New Feature

The China Project Launches Website As First Annual Meeting Nears

The Tsinghua-MIT China Energy and Climate Project (CECP), a collaborative research effort focused on studying energy and climate change governance in China, went LIVE as the project sponsors prepare for the  First Annual Stakeholders Meeting on Thursday, May 17th in Beijing.

The Stakeholders Meeting will include an update on research progress and early insights from the first year. The meeting is by invitation only. If you are interested in attending, learn more here.

Recent Event - Watch Live

MIT Earth Day Colloquium with Andy Revkin - New York Times, Dot Earth blog

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Using new ways to confront persistent challenges is one of MIT’s greatest strengths, and an idea reinforced this week in regard to climate change by the New York Times writer Andrew Revkin, author of the Dot Earth blog.

“There’s never been a better time to share and shape and collaborate” to help communicate and confront complex challenges such as climate change, said Revkin, who visited MIT on Monday, April 23, as part of an Earth Day colloquium hosted by the MIT Energy Initative, the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and the Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate. More...

Researcher Highlight

Kerry Emanuel on Climate Change and the Body Politic

New York Times

The latest installment in our Temperature Rising series, just published, is about an argument between mainstream climate researchers and contrarians over how clouds will change on a warming planet...In the course of reporting the article, I had some intriguing conversations with scientists who had thought hard about how to frame the problem of climate change in the public mind.

Among the most thoughtful insights came from Kerry A. Emanuel, an atmospheric scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We sat in his office and talked for hours about clouds and their role in the climate, moving from that to larger topics as we looked out his window at a dazzling cloud display in the skies over Cambridge. More...

Latest News

Facing the facts about our changing climate

MIT researchers join Boston Globe panel in weighing climate risks and resolutions.

In an effort to share what is known, what isn't, and what can and cannot be done about climate change, MIT's John Reilly and Kerry Emanuel joined UMass Amherst researchers last week as part of a "Global Warning" panel convened by The Boston Globe.

The Thursday — a cold, early April day — came just weeks after Boston experienced record heat. Yet despite prodding by their moderator, the Globe's environment writer David Abel, the panelists were quick to point out that no specific weather events could be linked to climate change. That's because of the climate's natural variability — just one of the many challenges that come with explaining climate change. More...