News + Media
Mar 31, 2022
Currently, there is no magic bullet for fossil fuels—no one energy technology that can provide a cheap and reliable alternative capable of supporting the world’s growing energy needs. Instead, decision-makers looking to lower greenhouse gas emissions must choose from an expansive menu of...
Around Campus
MIT News | Mar 28, 2022
Faculty leaders detail promising technologies, materials, and methods that could help unlock a low-carbon future in sectors where emissions are hardest to cut
Note: This is the third article in a four-part interview series highlighting the work of the 27 MIT Climate Grand Challenges finalist teams, which received a total of $2.7 million in startup funding to advance their projects. In April, the Institute will name a subset of the finalists as...
News Brief
Mar 09, 2022
Deputy Director Sergey Paltsev speaks on decarbonization pathways at international energy forum
To meet the Paris Agreement’s long-term goal of keeping global climate change below two degrees Celsius, the world needs to rapidly reduce carbon emissions and scale up low-carbon technologies. Decision-makers seeking to lower greenhouse gas emissions must choose from many technology and policy...
Around Campus
MIT News | Mar 07, 2022
The computer-vision technique behind these maps could help avoid contrail production, reducing aviation’s climate impact
As Covid-19’s initial wave crested around the world, travel restrictions and a drop in passengers led to a record number of grounded flights in 2020. The air travel reduction cleared the skies of not just jets but also the fluffy white contrails they produce high in the atmosphere.
Around Campus
MIT News | Mar 05, 2022
Faculty leaders discuss the opportunities and obstacles in developing, scaling, and implementing their work rapidly
Note: This is the first in a four-part interview series that will highlight the work of the Climate Grand Challenges finalists, ahead of the April announcement of several multiyear, flagship projects.
Around Campus
MIT News | Mar 01, 2022
If wildfires become larger and more frequent, they might stall ozone recovery for years
The Australian wildfires in 2019 and 2020 were historic for how far and fast they spread, and for how long and powerfully they burned. All told, the devastating “Black Summer” fires blazed across more than 43 million acres of land, and extinguished or displaced nearly 3 billion animals. The...
In The News
Inside Climate News | Feb 17, 2022
Long touted as a renewable fuel emitting 20 percent fewer greenhouse gases than gasoline, ethanol’s emissions may be 24 percent higher. If verified, one expert said the finding shows ethanol failed spectacularly. (Inside Climate News)
News Release
MIT News | Feb 16, 2022
Growing demand for an energy transition could move the needle, but not far enough
Like many of its predecessors, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow concluded with bold promises on international climate action aimed at keeping global warming well below two degrees Celsius, but few concrete plans to ensure that those promises will be kept.
News Release
MIT News | Feb 14, 2022
MIT Joint Program research scientists are co-investigators on one-third of the selected projects, with a focus on decarbonizing complex industries and preparing for climate extremes. (MIT News)
All-carbon buildings, climate-resilient crops, and new tools to improve the prediction of extreme weather events are just a few of the 27 bold, interdisciplinary research projects selected as finalists from a field of almost 100 proposals in the first MIT Climate Grand Challenges competition....
News Brief
Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center | Feb 10, 2022
The MIT Joint Program uses MGHPCC computing resources to make projections of future risks to the sustainability of energy, food, water and climate systems under different policy scenarios (MGHPCC)
Geared towards enabling decision-makers in the public and private sectors to better assess environmental and economic risks, and the associated costs and benefits of potential courses of action, the program's 2021 Global Change Outlook report, prepared ahead of COP26, provides its latest...