Carbon dioxide

Study evaluates China’s progress in establishing accounting measures to reinforce its Paris pledge

Firms learn from experience in the measurement, reporting, and verification of carbon emissions under China’s emissions trading systems.

February 1, 2019

Associate Professor Asegun Henry is researching how to use superheated metals like molten tin to store heat from a concentrated solar power system, so it can be used to generate electricity as needed.

Tackling greenhouse gases

Faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering are developing technologies that store, capture, convert, and minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

January 7, 2019

Erik Landry (center) of MIT’s Office of the Vice President for Research spoke with British Columbia’s climate minister George Heyman (far right) at the COP24 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland. Joining the conversation were (left to right): Claude Nahon of EDF, Sergey Paltsev of MIT, and Sir Philip Lowe of the World Energy Council.

“Climate change will not wait for us”

At UN Climate Change Conference, MIT researchers share knowledge and tools to help nations meet Paris Agreement targets.

December 13, 2018

Two new reports show how well countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America are doing in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and what steps they can take to move closer to meeting their Paris Agreement pledges.

Technology and policy pathways to Paris emissions goals

Two new MIT reports advance practical emissions-reduction strategies for Southeast Asia and Latin America at both the regional and country level.

December 10, 2018

Diagrams illustrate the self-healing properties of the new material. At top, a crack is created in the material, which is composed of a hydrogel (dark green) with plant-derived chloroplasts (light green) embedded in it. At bottom, in the presence of light, the material reacts with carbon dioxide in the air to expand and fill the gap, repairing the damage.

Self-healing material can build itself from carbon in the air

Taking a page from green plants, new polymer “grows” through a chemical reaction with carbon dioxide.

October 11, 2018

Meeting Turkey’s Paris Agreement emissions commitment will require a dramatic shift to low-carbon energy sources, such as this solar farm in Kastamonu, Turkey.

The price of the pledge

MIT researchers examine Turkey to assess the impact of 2015 Paris climate commitments on a national economy.

July 30, 2018

Putting a price on carbon, in the form of a fee or tax on the producers of fossil fuels, can be an effective way to curb emissions of greenhouse gases.

Carbon taxes could make significant dent in climate change, study finds

Several different carbon-pricing approaches would help reduce emissions, and some would be fair as well, researchers report.

April 6, 2018

"Climate Science and Climate Risk: A Primer" by Kerry Emanuel is written for nonscientists.

A primer for understanding climate science

MIT Professor Kerry Emanuel explains the science behind climate change, as well as the associated risks and how to quantify them.

January 22, 2018

XiaoYu Wu pictured with the reactor his team used for the research. MIT researchers have developed a new system that could potentially be used for converting power plant emissions of carbon dioxide into useful fuels. The method may not only cut greenhouse emissions; it could also produce another potential revenue stream to help defray its costs.

Turning emissions into fuel

MIT-developed method converts carbon dioxide into useful compounds.

November 28, 2017

Zachary Smith is the Joseph R Mares (1924) Career Development Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering.

Using polymeric membranes to clean up industrial separations

Department of Chemical Engineering Professor Zachary Smith is working on new polymeric membranes that can greatly reduce energy use in chemical separations.

November 15, 2017

MIT Energy Initiative Director of Research Francis O'Sullivan is pondering decarbonization, decentralization, and the smart electric grid of the future.

3 Questions: The future of the electric utility

MIT Energy Initiative Director of Research Francis O’Sullivan reflects on current trends in the utility industry, as well as potential solutions to current challenges.

July 14, 2017

Years of rapid urbanization, rising incomes, and transport investment focused on automobiles has led to a significant rise in traffic congestion in Beijing and other Chinese cities. An MIT study considers how effective new measures will be in reducing China’s air pollution.

Tackling air pollution in China

Combining climate policy and vehicle emissions standards could pack a one-two punch.

May 17, 2017

“There’s no question that carbon dioxide is the biggest contributor to human-caused climate change, so that’s the big focus of mitigation efforts. But there are a number of others that are also significant,” says Jessika Trancik, the Atlantic Richfield Career Development Associate Professor in Energy Studies at MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems, and Society.

Explained: Greenhouse gases

Carbon dioxide isn’t the only one that matters, and the gases vary widely in potency and duration.

January 30, 2017

“Compared to the developed world, the state of transportation systems in China is less well-understood, and because it’s such a large, populous country, unrestricted or poorly guided growth could lead to significant negative consequences for the environment and climate,” says Paul Kishimoto, a recent recipient of a fellowship from the Martin Family Society of Graduate Fellowships in Sustaina...

Rethinking how we get around

Paul Kishimoto, a PhD student in IDSS, probes the future of transportation in China.

January 4, 2017

University students walk through dense air pollution at Anyang Normal University in Henan Province, China.

Enabling China to shift from coal to natural gas

How an enhanced cap-and-trade system can help the world’s top carbon emitter cut emissions and improve air quality.

November 18, 2016

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