News + Media
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![MIT researchers demonstrate that over 50 percent of the world’s population would still be exposed to PM2.5 concentrations that exceed new air quality guidelines due to the large natural sources of particulate matter — dust, sea salt, and organics from vegetation — that still exist in the atmosphere when anthropogenic emissions are removed from the air. (Source: MIT) natural-pollutants-particulate-matter-00_WEB.png](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/in-the-news/natural-pollutants-particulate-matter-00_WEB.png?itok=fTCBmyyo)
MIT research highlights the opportunity to rethink global air quality guidelines
Alongside climate change, air pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats to human health. Tiny particles known as particulate matter or PM2.5 (named for their diameter of just 2.5 micrometers or less) are a particularly hazardous type of pollutant. These particles are produced from a...
![Image: Direct air capture (Source: Drax) drax_faqs_articles__direct-air-capture_2-1024x640_WEB.jpg](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/news/drax_faqs_articles__direct-air-capture_2-1024x640_WEB.jpg?itok=FzbBXaQp)
Direct air capture (DAC) technologies extract carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the atmosphere. DAC and other carbon-removal technologies may play a key role in global and national efforts to achieve net-zero emissions economies in which the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere is...
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Seminar explores economic feasibility of technology that could play a key role in the energy transition
![The two leads on the Climate Grand Challenges flagship project "Bringing Computation to the Climate Challenge" are Raffaele Ferrari (left) and Noelle Selin. (Source: MIT) ferrari-selin_2shot_WEB.jpg](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/in-the-news/ferrari-selin_2shot_WEB_0.jpg?itok=402FTLaN)
To put global climate modeling at the fingertips of local decision-makers, some scientists think it’s time to rethink the system from scratch. Five Joint Program-affiliated researchers will help advance an MIT Climate Grand Challenges flagship project to do just that. (WBUR)
MIT has selected five winners in its inaugural "Climate Grand Challenge," including one researcher who used a massive amount of data to model the world, creating a digital twin of Earth that could help scientists predict how climate change will affect us.
...![Image: Rapid decarbonization of power, transportation sectors key to a successful energy transition (Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory) map-supply-efs_WEB.png](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/news/map-supply-efs_WEB.png?itok=r4I9JUj9)
The latest United Nations IPCC Reports describe how limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels can avert the worst impacts of climate change. That will require global emissions to drop by roughly half over the next decade and reach net-zero emissions near...
![Photo: 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric, Hybrid & Plug-in Hybrid: Green Envy (Source: Flickr/Automotive Rhythms) Paltsev_UNFCCC_WEB.jpg](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/in-the-news/Paltsev_UNFCCC_WEB.jpg?itok=zFhsa1Ws)
In the United Nations Climate blog Electric Future, MIT Joint Program Deputy Director Sergey Paltsev highlights challenges in making EVs truly emissions-free (UNFCCC)
Believe it or not, if you had been walking through Manhattan in 1900, there is a good chance you would have seen an electric car. Roughly one third of cars on the road in New York back then were electric, while the city’s taxi fleet had thirty electric vehicles (EVs). It was to be a brief heyday...
![The goal of the MCSC seed awards is to engage MIT researchers and link the economy-wide work of the consortium to ongoing and emerging climate and sustainability efforts across campus. The program offers further opportunity to build networks among the awarded projects to deepen the impact of each and ensure the total is greater than the sum of its parts. (Source: MIT) Seed Awards Image_WEB.jpg](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/in-the-news/Seed%20Awards%20Image_WEB.jpg?itok=rCcbeJHv)
Twenty winning projects will link industry member priorities with research groups across campus to develop scalable climate solutions
Molly Chase | Climate and Sustainability Consortium
Publication Date:
May 23, 2022
PRESS INQUIRIES
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MIT Energy Initiative report supports energy storage paired with renewable energy to achieve clean energy grids
In deeply decarbonized energy systems utilizing high penetrations of variable renewable energy (VRE), energy storage is needed to keep the lights on and the electricity flowing when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing — when generation from these VRE resources is low or demand is...
![Photo: Gretchen Ertl MIT_FFUpdate-Campus_SpringErtl-01-press_0_WEB.jpg](https://globalchange.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/490x340_manual/public/in-the-news/MIT_FFUpdate-Campus_SpringErtl-01-press_0_WEB.jpg?itok=PMAghCRj)
Members of three working groups outline latest efforts implementing the ambitious plan, launched last year
In a combined in-person and virtual event on Monday, members of the three working groups established last year under MIT’s “Fast Forward” climate action plan reported on the work they’ve been doing to meet the plan’s goals, including reaching zero direct carbon emissions by 2026.