Themes Tilburg Sustainability Center

Climate Action, Resource Efficiency and Related Societal Challenges

The inter-disciplinary research of this group combines socioeconomic and legal aspects of climate change mitigation and adaptation, including research on the legal and socio-economic framework for the deployment of geo-engineering technologies. The group also conducts assessments of the effectiveness of energy taxes, energy labels (EPC), EU/ETS (Emissions Trading Systems), as well as economic analyses of policy instruments and international environmental agreements.

Inter-disciplinary analyses of the use of ICT and social media in disaster managements are also part of the research conducted by this group. In this regard, we use data from satellite observation systems as an input in legal processes regarding international environmental law. We also have a small group of researchers focusing on the design, development and evaluation of information systems for environmental emergency response in case of natural disasters, as well as on disaster prevention and early warning systems through global observation systems.

Corporate Social Responsibilty (CSR)

CSR is understood as the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society . Although it is gaining increasing importance with firms and policy-makers, the extent to which CSR contributes to sustainability still remains an open question. The answer to this relies partially on the relationship between CSR and profitability and innovation, as well as on the impact of CSR business policies on sustainability performance. The research within this group focuses mainly on the analysis of the micro and macro impacts of the multifaceted CSR practices related to global and local economic, social and environmental issues.

The group also explores the conceptual and empirical identification of the many causal relationships between CSR activities and impacts. Furthermore, the CSR group studies the investment approach of Sustainable and Responsible Investing (SRI), integrating long-term environmental, social, and governance criteria into mainstream investment.

Governance and Social Innovation

Telos, the regional sustainable development research center has ample experience in the role of extra-economic information (e.g. social, ecological and governance performance) in regional investment and development programs. Telos has been conducting applied research for the last 10 years, mainly in the region. 

For more information, see Telos

TSC has a close cooperation with CentERdata, which specializes in collecting and analyzing data from large panel surveys.