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To assess long-range risks to food, water, energy and other critical natural resources, decision-makers often rely on Earth-system models capable of producing reliable projections of regional and global environmental changes spanning decades. A key component of such models is the representation...
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Joint Program Deputy Director Sergey Paltsev provides an "Expert Perspective" in long-term climate strategies for the World Resources Institute
The UN Paris Agreement has established a target of keeping the increase in the global average surface temperature to “well below” 2°C relative to preindustrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5°C. As greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to rise around the...
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But only if the world acts together, says MIT Joint Program Co-Director John Reilly in a Daily Beast news story
This summer, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a 500-page environmental impact statement.
Buried within the pages, it snuck in a well-known but horrifying climate prediction: At their current pace, global temperatures will rise seven degrees Fahrenheit by...
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Read the 2018 Outlook | Download 2018 Outlook Figures | Download 2018 Outlook Data Tables
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Updated estimates will enable evaluation of complex multi-sector, economy/natural resource interactions
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CBS MoneyWatch news story cites global temperature projections from MIT Joint Program's 2016 Outlook
A spate of hot, wet weather this summer and over the past few growing seasons has left Wisconsin apple farmers concerned about their futures. Though September is traditionally the time people begin to flock to orchards, picking apples and drinking cider, this year's weather hasn't been good for...
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New insights into the role of water vapor may help researchers predict how the planet will respond to warming
Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office September 24, 2018
Just as an oven gives off more heat to the surrounding kitchen as its internal temperature rises, the Earth sheds more heat into space as its surface warms up. Since the 1950s, scientists have observed a surprisingly straightforward,...
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Real-word driving produces up to 16 times more emissions, causing 2,700 premature deaths across the EU, researchers estimate
Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office September 21, 2018
In September 2015, the German automaker Volkswagen was found to have illegally cheated federal emissions tests in the United States, by intentionally programming emissions control devices to turn on only during laboratory testing. The...
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To curb greenhouse gas emissions, nations, states, and cities should aim for a mix of fuel-saving, flexible, and highly reliable sources
David L. Chandler | MIT News Office September 6, 2018
In major legislation passed at the end of August, California committed to creating a 100 percent carbon-free electricity grid — once again leading other nations, states, and cities in setting aggressive policies for slashing...
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Findings suggest new policy models and cost-cutting technologies could help nuclear play vital role in climate solutions
Francesca McCaffrey | MIT Energy Initiative September 4, 2018
How can the world achieve the deep carbon emissions reductions that are necessary to slow or reverse the impacts of climate change? The authors of a new MIT study say that unless nuclear energy is meaningfully incorporated...