L. (Lucas) Reijnders studied chemistry at the University of Amsterdam (1963-1969) and received his PhD at the same university in 1974. He had teaching and research positions at the Dutch Universities of Wageningen and Groningen and became professor of environmental science at the University of Amsterdam in 1988. In 1999 he additionally became professor of environmental science at the Open University of the Netherlands. Currently he is emeritus professor of environmental science at the University of Amsterdam. His environmental research has been mainly in the field of improving environmental performance.