MIT Climate Project
The MIT Climate Project begins with a straightforward vision: to build well-being for people and the planet. But success will take more than individual breakthroughs. It requires understanding how the systems that shape daily life—energy, water, food, health, transportation, buildings, industry, and the digital world—interact. For this reason, our approach treats climate change as a deeply interconnected systems challenge, one that demands solutions integrating science, technology, policy, finance, social sciences, and humanities.
Community
Because climate impacts are felt where people live and work, we treat communities as our unit of change. To succeed, we must also connect the global to the local—from the physics, chemistry, and biology that govern Earth’s dynamics to innovations in energy, digital infrastructure, and resilient design that can be deployed anywhere and adapted to local realities.
Research
Across these areas, we will design and test pilots with local leadership and input to demonstrate how integrated strategies improve resilience and prosperity. As these efforts progress from research to demonstration and prove effective in real environments, they can become blueprints that scale system by system, community to community, driving global impact. Realizing this vision will require strong partnerships across academia, industry, governments, and communities.
This approach enables us to build well-being at every level: local and global, human and planetary. In doing so, we can change the expected trajectory of our shared future. MIT has always stepped forward when imagination and action have been equally required. The Climate Project brings that spirit to the defining challeng—and opportunity—of our time: creating communities that thrive in a rapidly changing world.
Education
On campus, academic offerings are designed for students to learn alongside world experts, and coursework relates to real problems facing the planet. Beginning in a student's first year and throughout a graduate’s career, the impact of an MIT education in the environment and sustainability can be felt worldwide. Education priorities include the an interdisciplinary undergraduate Minor in Environment and Sustainability, the Martin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainability for PhD candidates, the Student Innovator Awards, as well as the infusion of environmental content into General Institute Requirements and other foundational and mainstream subjects. We also co-convene the Climate and Experiential Learning community of practice representing departments, labs, and centers across MIT.
Engagement
Ongoing projects include the MIT Climate Portal, the Ask MIT Climate podcast, and the Environmental Solutions Journalism Fellowship. These resources equip “climate curious” learners everywhere to make informed decisions about the urgency of the climate challenge and the solutions available to address it.
The Climate Project is led by Vice President for Energy and Climate Evelyn Wang and Executive Director Shane Kosinski. For more information, email vpec@mit.edu. For more information on the Education program, please contact Chris Rabe or Reva Butensky.