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Sustainability at KIT

More than 1,000 people work on our campus. Every day, as many visitors join them. How do we ensure that our own campus becomes an inclusive and sustainable place to work and meet? Read more about our journey in our series of sustainability stories.

Our Sustainability stories

  • KIT nominated for the “Heritage sustainability award”

    • News

    Our building, the largest national monument in Amsterdam, has been nominated for the Heritage Sustainability Award 2023! We have been working on making the monumental building more sustainable since 2015. In March of this year we got rid of the gas boilers. From now on, our building will be heated using underground heat and cold […]

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  • Choosing a sustainable coffee for the KIT offices

    • Institute
    • News

    At KIT we recently had to change our coffee machines. For many people, a morning coffee is the only way to start the day. In 2019 at the KIT offices, around 3,000 kilos of coffee beans were ground every year to meet the coffee needs of all 1,500 people working here: KIT employees, our SDG […]

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  • KIT’s transition towards fossil-free energy

    • News

    The gas has been turned off at KIT, which means the boilers are on their way out. The historic building, which is the largest national monument in Amsterdam, is set to become fossil-free thanks to the installation of an underground thermal storage system (WKO) and heat pumps. On February 14, Linthorst Techniek began constructing the […]

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  • KIT is now fossil-free

    • News

    The Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) has permanently turned off the gas and removed the boilers from the building, making KIT, Amsterdam’s largest national monument, fossil-free. The old gas-fired boilers have been replaced with heat pumps that will use an underground heat and cold storage (WKO) system to heat and cool KIT’s historic building gas-free. The […]

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  • KIT builds one of the largest blue-green roofs of Amsterdam

    • News

    KIT Royal Tropical Institute has built one of the largest blue-green roofs in Amsterdam on her terrain, with help from a subsidy of the municipality of Amsterdam. Because this roof is at ground-level of our terrain it is the most easily accessible blue-green roofs in the city, which makes it easier to show how a […]

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  • KIT takes a big step towards a fossil-free future

    • News

    This week drilling has started for the construction of an underground thermal energy storage (TES) at our premises. With the help of this TES and heat pumps, KIT will be able to heat and cool both the hotel and our historic building, and thus make the largest monument in the city fossil-free!  On the photo: KIT […]

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  • KIT Turns Off the Gas

    • News

    The KIT building, a national monument dating from 1926, is moving away from gas, making it the largest national monument to do so in Amsterdam. In future, underground thermal storage will be used to heat our historic building and our hotel on the KIT campus. Renovation of the Tropen Hotel The reason for our switch […]

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  • KIT to generate and exchange sustainable energy

    • Blog

    Amsterdam wants to be gas-free by 2040. KIT Royal Tropical Institute is one of the pioneers in achieving this ambition. Together with four major parties in Amsterdam East, KIT signed a declaration of intent to jointly generate and exchange sustainable energy. At a later stage, other neighbours can easily join the collective. Sustainability is deeply […]

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  • The Tropentuin

    • Campus
    • News

    Located in our courtyard, the Tropentuin, has been home to a neighbourhood vegetable garden since 2018. There are 20 vegetable garden boxes, a herb garden, a greenhouse, and even a worm hotel. The garden is nurtured by a diverse group of local residents, KIT employees and members of SDG House who built the boxes from […]

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  • KIT offers classrooms to Stichting Studiezalen

    • Campus
    • News

    Beginning this school year, KIT is working together with Stichting Studiezalen to make KIT’s classrooms a new location for Studiezalen in Amsterdam Oost. Studiezalen is an organization that is committed to offering young people in underprivileged neighbourhoods in Amsterdam homework guidance and a space to learn and develop. At KIT, we strongly believe in the […]

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  • KIT and Plantage Amsterdam institutions are working towards Zero waste

    • Campus
    • News

    On Thursday 9 March 2017, Alderman Abdeluheb Choho of the Municipality of Amsterdam and Cathelijne Broers on behalf of Plantage Amsterdam gave the go-ahead for the Zero Waste Expedition Plantage at Het Scheepvaartmuseum. A new initiative of sustainable waste collection and processing, where energy-efficient boats will be used, which will save at least 45 garbage […]

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