Climate change presents a challenge like no other. At MIT, hundreds of faculty, postdocs, staff, alumni, and students are devoting themselves to every aspect of the problem. Some are pioneering efforts to understand the essential dynamics of global warming and devising ways to decarbonize the global economy and its energy systems. Others are expanding MIT’s climate and clean energy curricular offerings and communicating the science-based climate story to the world. Still others are seeking to understand and influence the human behaviors at the heart of the problem and working to minimize MIT’s climate footprint.
Below are some of the many ways that, together, the people of MIT are working to protect the planet.
80+ departments, programs, centers, labs, initiatives, student groups, and efforts across MIT are leading the charge in areas related to environment and sustainability.
Since 2016, over 30 subjects related to climate, environment, or sustainability have been added to MIT’s curriculum.
MIT’s comprehensive climate portal, featuring science-based information about the causes and consequences of climate change, and what can be done to address it.
82 projects funded by MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab in the areas of food and water and climate and sustainability since 2015.
24.07 The Ethics of Climate Change, in which students explore the ethical implications of a rapidly warming world, is one of 30 courses that tackles climate and energy topics through rigorous humanities and social science lenses.
The MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI)—MIT’s hub for energy research, education, and outreach—and its members have supported a consolidated total of more than 900 projects since MITEI’s inception in 2006.
65,000+ participants worldwide, including 100+ elected officials, have engaged with the En-Roads interactive climate policy simulation created by the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative and the nonprofit think tank Climate Interactive.
The Engine’s portfolio of “tough-tech” companies includes organizations that aim to mitigate, adapt to, and reverse climate change.
Boston Metal | Cambridge Electronics | Commonwealth Fusion Systems | Sublime Systems | Emvolon | Form Energy | Lilac Solutions | VEIR | Quaise | Syzygy Plasmonics | Via Separations
90: Percentage of academic departments that host one or more subjects related to environment and sustainability at MIT.
40: Number of actions MIT is taking to help decarbonize the global economy by 2050, outlined in Fast Forward: MIT’s Climate Action Plan for the Decade.
MIT has committed to a net-zero campus by 2026.
27 research teams have been invited to prepare white papers as part of the MIT Climate Grand Challenges, which is mobilizing the MIT research community around some of the most challenging unsolved problems in adaptation, carbon removal, climate science, climate policy, human impacts, and emissions reduction.
The MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium has drawn an initial cohort of 14 companies representing diverse industries across the global economy.
This article was originally published in July 2021.