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MIT Climate Project
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A whole-of-MIT initiative to tackle the challenges of global climate change. Within a decade, MIT seeks to identify and launch solutions that will change the expected trajectory of global climate outcomes for the better.

climateproject.mit.edu
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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.

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This is MIT
YouTube video by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
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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.
The Jameel Index Forum: Food Trade in the Current Age of Uncertainty
YouTube video by J-WAFS at MIT
www.youtube.com
July 31, 2025 at 1:48 PM
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.
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...
news.mit.edu
July 24, 2025 at 1:57 PM
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.”
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.
www.fox13seattle.com
July 22, 2025 at 1:19 PM
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.
Geothermal Energy
Geothermal energy draws on natural underground heat to make clean electricity, heat and cool buildings, or provide heat and steam for manufacturing.
climate.mit.edu
July 16, 2025 at 2:30 PM
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.
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.
news.mit.edu
July 15, 2025 at 1:31 PM
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.
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...
climate.mit.edu
July 11, 2025 at 3:03 PM
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.
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
betterworld.mit.edu
July 8, 2025 at 1:08 PM
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.
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.
news.mit.edu
July 2, 2025 at 3:21 PM
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.
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...
news.mit.edu
June 30, 2025 at 5:56 PM
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.
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...
news.mit.edu
June 26, 2025 at 7:58 PM
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.
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...
news.mit.edu
June 25, 2025 at 11:43 AM
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.
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 ...
news.mit.edu
June 23, 2025 at 7:38 PM
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.
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.
news.mit.edu
June 18, 2025 at 2:52 PM
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 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...
news.mit.edu
June 17, 2025 at 5:08 PM
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.

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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...
news.mit.edu
June 16, 2025 at 2:16 PM
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.
“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...
news.mit.edu
June 13, 2025 at 4:59 PM
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. 🎉
MIT School of Engineering | » Jesse Kroll receives 2025 Capers and Marion McDonald Award
engineering.mit.edu
June 13, 2025 at 1:32 PM
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.
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.
www.chicagotribune.com
June 12, 2025 at 5:16 PM
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...
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.
news.mit.edu
May 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
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...
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.
news.mit.edu
May 19, 2025 at 2:19 PM


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...
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.
news.mit.edu
May 16, 2025 at 1:14 PM

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.
May 14, 2025 at 3:00 PM

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...
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.
news.mit.edu
May 12, 2025 at 3:56 PM
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?...
This is MIT
YouTube video by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
youtu.be
May 11, 2025 at 5:42 PM