Due to climate change, urban heat stress is becoming an increasing problem, affecting mostly vulnerable populations. Tenants of social housing are particularly vulnerable to the effects of extreme heat, due to inadequate social housing conditions and limited financial resources for cooling interventions. However, due to limited financial resources, housing corporations struggle to implement heat stress mitigation measures into their existing building stock. Therefore, this thesis examines how heat stress mitigation measures for the existing social housing stock can be both socially and financially viable. The formulated research question of this thesis is: What are the long-term costs and benefits of mitigating heat stress in the existing social housing stock?
To answer this research question, a mixed method approach was adopted, in which the first part of the research encompassed a literature review, followed by an empirical case study on Rotterdam. The findings of the research reveal that if indoor heat stress in social housing remains unaddressed, it poses significant risks to the health, energy and financial sectors. Health impacts, such as heat-related mortality and hospitalizations, emerged as the most severe impact, both in human and economic terms. The climate risk assessment indicated that under the high climate scenario, the risk of heat stress in Rotterdam rises significantly. Furthermore, the areas identified as most vulnerable to heat stress socially and (bio)physically are Delfshaven, the Oude Noorden, and the upper south of Rotterdam. In terms of mitigation strategies, the research concluded that passive measures such as shading and natural ventilation are the most effective way to reduce indoor heat stress. Lastly, the societal cost-benefit analysis demonstrated that, under both low and high climate scenarios, the benefits of mitigation outweigh the implementation costs. However, these benefits are unevenly distributed. While housing corporations bear the costs, the benefits accrue to the health, energy, and financial sector. This creates a split incentive that challenges implementation. In conclusion, reducing heat stress in social housing is both societally and economically beneficial. However, while the societal advantages are evident, practical feasibility requires stronger financial support.

Purpose - This thesis explores how financial market participants (FMPs) in hotel capital markets experience the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). It aims to identify how ESG disclosures influence investment decision-making and to assess where regulatory intent diverges from practical implementation.

Methodology - Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 FMPs, representing 6 stakeholder types active in European hotel capital markets, between March and April 2025.

Findings - Investors and lenders prioritize ESG indicators such as energy performance certificates (EPCs) and operational KPIs – particularly energy consumption data – though ESG integration remains largely driven by “financial-first logics.” SFDR implementation is uneven: “highly professional investors” possess the capacity to meet the directive’s demands, whereas smaller actors, including “mom-and-pop” hotel owners and operators, often lack the necessary resources, data infrastructure, or expertise. While SFDR classification increasingly shapes fund structure and capital raising, its influence on individual asset transactions remains limited but is expected to grow.

Research Limitations/Implications - Semi-structured interviews with a small, diverse sample enabled context-specific insights but limited comparability and replicability. Findings should be viewed as exploratory and indicative rather than representative of the sector.

Practical Implications - The findings underscore that ESG alignment is increasingly tied to both financial and operational leverage in commercial real estate, yet many investors still overlook its influence on cost of capital and asset-level performance. A persistent “wait-and-see” mindset – amplified by geopolitical uncertainty – continues to delay capital flows into at-risk hotel assets. To advance transition finance, SFDR must be recalibrated to avoid reinforcing divestment from stranded assets and instead incentivize their decarbonization.

Originality/Value - This is the first empirical investigation into how FMPs experience SFDR and ESG within the distinct context of hotel capital markets.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple urban areas in America have been in an eviction crisis, which has led many associated organizations to scramble for solutions. In Central Florida in particular, many workers in the service industry had been laid off; state interventions against eviction were short, exacerbating the crisis.

This led to the founding of the case study of this thesis, a housing collective action group, composed of actors from the civic, private, legal and local government sphere, to join efforts in countering this eviction crisis.

Studies in collective action theory have been applied before in various kinds of social structures, including housing. But where much literature has been devoted to the American housing crisis in general, there has been less attention to evictions, let alone in more southern cities like Orlando, leaving an academic gap to be filled.

This thesis addresses the post-Covid eviction crisis in Central Florida through the lens of a local group of organizations (the Eviction Collective Action Group), using collective action theory and comparing their narratives with various relevant data sources. It aims at bringing the field of power dynamics of a localized housing system into clear view, determining who has the biggest sway in curbing the eviction crisis.

It does so by asking: How does the Eviction Collective Action Group make an impact in the eviction crisis in Central Florida? What are the main features of the eviction crisis in Central Florida? How can collective action theory help explain the eviction crisis in Central Florida and the impact of the Eviction Collective Action Group on it? And in comparing narratives from the Eviction Collective Action Group, how do the power dynamics play out, both within the organization and in the broader housing landscape?

The research has found that housing collective action groups are indeed an impactful method of addressing an eviction crisis, with many organizations being mobilized and forming long-lasting bonds that help counter the crisis in the long run. There remain challenges, however, both in the application of collective action theory for analyzing these sorts of groups, as well as in the practical functioning of the group.
These challenges include strongly embedded institutional actors from the private sector thwarting legislation countering eviction protection, a dominant group of actors within the collective action group leaning towards one narrative and a lack of resources for the group to continue.

The debate on climate risk labels in the Dutch housing market is gaining momentum, with opinions divided on their potential benefits and drawbacks. This thesis delves into the impact of flood risk labels on the housing market, focusing on residential real estate owned by professional investors. By adopting an investor's perspective, the study examines the implications of various flood risks, including those from main water systems, regional areas, and heavy rainfall. The research design incorporates a literature review, a questionnaire, and an expert discussion to validate the findings. The literature review explores the investment landscape in the Netherlands, existing labels in real estate, and sustainability reporting. The empirical research involves a questionnaire distributed to professional investors, followed by an expert discussion to validate the results. The study aims to understand how flood risk labels influence investment strategies and climate mitigation efforts. The findings reveal that flood risk labels somewhat benefit the decision-making process of professional real estate investors in the Netherlands. Investors consider flood risk labels as a valuable tool for risk reporting and guiding investment decisions in the face of climate change. The study contributes to the ongoing discussion on the necessity and design of climate risk labels, providing insights into their potential to improve housing valuations and investment strategies.

The increasing impacts of climate change are presenting numerous challenges globally, with one of the most pressing being the heightened risk of flooding due to rising sea levels and more intense rainfall patterns. However in many countries, among which the Netherlands, a significant portion of residential properties are at risk of flooding—a risk that is often underappreciated or overlooked by homeowners. The primary focus of this thesis is to explore the potential introduction of a flood risk disclosure policy, referred to as the "Climate Label," and its implications for real estate development practices.
By making flood information readily available, the policy aims to influence market values and guide investment decisions, potentially encouraging more resilient housing developments. The central question of this study examines how such a policy might affect the decision-making processes of real estate developers and, consequently, the distribution of flood risks across new residential constructions.

The exploration of this topic is timely and significant, given the scarcity of existing literature on the impact of flood risk information policies on housing supply and developer behavior. Real estate developers, particularly those in the private sector, play a crucial role in the construction of new housing and their profit-driven motives make their responses to such policies particularly insightful for understanding broader market dynamics.

This research employs an Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) approach to simulate the interactions within the housing market, developer decision-making, and assess the potential outcomes of implementing the Climate Label. Moreover, interviews with real-estate developers are conducted to achieve a deeper understanding of their decision-making, their current perspective of building flood-resilient housing, and how a Climate label would influence such.

The model results it can be concluded that a housing value shift due to flood risk disclosure can cause a change in the development patterns of new residential houses. However, the distribution of flood risks is highly dependent on the magnitude of the price shift, whether developers perceive it as a gain or loss, and the reference point they use in their project decision-making to assess gains and losses.

Climate change poses a significant challenge to humanity, nature and the environment. Next to climate mitigation, climate adaptation becomes increasingly important to ensure liveable surroundings. Rising temperatures are causing more intense and more frequent heat waves, impacting housing conditions. Housing associations have the duty to provide safe and healthy dwellings for their tenants, which is why it is important to also focus on heat. This research focuses on composing a transition image and transition paths for housing associations in the Netherlands. A literature review, content analysis, and interviews with various stakeholders were conducted to assess the current state, the urgency to act, and the ambition level. 70% of the housing associations are aware of the rising problem and have any form of adaptation. The amount of adaptation is not sufficient to meet the requirement of providing safe and healthy dwellings. To accelerate the process, housing associations must continue refining their policies, stakeholders should collaborate to share knowledge, the frontrunners of housing associations should share their strategies, and differing opinions among stakeholders should be openly discussed. Additionally, housing associations should set up a proper complaints procedure and should implement solutions such as providing cool spaces, appointing tenant complex managers and utilizing the skills and knowledge of tenants with different cultural backgrounds, when technical adaptation is not possible in the short term.

The Netherlands faces a need to increase renewable energy production to meet national climate goals, with solar PV electricity as a key component. However, recent reports indicate stagnation in solar PV growth due to financial uncertainty arising from the planned phase-out of the SDE++ subsidy scheme. This subsidy has historically provided financial stability by covering unprofitable segments in renewable energy business models. With its impending termination, large-scale solar PV projects face significant financing risks, which may hinder progress toward national energy targets.

This thesis investigates whether Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) can mitigate financial uncertainty for solar PV projects in the absence of subsidies. PPAs are long-term contracts between energy producers and buyers that offer revenue predictability, essential for securing project financing. Drawing from the Dutch offshore wind sector’s success with PPAs in a subsidy-free context, this research explores if PPAs can fulfill a similar role for solar PV. The study employs a qualitative approach, combining desk research and 14 semi-structured interviews with industry experts, including policymakers, lenders, and developers, to validate propositions developed from the literature.

Findings indicate that PPAs are currently seen as valuable complements to subsidies, enabling higher debt leverage. However, several challenges limit their use as standalone solutions. The Dutch solar PV market currently lacks sufficient creditworthy offtakers, and the relatively small project sizes further complicate PPA viability. Additionally, the rising frequency of negative price hours, periods when electricity prices drop below zero due to market saturation, presents new new problems that PPAs alone may not fully mitigate. Although PPAs are currently not yet equipped to replace the SDE++ scheme entirely.

The research suggests that other measures, such as a PPA guarantee fund and adjustments in debt models, may be needed to ensure the financial sustainability of future solar PV projects. Limitations of the study include the qualitative methodology and confidentiality constraints, which restricted insight into specific PPA strategies. Among others, the findings underscore the need for additional research on alternative financing structures and the role of smaller offtakers in the Dutch PPA market, as well as hybrid solutions like battery storage to address price volatility.

Being both a low-lying delta and having one of the most significant mortgage-to-debt-to-GDP ratios in the world, the Dutch economy is vulnerable to damages to real estate due to floods as this could lead to large-scale householder default and ultimately destabilize their economy. Notwithstanding, a generic and widely adopted tool to assess flood risks and their subsequent effect on real estate values in practice is yet to be constructed. This research aimed to understand the potential impact of flood vulnerability on real estate values, the economic models guiding the assessment, and the subsequent role of stakeholders in maintaining the stability of the values.

A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was employed throughout this study to answer the primary research question. First, state-of-the-art models for examining the effect of floods were explained through a literature review. Second, a framework was constructed to define flood vulnerability, including socio-economic status, disaster-bearing capabilities, and flood exposure. This enabled the quantification of flood vulnerability levels of neighborhoods in the case study. Third, qualitative methods in the form of a literature review and exploratory semi-structured interviews with stakeholders were utilized to understand their barriers, drivers, and enablers and the ensuing opportunities to contribute to maintaining the stability of real estate values.

The results indicated that the definition and usage of the parameters are vital to assess the effects of flood risks on residential real estate values. In addition, the results showed significant effects on flood vulnerability when including a subset of indicators besides flood exposure. When constructing a more accessible tool for all stakeholders, employing a more integral definition of flood vulnerability may thus be more socially just. Stakeholders may contribute to the stability of real estate values by actively adapting and incentivizing each other to similar behavior.

In addition, organized irresponsibility (i.e., stakeholders contributing to an issue without wanting to take responsibility for the caused risks) and pillarization appear to be embedded within the system in the Netherlands. Through cooperation, division of responsibilities, and taking ownership, devaluation risks may be diminished and the phenomenon of organized irresponsibility reduced. Moreover, by prolonged engagement of initiating stakeholders, a shift from short-term profit to long-term real estate values may be stimulated, potentially contributing to the prevention of enlarged social injustice due to flood risks. Within the shift towards organized responsibility, this research hints towards a vital role for both the government and insurers.