News + Media
![Photo: Clockwise from top left: Melissa Nobles, Richard Lester, Julie Newman, Paula Hammond, Krystyn Van Vliet, John Deutch, Joe Higgins, Maria Zuber. (Source: MIT) Climate-Symposium-Oct20-01-Press_WEB.jpg](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/in-the-news/Climate-Symposium-Oct20-01-Press_WEB.jpg?itok=HqmnTg9b)
An online symposium explores roles for research universities and outlines the Institute’s efforts to be a testbed for research and policy innovations
Becky Ham | MIT News Office
Publication Date:
October 23, 2020
Under its Plan for Action on Climate Change, MIT has a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 32 percent below its 2014 emission levels, by 2030. Those reductions are now at 24 percent, and the...
![Photo courtesy of Yale Climate Connections Jacoby_YCC_WEB.jpg](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/in-the-news/Jacoby_YCC_WEB.jpg?itok=0RlsZC6h)
Restoring its international standing on climate leadership is critical to the country's national interests and global stability (Yale Climate Connections)
When the Trump administration gave notice that the U.S. would drop out of the Paris Climate Agreement, it said it was doing so because it was a bad deal for the country. This view is wrongheaded. The science is...
![Photo: AGU Fall Meeting Central Exhibit Hall (Source: AGU) AGU_2020.jpg](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/news/AGU_2020.jpg?itok=9qEcbH-w)
This year’s American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting will be held online, making it one of the world’s largest virtual scientific conferences ever. Held December 1-17 (with most scientific programming taking place December 7-11) and presenting more than 1,000 hours of content, AGU20 will...
![Photo: In the desert west of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Source: Flickr/Angus Hamilton Haywood) Komurcu_Atmos.jpg](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/news/Komurcu_Atmos.jpg?itok=HalEPlbS)
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is at a crossroads. Recent long-term studies of the area indicate that rising temperatures and evaporation rates will likely further deplete scarce water resources critical to meeting the nation’s agricultural, industrial and domestic needs; more extreme...
![Source: MIT Press Selin_Book.jpg](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/in-the-news/Selin_Book.jpg?itok=0yorIrTv)
MIT EAPS/IDSS Assoc. Prof. and Joint Program faculty affiliate Noelle Selin co-authors new book (Book website)
Summary
An interdisciplinary analysis of human interactions with mercury through history that sheds light on efforts to promote and achieve sustainability.
![Photo: Institute Professor Emeritus Mario Molina. (Source: MIT) MIT-Mario-Molina-01.jpg](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/in-the-news/MIT-Mario-Molina-01.jpg?itok=jfMIJ4xz)
The atmospheric chemist shared the Nobel Prize for the discovery that chemicals known as CFCs deplete the ozone layer
![Photo: Simplified N2O Budget Figure (Source: Flickr/Auburn University) Prinn_Nature_WEB.jpg](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/in-the-news/Prinn_Nature_WEB.jpg?itok=yx_Pcjre)
Nature paper co-authors include Joint Program Director Ronald Prinn and Collaborator Hanqin Tian (lead) (Coverage: The Guardian, The Conversation)
Published: October 07, 2020
Teri Greene | School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences
Rising anthropogenic nitrous oxide emissions are jeopardizing climate goals and the Paris Accord, a study published in Nature and led by an Auburn University researcher has found.
![Photo: Closing Ceremony of COP21, Paris (Source: UN) Jacoby_Independent](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/in-the-news/Jacoby_Independent.jpg?itok=mkvzwrBH)
The US is the first country to formally withdraw from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement (The Independent)
Towards the end of Tuesday night’s fractious presidential debate, moderator Chris Wallace dropped in a surprise question on the climate crisis, leading both candidates to lay out their opposing stances on the Paris Climate Accord. “If you look at the Paris Accord, it was a disaster from our...
![Image: A graphic from the revamped MIT Climate Portal illustrates the section of the website on What Can Be Done About Climate Change? (Source: Rick Pinchera) MIT_Climate_WEB.png](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/in-the-news/MIT_Climate_WEB.png?itok=rzVzbqHq)
Website features accessible "Explainers" by MIT Joint Program researchers and other MIT climate experts
Stepping up its ongoing efforts to inform and empower the public on the issue of climate change, MIT today announced a dramatic overhaul of the MIT Climate Portal, climate.mit.edu, which provides timely, science-based information about the causes and consequences of climate change — and what can...
![Photo: The prevailing theory has been that sea ice can act as a lid to keep carbon in the ocean from escaping back to the atmosphere. However, researchers at MIT have now identified a counteracting effect that suggests Antarctic sea ice may not be as powerful a control on the global carbon cycle as scientists had suspected. (Source: MIT) MIT-Ice-Shade-01_0_WEB.jpg](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/in-the-news/MIT-Ice-Shade-01_0_WEB.jpg?itok=udqUetQk)
Study suggests sea ice blocks the flow of carbon both into and out of the ocean, in roughly equal measure
The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica is a region where many of the world’s carbon-rich deep waters can rise back up to the surface. Scientists have thought that the vast swaths of sea ice around Antarctica can act as a lid for upwelling carbon, preventing the gas from breaking through the...