MIT Climate Project

YouTube video by J-WAFS at MIT The Jameel Index Forum: Food Trade in the Current Age of Uncertainty

The Jameel Index for Food Trade and Vulnerability helps policymakers, investors, and development practitioners understand the links between global food trade and food security. It officially launched at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.

Study shows how a common fertilizer ingredient benefits plants MIT researchers found fertilizer additives called lanthanides can increase plant resilience to UV stress and enhance seedling growth. Until now, little has been known about how these rare earth elemen...

A study by MIT researchers shows how a common fertilizer ingredient could enable new ways to increase plants’ resilience to UV stress and enhance seedling growth.

The environmental impacts of Generative AI The popularity of artificial intelligence is skyrocketing, and so are concerns about its strain on the power grid and how it impacts the environment.

In a recent interview, Dr. Noman Bashir of MIT’s Climate and Sustainability Consortium noted that the use of generative AI should be “very judicious, not a blind application of AI for all applications.”

Geothermal Energy Geothermal energy draws on natural underground heat to make clean electricity, heat and cool buildings, or provide heat and steam for manufacturing.

Geothermal is one of the few mature energy technologies that can offer firm power without producing climate-warming greenhouse gases. Although geothermal provides a tiny fraction of the world’s energy today, new technologies are swiftly expanding where and how we can harness the Earth’s heat.

Nth Cycle is bringing critical metals refining to the U.S. Nth Cycle, co-founded by MIT Associate Professor Desirée Plata, aims to recover critical metals from industrial waste and ores using a patented technology known as electro-extraction.

A new MIT startup — Nth Cycle — uses electro-extraction to recover metals like lithium and cobalt from waste, aiming to boost domestic supply for batteries, motors, and other key technologies.

E8: Transmission: power to the people Power lines may not look as high-tech and inspiring as a wind turbine or a solar field. But as MIT’s Joshua Hodge explains, these lines—and the rest of the sprawling “machine” that is the transmission...

Power lines may not look as high-tech and inspiring as a wind turbine or a solar field. But as MIT’s Joshua Hodge explains, these lines — and the rest of the sprawling “machine” that is the transmission system — are critical for harnessing clean, cheap, reliable power.

A Complete Picture of Sustainability MIT’s Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy brings together natural and social scientists for an integrated approach to climate challenges

How do we respond to intertwined challenges facing people and the planet? MIT’s newly launched Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy (CS3) aims to tackle these issues holistically.

Island rivers carve passageways through coral reefs New research indicates reef passes — channels that cut through coral reefs and serve as conduits for ocean water and nutrients — are shaped by island rivers.

MIT researchers discovered that rivers shape channels in coral reefs, like natural doors. These let ocean water and nutrients flow in and out, helping reefs stay healthy for millions of years.

New 3D chips could make electronics faster and more energy-efficient A low-cost, scalable fabrication technology developed at MIT can integrate fast, efficient gallium nitride transistors onto a standard silicon chip, which could boost the performance of electronic chi...

Gallium nitride (GaN) is a material that could make electronics faster and more energy-efficient. It’s usually expensive and hard to use, but MIT researchers have found a cheaper way to add tiny GaN parts onto regular silicon chips.

Evelyn Wang: A new energy source at MIT As MIT’s first vice president for energy and climate, Evelyn Wang is working to broaden MIT’s research portfolio, scale up existing innovations, seek new breakthroughs, and channel campus community in...

MIT’s first vice president for energy and climate, Evelyn Wang, invented a way to pull water from air. Now, she’s using those problem-solving skills to accelerate research and development toward transformational climate change solutions.

After more than a decade of successes, ESI’s work will spread out across the Institute MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI) will close as a separate entity, many of its key functions will become part of the Climate Project at MIT, and John Fernandez, head of ESI for nearly a d...

As former MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative director John Fernandez steps down as head of the ESI, its research and education components will become part of the Climate Project and other entities.

Study helps pinpoint areas where microplastics will accumulate An MIT study finds microparticles are less likely to accumulate in sediment infused with biofilms, such as sandy riverbeds or seashores. The work may guide people studying impacts of microplastics or ...

One key factor in determining where microparticles are likely to accumulate is the presence of biofilms — thin, sticky layers of biopolymers shed by microorganisms that can build up on surfaces, including sandy riverbeds and seashores.

Guardian Ag’s crop-spraying drone is replacing dangerous pilot missions Guardian Ag, founded by two former regulars at MIT’s MITERS makerspace, has built huge, rugged drones to more safely and sustainably apply fertilizers and pesticides on farms.

Founded by two former regulars at the MITERS makerspace, Guardian Ag has built huge, rugged drones to more safely and sustainably apply fertilizers and pesticides on farms.

New fuel cell could enable electric aviation MIT engineers developed a fuel cell that offers more than three times as much energy per pound compared to lithium-ion batteries. Powered by a reaction between sodium metal and air, the device could b...

MIT researchers have developed a sodium–air fuel cell that stores three times more energy by weight than lithium-ion batteries. This breakthrough could electrify planes, trains, and ships.

New facility to accelerate materials solutions for fusion energy The new Schmidt Laboratory for Materials in Nuclear Technologies (LMNT) at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center accelerates fusion materials testing using cyclotron proton beam irradiation, advanc...

MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) has launched the Schmidt Laboratory for Materials in Nuclear Technologies, or LMNT (pronounced “element”), to accelerate the discovery and selection of materials for key components in future fusion power plants.

news.mit.edu/2025/new-fac...

“Each of us holds a piece of the solution” Hundreds of students, faculty, and staff turned out on May 6 for a community gathering hosted by Evelyn Wang, vice president for energy and climate, to learn about the Climate Project at MIT, make con...

Hundreds of students, faculty, and staff turned out on May 6, for a community gathering hosted by Evelyn Wang, vice president for energy and climate, to learn about the Climate Project at MIT, make connections, and exchange ideas.

MIT School of Engineering | » Jesse Kroll receives 2025 Capers and Marion McDonald Award

Congratulations to our very own Jesse Kroll — co-director of the MIT Climate Project's Preserving the Atmosphere, Land and Oceans Mission — on the 2025 Capers and Marion McDonald Award. 🎉

Who owns most of the farmland in Illinois? Not farmers. Less than 25% of Illinois farmland is owned by the farmer who works the land, with the rest leased by individuals, family trusts and, increasingly, investors looking to turn a profit.

As an MIT Environmental Solutions Journalism Fellow, Karina Atkins is launching a @chicagotribune.com series on the growing challenges farmers face in stewarding land amid climate change.

This piece explores fewer opportunities for farmers — and would-be farmers — to own their land.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is an independent, coeducational, privately endowed university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Our mission is to advance knowledge; to educate students in science, engineering, technology, humanities and social sciences; and to tackle the most pressing problems Imagine a world without MIT

Imagine a world without MIT. We'd be missing a lot.

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A day in the life of MIT MBA student David Brown | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Photo essay provides a look at the day of MIT Sloan MBA student David Brown, a former U.S. Army helicopter pilot and co-founder of Helix Carbon, which aims to erase the carbon footprint of tough-to-decarbonize industries.

Former US Army Helicopter pilot David Brown is getting his MBA from MIT Sloan while co-founding Helix Carbon to replacing fossil fuels as a carbon feedstock and erase the carbon footprint of tough-to-decarbonize industries. See a day in his life.

news.mit.edu/2025/da...

3 Questions: Making the most of limited data to boost pavement performance | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Haoran Li, a postdoc at the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub, discusses why pavement life-cycle assessments are important for sustainability, as well as a new framework for pavement decision-making.

Pavements form the backbone of our built environment. In this MIT News 3Q interview, MIT postdoc Haoran Li describes how the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub is enabling accessible, fast, and robust pavement decision-making while making the most of limited data.

news.mit.edu/2025/3q...

Exploring new frontiers in mineral extraction | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Thomas Peacock, professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, and his team in the Environmental Dynamics Laboratory (ENDLab), are at the forefront of advancing understanding for emerging ocean utilization technologies and the potential impacts of deep-sea mining.

MIT professor Thomas Peacock's research aims to better understand the impact of deep-sea mining.

“The question," he says, " is can it be less impactful to mine from the ocean, rather than from land?”

news.mit.edu/2025/ex...

Green agriculture news from MIT: Lemna, a genus of small aquatic plants otherwise known as duckweed. MIT spinout Fyto helps farmers grow the plant using wastewater; the Lemna can then be used on farms as a high-protein cattle feed or fertilizer supplement.

How can India decarbonize its coal-dependent electric power system? | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology New research explores India’s options for cutting carbon emissions from its coal-dominated electric power system while also meeting increased future demand for electricity.

How can India decarbonize its coal-dependent electric power system?

A detailed MIT analysis identifies some promising options but also raises unexpected concerns.

news.mit.edu/2025/ho...

YouTube video by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) This is MIT

Since its founding, #MIT has been key to helping American #science and #innovation lead the world. Discoveries that begin here generate jobs and power the economy — and what we create today builds a better tomorrow for all of us.

youtu.be/r7R8ewU1Wqc?...

Catherine Wolfram, MIT Sloan The Economics of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms for Lower Income Countries - San Francisco Fed <p> </p>

On Thursday, Jan. 16, faculty member @cwolfram.bsky.social will present at a seminar as part of the Virtual Seminar on Climate Economics series hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and is open to everyone interested in research on the economics of climate change.