Climate change

Writing for The Boston Globe, President Emeritus L. Rafael Reif makes the case that “without strong research universities and the scientific and technological advances they discover and invent, the United States could not possibly keep up with China.” He emphasizes that “punishing universities financially for their failings — real and imagined — would be counterproductive. If anything, the China challenge demands that universities do more than they are already doing — and that they have the resources to do so.”

Writing for The Hill, graduate student Shomik Verma explores the potential impact of the Climate Superfund Act, a bill that would require “fossil fuel companies who have emitted more than 1 billion tons over the past 20 years to pay into a superfund for their climate damages.”  “With the saturated field of climate policies nowadays, this unique bill has the potential to be truly impactful,” writes Verma. “We need to make sure it is.”

Prof. Jessika Trancik speaks with New York Times reporter Austyn Gaffney about new research detailing the true impact of climate policies designed to reduce emissions. “Many of the technological tools that are needed to address climate change are now available,” says Trancik.  “And ready to be adopted at scale because of a host of different types of policies that came before.”

Writing for Foreign Affairs, MIT Innovation Fellow Brian Deese proposes a Clean Energy Marshall Plan to combat climate change and renew U.S. leadership on a global stage, arguing this can be done in a way that promotes U.S. interests and supports aligned countries. “In this moment of domestic economic strength—stark against the backdrop of heightened competition, a fracturing world, and a raging climate crisis—the United States can do something generous for people across the globe in a way that benefits Americans,” writes Deese. “It should take that leap, not just because it is the morally right thing to do but also because it is the strategically necessary thing to do.” 

Found Energy, co-founded by Peter Godart '15, SM '19, PHD '21, has developed a method for transforming aluminum scrap metal into energy, reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. “The Found Energy system could replace fossil fuel with aluminum-generated hydrogen, a gas that burns at up to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, but produces no waste carbon,” writes Bray. 

In an interview with The New York Times, Prof. Susan Solomon speaks about her latest book “Solvable: How We Healed the Earth, and How We Can Do it Again,” which offers learnings from past environmental fights to affect future change. “People need to have some hope. We imagine that we never solve anything…but it’s really important to go back and look at how much we succeeded in the past and what are the common threads of those successes,” Solomon says.

A research group led by postdoctoral associate Minde An analyzed China’s greenhouse gas emissions over the past decade, finding a substantial increase thought to be primarily driven by aluminum production, reports Ellen McNally for The Guardian. The researchers, writes McNally, say these levels could be reduced “with technological innovation and incorporation of the aluminum industry into the carbon market, or a national carbon trading scheme allowing emitters to buy or sell emission credits.” 

Prof. Desirée Plata and her research team have designed “a kind of clay that mimics the behavior of underwater microorganisms to break down methane into water and carbon dioxide,” reports Ivy Scott for The Boston Globe. “The estimates are that you could save a half a degree of warming by 2100 if you cut human-made methane emissions in half, so that’s a pretty big deal,” says Plata. “It’s the only greenhouse gas that can do that. It’s just a question of whether or not we’ll start to see people doing that ... [regionally] and in Massachusetts.”

Prof. Kerry Emanuel speaks with New York Times reporter Christopher Kuo about the expectations for the upcoming hurricane season. When discussing Hurricane Beryl, Emanuel says “usually the June and July storms are relatively benign. They don’t get up to full strength, so it’s very rare to have this.” 

Prof. Kerry Emanuel speaks with Scientific American reporter Chelsea Harvey about the future of hurricane forecasting and preparations. “I can’t predict the future, but I’m optimistic that things will get better,” says Emanuel. “And you’ll see people moving away from risky places, which is already beginning to happen. And those who elect to stay [will be] paying a lot of insurance or retrofitting houses to be built stronger.”

Prof. Kerry Emanuel speaks with Associated Press reporter Seth Borenstein about this year’s Atlantic hurricane season. “This year, there’s also a significant difference between water temperature and upper air temperature throughout the tropics,” writes Borenstein. “The Atlantic relative to the rest of the tropics is as warm as I’ve seen,” says Emanuel.  

Researchers from MIT and other universities, businesses and government agencies are working to help the state of Massachusetts become a leading producer of climate technology innovations, reports Jeff Young for Newsweek. “Some MIT grads launched a climate tech incubator in Cambridge called Greentown Labs in 2011 and it now hosts hundreds of startups,” explains Young. “The area's venture capital and finance communities are attuned to the climate sector and are investing in companies tackling some of the biggest climate challenges.”

Writing for the Boston Business Journal, MITEI Director William Green emphasizes that in order to address the climate crisis, "we need to convene universities, industry, and government to address the challenges of every sector including construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and the electric grid." Green notes: "We at MIT are searching for real climate solutions that the public will adopt, and that merit the huge investments necessary for wide deployment. By working collaboratively to solve these complex issues we will successfully address the greatest threat facing humanity today." 

MIT scientists have developed a new model to analyze movements across the Antarctic Ice Sheet, “a critical step in understanding the potential speed and severity of sea level rise,” writes Ava Berger for The Boston Globe. “The flow of glaciers is really the thing that could lead to catastrophic sea level rise scenarios,” explains Prof. Brent Minchew. The findings take “a really big and important step toward understanding what the future is going to look like.”  

Researchers from MIT have developed “sustainable, offshore, hydrodynamic,” artificial reef structures capable of dissipating “more than 95% of an incoming wave’s total energy,” reports Nick Warburton for Materials World. The design “comprises vertical cylinders with four rudder-like slats attached to them, so that water can flow through the structure to generate 'swirling masses of water' or large eddies,” explains Warburton.