To combat global warming, we have to stop using fossil fuels. This will have a major impact on both investors in related industries who will have to write off trillions of dollars and developing countries that had hoped to use the fossil fuel industry to drive economic growth. This project looks into the roles of the various different stakeholders and develops tools to help them all move towards climate-resilient change and inclusive development.

We argue that to halt climate change, the 2015 Paris Agreement implicitly requires leaving fossil fuels (FF) underground (LFFU) and coherent financial flows. This implies stranding huge amounts of FF resources and assets (worth $16-300 trillion), affecting big investors: FF firms, shareholders (pension funds/philanthropies), debt financers (aid agencies/development banks) and governments. Research is scarce on big investors, the implications for developing countries with FF resources, and how LFFU can be equitably mobilized.

CLIFF combines institutional analysis and a theory of change for inclusive development (ICID) using a transdisciplinary, comparative case study approach. CLIFF will prepare an Interactive Atlas, and a Stranded Asset Index, co-create equitable policy instruments and assess strategies of agents of change to make such climate policy instruments politically feasible and effective. Rather than ‘Building Back Better’ from the COVID-19 pandemic, CLIFF strives for Catalysing Climate-resilient Change.

Case studies

CLIFF is using a transdisciplinary, comparative case study approach and has identified nine countries/regions within which these financial actors operate. From the industrialized world, CLIFF will examine the EU, UK, US and Canada; from the G77 & China: Brazil, South Africa, India and China; the BASIC countries; and possibly Saudi Arabia. These countries are selected since they are dominant players in financial flows and investments in FF, and have a strong potential blocking or promoting role in LFFU. In addition, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique will be studied as LMICs that are developing themselves as FF producers.

CLIFF is funded by the European Research Council and runs for a period of five years (Nov 2021- Nov 2026).

Know the project team

Principal investigator

Joyeeta Gupta

Postdoc

Global Inventory of FF and Financial Flows
(to be appointed)

PhDs

• Augusto Heras | Focuses on Low- & Middle-Income Countries
• Frank de Morrée | His work relates to Philanthropic Foundations
• (Ja)Nina Herzog-Hawelka | Her research deals with Fossil Fuel Firms
• Moataz Yakan Talaat | His work relates to Debt Financiers
• Clara McDonnell | Her research focuses on Pension Funds

Master Students

Together they work as a team on comparative and integrative research to ensure that the sum of all projects is significantly more than the sum of the individual work of each researcher.

• Inès Boivin, Claire Boogard, Thomas Cordes, Giuliana Gentile, Lynn Haasloop-Werner, Robin Hids, Juliette Linn, Marc Olsen, Vivien Schüßler, Gabriela Zuntová, Quynh Anh Chu, Glenn Dijks, Ben Kapadia, Blanca Reemst, Marika Schmitz, Ellen Snaathorst, Phani Varnava, Elise Granlie, Ingrid Ronglan, Janne Piper.

• BRIDGES M Grant – 30,000 EUR 

Names of affiliated researchers 

• Joyeeta Gupta (Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies – GPIO, UvA) 

• Ursula Daxecker (Department of Political Science, UvA) 

• Andrea Mueller (Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies – GPIO, UvA) 

• Hilmer J. Bosch (Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies – GPIO, UvA)  

Funding organisations 

Research Priority Area (RPA) BRIDGES – Sustainability, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG), University of Amsterdam  

Duration of the project 

• April 2025 – December 2025  

Project description

The project investigates how the principle of “Priority of Use” (PU) is defined and applied in global water allocation, a growing governance challenge as climate change, population growth, and economic development intensify competition for scarce water resources. While many countries formally recognise PU in their water laws, little is known about what uses are prioritised, how these priorities are operationalised, and whether they contribute to just and equitable water distribution. 

The project combines three strands of research: (1) a semi-systematic review of academic and grey literature on PU and water-related conflicts; (2) a conceptual operationalisation of PU using the Earth System Justice framework; and (3) a comparative analysis of water laws in more than 100 countries to map how, and whether, priority of use is embedded in legal frameworks. The results will be translated into a global database and visual maps that enable cross-country learning. 

By integrating perspectives from geography and political science and linking local water demands to global justice concerns, the project contributes to BRIDGES’ aim of fostering interdisciplinary sustainability research and advancing fair and effective water governance. 

• BRIDGES M Grant – 30,000 EUR 

Names of affiliated researchers 

• Shreya Dubey (Amsterdam School of Communication Research – ASCoR, UvA)
• Anna Bosshard (Department of Psychology, UvA)
• Marijn H.C. Meijers (Amsterdam School of Communication Research – ASCoR, UvA)
• Eline S. Smit (Amsterdam School of Communication Research – ASCoR, UvA)
• Edith G. Smit (Amsterdam School of Communication Research – ASCoR, UvA)
• Cameron Brick (Department of Psychology, UvA)
• Frenk van Harreveld (Department of Psychology, UvA)

Duration of the project

• April 2025 - December 2025

Project description

The clothing industry transgresses multiple planetary boundaries, driving climate change, freshwater pollution, and neocolonial labour exploitation. Despite growing calls from policymakers and environmental organisations, behavioural change among consumers remains modest. This project investigates how strategically designed messages can more effectively reduce fashion overconsumption, a question of scientific and societal urgency given that aligning individual consumption with a 1.5°C pathway requires dramatic reductions in clothing purchases.

In two experimental studies combining communication science's expertise in message framing with social psychology's research on values and moral emotions, we test how message design shapes sustainable fashion behaviour. Study 1 uses a podcast to examine whether exposing consumers to fast-fashion demand-creation tactics, such as planned obsolescence, produces stronger moral outrage and behavioural change than conventional environmental messaging. Study 2 applies Schwartz's value framework in a 14-day longitudinal Instagram experiment across four countries (USA, Germany, India, Nigeria), testing whether value-congruent content outperforms fact-based alternatives. Both studies assess outcomes via experimental behavioural tasks.

This directly advances BRIDGES' aim of transdisciplinary sustainability research by combining disciplinary expertise across FMG, addressing dematerialisation, and testing messaging effectiveness across Global North and Global South audiences.

• BRIDGES M Grant – 30,000 EUR 

Affiliated researchers 

• Emily Ragus (Moving Matters, Anthropology Department, UvA)
• Amanda Mokoena (Moving Matters, Anthropology Department, UvA)
• Ashry ‘Gego’ Sallatu (Moving Matters, Anthropology Department, UvA)
• Butet Manurung (Moving Matters, Anthropology Department, UvA)
• Professor Eileen Moyer (Moving Matters, Anthropology Department, UvA)
• Dr Karen Paiva Henrique (Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies – GPIO, UvA)

Funding organisations 

Research Priority Area (RPA) BRIDGES – Sustainability, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG), University of Amsterdam  

Duration of the project

• November 2025

Project description

The project Liquid Entanglements took place in November 2025 in Makassar as a transdisciplinary workshop exploring how water connects colonial histories, present-day inequalities, and climate change across the Global South. Bringing together PhD researchers, artists, and local communities, it examined historical links between Indonesia, South Africa, and the Netherlands shaped by colonial trade, extraction, and environmental transformation. The workshop combined academic research with arts-based methods such as storytelling, photovoice, and film to produce collaborative and situated knowledge.

Through site visits, creative exercises, and community engagement, participants reflected on coastal change, land reclamation, and everyday experiences of water vulnerability. The project highlights how past infrastructures continue to shape current environmental challenges, while emphasizing South–South exchange and the value of diverse knowledge systems. Ultimately, it repositions water as a social, historical, and political force for understanding and responding to environmental change.

• BRIDGES GRANT – 5,000 EUR

Affiliated researchers

• Dr Maien Sachisthal (Social Psychology, Psychology and Communication Science department, UvA)
• Dr Disa Sauter (Social Psychology, Psychology department, UvA)
• Daniel Komáromy (Challenges to Democratic Representation, Political Sciences department, UvA)
• Anna Sach (Social Psychology, Psychology department, UvA)
• Harriët Bergmann (philosopher, activist, writer and researcher, working for movement hub Stroomversnellers; affiliated with Antwerp University)

Funding

• Research Priority Area (RPA) BRIDGES – Sustainability, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG), University of Amsterdam

Project description

Project description
Collective action was an essential driver of the societal changes needed to mitigate climate change (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2023). Research had begun to emerge on how collective action influenced public debate and policy, and how social movements functioned. This work pointed to a central role of emotions, which were linked to collective action at the individual, group, and societal level (Flam, 2005). Emotions like anger and indignation motivated and predicted collective action, and participation in movements could elicit, for example, hope and a feeling of being moved (Van Ness & Summers‐Effler, 2018). Collective action also created emotional reactions in bystanders and influenced politics and public discourse.
In this two-day workshop, we brought together applied and fundamental researchers and societal partners to catalyze thinking on the topic of emotions in the context of collective climate action. Participants focused on the intersections of (a) collective action, (b) climate change and socio-ecological transformations, and (c) emotion and affect. By bringing together researchers and societal partners with complementary expertise, we aimed to facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations on this important topic and to directly link to practitioners who could ensure that these advances would translate into impact. The central questions we aimed to answer were: (1) How could emotion research inform our understanding of collective action and social movements? (2) How could environmental movements increase their impact on societal changes through emotions? We employed multiple formats to ensure knowledge transfer and collaboration, including expert lectures, a public panel discussion, collaborative sessions, and opportunities for networking. 

• BRIDGES GRANT – 5,000 EURO

Affiliated researchers

• Linda van den Heijkant (Organizations and Society, Communication Science department, UvA)
• Christel van Eck (Organizations and Society, Communication Science department, UvA)

Funding

• Research Priority Area (RPA) BRIDGES – Sustainability, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG), University of Amsterdam

• BRIDGES GRANT – 5,000 EURO

Affiliated researchers

• Dr Andreas Schuck (Political Communication & Journalism, Communication Science department, UvA)

Funding

• Research Priority Area (RPA) BRIDGES – Sustainability, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG), University of Amsterdam