MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research

The misalignment between system benefits & current investments may reflect a rational response to deep uncertainty - yet it may perpetuate a high-risk, high-reward paradox typical of breakthrough tech. This ambiguity calls for a more deliberate evaluation of fusion’s role in future energy systems.

Using a high-resolution energy system model (PyPSA-Eur) and a probabilistic valuation framework, the authors' findings indicate that the later fusion becomes available, the greater will be the demands on its economic competitiveness and the need for early integration into energy system planning.

Fusion energy offers clean, firm, and geographically flexible power, but decades of delays have left investors skeptical. A new Working Paper shows that investor confidence in successful commercialization remains below 20%.

ceepr.link/3Ov3ahb

In a new paper, a team of researchers including @guntherglenk.bsky.social analyze the impact of alternative accounting rules for assessing the carbon intensity of electrolytic hydrogen on the financial and emission performance of Power-to-Gas (PtG) systems. Check it out here:

ceepr.link/403PLPu

This research commentary contributes to the debate by means of a review of the history of an analogous debate in corporate financial accounting standards, which can be helpful for identifying lessons that can instruct the discussion on inventory and consequential accounting for Scope 2 emissions.

Currently, the Protocol's metrics attempt to inventory emissions directly attributable to the company’s electric load, subject to the constraints of available data. A competing alternative, known as ‘consequential’ or ‘impact accounting’, looks beyond the boundary of the company’s own operations.

Many companies report their Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in accordance with the accounting criteria laid out in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s (the Protocol) Corporate Standard. Emissions from the generation of purchased electricity falls into the Protocol’s Scope 2 category.

For a number of years, a debate has been brewing concerning the best way to report on the indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity. Check out a new Research Commentary by @johnparsons.bsky.social on the topic:

ceepr.link/4rs0Rtp

The global transition to clean energy depends heavily on lithium-ion batteries, which power electric vehicles, renewable energy storage, and consumer electronics. Stable battery prices are therefore crucial for making clean technologies competitive with fossil fuels.

Specifically, the researchers investigate how a country’s position within the global trade network of CRMs, processed materials, and batteries influences the stability of the price they pay for lithium-ion batteries.

A new paper examines the impact of critical raw materials and their processed derivatives on countries’ exposure to lithium-ion battery price fluctuations:

ceepr.link/49MXRk6

The fragmentation of global supply chains and rising geopolitical tensions have spurred concerns about import dependence -- particularly for clean energy technologies and critical raw materials. A new paper analyzes these challenges from the perspective of market failures:

ceepr.link/3YtxkmN

Implications of policy-driven transmission expansion for costs, emissions and reliability in the USA Nature Energy - Interregional transmission is key to a cost-efficient, reliable and cleaner US grid. Senga et al. find that current legislative proposals can increase reliability while capturing...

New paper out today in Nature Energy!
We evaluate how Congressional proposals for policy-driven transmission expansion would shape U.S. electricity costs, emissions, and reliability. Big implications for climate and grid planning.

rdcu.be/eS7lj

#EnergyPolicy #Transmission #CleanEnergy

What’s the best way to expand the US electricity grid? MIT researchers evaluated two approaches to expanding the U.S. electricity grid: creating more interconnections across the country vs. focusing on regions with more renewable energy. They found each h...

news.mit.edu/2025/best-wa...

In a new Working Paper, the authors argue that financial accounting offers an architectural template for corporate carbon accounting systems. CO2-statements enable a unified, comprehensive assessment of the direct and indirect emissions of a business entity and its products.

ceepr.link/449ELTl

MIT/Harvard Roosevelt Project Releases Synthesis Report on U.S. Energy Transition Challenges - Findings from the latest project phase highlight strategies for a just and competitive transition in steel, critical minerals, and the […]

Findings from the latest MIT/Harvard Roosevelt Project phase highlight strategies for a just and competitive transition in steel, critical minerals, and the electric grid:

ceepr.mit.edu/mit-harvard-...

Data centers are rapidly growing electricity users, raising concerns about their impact on the grid and
decarbonization. Their ability to shift workloads over time offers demand-side flexibility. A new MIT CEEPR Working Paper analyzes this potential:

ceepr.link/47bkuyJ

The private benefits of the peak alert program swamp any social benefits. These private benefits arise, however, by shifting capacity costs onto other utilities and load customers in the region.

An email alert is sent out to residential customers to encourage load shifting and energy saving during specific hours on the following day. Using hourly load data, Gib estimates that the program reduces load by roughly 0.7 MWs per hour during the hours covered by the alert, or roughly 2 percent.

A new paper by @gibmetcalf.bsky.social studies a program run by a small municipally owned electric utility to reduce demand on certain peak demand days.

Check out the full paper here:

ceepr.link/47uTp8q

CBAMs can improve domestic competitiveness in regulated markets, reduce emissions leakage to unregulated markets, and encourage other countries to tax carbon. But CBAMs may particularly disadvantage lower-income trading partners.

Check out the full paper here:

ceepr.link/4nfkuTa

... and potential tipping points towards a fundamentally changed world order. Not all scenarios are pessimistic, however, reminding us that, despite mounting political headwinds, climate progress remains possible through predictable and also unexpected channels.

Applying scenario analysis in an increasingly uncertain and disruptive context of shifting alliances and great power rivalry, this paper explores how the intersection of climate change, international trade, and geopolitics has become an arena of shifting political equilibria

ceepr.link/42KeA4X

Additionally, Republican leaning districts, which overlap significantly with rural areas, see marked advantages compared to Democratic districts. These results highlight the potential for a VMT tax to address longstanding inequities in transportation funding

They find this tax swap is modestly progressive. More granular geographical analysis also highlights that rural areas in the center of the country generally benefit from this tax swap, which urban and bicoastal areas generally experience higher taxation

As drivers shift to hybrid and EVs, federal gas tax revenue is declining. In response, some have called for replacing the gas tax with a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax. Using machine learning techniques, the researchers carry out an analysis of this tax shift at the census tract level.

An MIT CEEPR paper by @knittelmit.bsky.social, @gibmetcalf.bsky.social and @shereeinsaraf.bsky.social looks at the impacts from a Gas-to-VMT Tax Shift. Check out the full paper at the link below:

ceepr.link/42R44sv

State Investment Strategies to Speed EVSE Deployment - The Salata Institute Collaborating with DC fast charging stakeholders, Harvard-MIT researchers craft recommendations to help states speed deployment of publicly-funded fast chargers—enabling EV travel and boosting EV adop...

Collaborating with DC fast charging stakeholders, MIT & Harvard researchers craft recommendations to help states speed deployment of publicly-funded fast chargers—enabling EV travel and boosting EV adoption.

I'm delighted to announce the release of the Flagship Report of the Global Climate Policy Project at Harvard and MIT Working Group on Climate Coalitions on "Building a Climate Coalition: Aligning Carbon Pricing, Trade, and Development."

ceepr.link/3VmgC7g

A 🧵 on what we do/find:

Charger data transparency: Curing range anxiety, powering EV adoption | Brookings Proposal for states to require fast chargers to report real-time status accessible by any EV mapping app, so drivers can reliably navigate to chargers.

Check out a new report by a team of researchers including MIT CEEPR's @knittelmit.bsky.social and @lukeheeney.bsky.social
on EV chargers and real time status data:

www.brookings.edu/articles/cha...