and Director Private Banking KBC Bank & Insurances

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