Science & Policy Working Together
Our work combines the efforts and expertise of two complementary MIT research centers—the Center for Global Change Science (CGCS) and the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR).
Center for Global Change Science (CGCS)
The CGCS is an independent center in the School of Science that also involves researchers from the School of Engineering. Building on 50-plus years of work on weather and climate at MIT, the center’s meteorologists, oceanographers, atmospheric chemists, hydrologists, ecologists and satellite specialists aim to form a better understanding of earth’s climate while facilitating the prediction of climate change. The center’s Climate Modeling Initiative is an important contributor to the Joint Program’s research.
Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR)
The CEEPR conducts policy research on energy, natural resources and environmental issues, involving economists with expertise in energy and environmental quality, decision analysts, energy technologists and scholars of politics and the policy process. Created in the 1970s, it is a shared effort of the Sloan School of Management, the Economics Department and the MIT Energy Initiative.
Collaborators
The resources of the parent centers are strengthened through cooperative efforts with other MIT departments, research institutions and nonprofit organizations worldwide.
Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL)
The Joint Program maintains a long-term alliance with the Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory, which provides expertise in terrestrial ecosystem science.
MIT Departments, Labs, Centers and Institutes
- Energy Initiative
- Environmental Solutions Initiative
- Climate & Sustainability Consortium
- Darwin Project
- Carbon Capture and Sequestration Technologies
- Atmospheric Chemistry
- Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment
- Institute for Data, Systems and Society
- Center for Collective Intelligence / Climate CoLab
- Oceans at MIT
- Center for Transportation and Logistics
- Earth Resources Laboratory
- Parsons Laboratory for Environmental Science and Engineering
- Sloan Automotive Laboratory
Affiliates
The Program maintains a mutually-designated Affiliate relationship with four independent "think-tanks" based in New York, London, Colorado and New Delhi that focus on global environmental challenges:
- Environmental Defense Fund
- The Energy and Resources Institute
- Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis
- Chatham House
National & International
Our faculty and researchers serve on professional committees and panels, and respond to requests for information and assistance from the press, government representatives and other assessment groups. They have delivered briefings to the U.S. Congress and federal and state agencies, foreign governments and international organizations and independent research panels. Examples:
- U.S. Global Change Research Program
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- U.S. National Academy of Sciences
- U.S. National Academy of Engineering
- UN Environment Program
- World Climate Research Program
- International Energy Agency
- Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
Other Research Institutions and Nonprofits
- Energy Modeling Forum
- UK Met Office Hadley Center
- U.S. Energy Information Administration
- NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
- DOE-PNNL/UMD Joint Global Change Research Institute
- Global Trade Analysis Project
- International Food Policy Research Institute
- Advance Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment
- World Bank
- US National Renewable Energy Laboratory
- First Street Foundationa Flood Laboratory
- Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei
- European Commission Environment Directorate
- Harvard School of Public Health
- Resources for the Future
- NCAR/UCAR Community Earth System Model
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
- U.N. University-World Institute for Development Economic Research