MIT Office of Sustainability

In a first-of-its-kind renewable energy aggregation, higher education institutions, healthcare systems, and a group of public and nonprofit organizations in Greater Boston and the North Shore are adding two new large-scale renewable energy projects to regional power grids by establishing the Consortium for Climate Solutions (Consortium) to address the carbon-free objectives of its members. Through two virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs), the Consortium’s procurement is spurring the development of 408 MW of new renewable energy, which will be constructed, owned, and operated by Apex Clean Energy. The 200 MW Big Elm Solar project in Bell County, Texas came online in 2024, and the 208 MW Bowman Wind project in Bowman County, North Dakota, is expected to come online in 2026. These projects will provide new sources of clean electricity to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and support a more resilient and diverse electricity grid, and collectively will generate clean power equal to the electricity use of 130,000 U.S. homes for each year of the 15-year duration of the contracts.?Beyond generating tangible environmental benefits, the two projects will create approximately $64 million in tax revenue for their communities, 750 jobs during construction, and a new and long-term source of income for local farmers and landowners, totaling $100 million. https://bit.ly/40X1m4L

The MIT Office of Sustainability is excited to welcome our first visitors as part of the inaugural semester of our “Scaling Climate Action & Sustainability in Higher Education Program.” Through this unique program, sustainability practitioners and scholars from around the world can apply to join our team on campus for their choice of one or two weeks to forge deeper connections and facilitate exchange on sustainability strategic planning and climate action.?Last week we hosted Dr. Behice Pehlivan, PhD , Gender Equality Coordinator of Ko? University, as she works to launch the University’s coordinated sustainability efforts. This week, Dr. Vytaute Dlugoborskyte, PhD, researcher from ISM University of Management and Economics and Hamburg University of Technology, joins us to collaborate on the opportunities around using data to inform sustainability education and behavior programs. I look forward to sharing more from our visitors and the program in the coming weeks. Learn more about the MIT Scaling Climate Action & Sustainability in Higher Education Program here:?https://lnkd.in/eRGyqrQJ

Could MIT climate-focused research and data help foster a more resilient campus and Cambridge? That's a big question asked as MIT "connects the dots" between potential climate risks, cutting-edge research, and citizen science. Heat and flood risks are two of the most critical threats climate change poses to our planet. More specifically, there has been a global year-over-year increase in:?flooding from more frequent and high-volume rains; flooding from storm surges and rising sea levels; and extreme heat events. The MIT campus and the broader region are increasingly subject to these threats—and that’s where the “Resiliency & Adaptation Roadmap” comes in. This is MIT’s plan for mitigating climate-driven risks, becoming more resilient in the face of climate change, and reducing MIT’s impact as a campus on the community around us, and on our planet. The forthcoming roadmap builds upon nearly a decade of past work. https://bit.ly/4hs950z

Join us for a night of "Junk" on November 14! Co-hosted by the MIT Museum and Office of Sustainability,?"Junk"?is the November offering of the museum’s popular?After Dark?series. The event celebrates the art and science of junk, featuring Reynaliz Herrera's bicycle rock band Ideas, Not Theories; entrepreneurs creating fashion and design from chopsticks and banana crop waste; and a talk from Peter Mui from Fixit Clinic on designing in durability and mingle with local “Fixit Coaches” in the galleries. Register: https://lnkd.in/ekTJMAEh

October 16 is World Food Day! ? This year’s theme, marking the 79th anniversary of the FAO, is “Right to foods for a better life and a better future.” The theme promotes greater diversity, nutrition, affordability, and safety to the world’s food system. ? The MIT Office of Sustainability, or MITOS, promotes these values through their food initiatives on MIT campus and in the greater Boston area. In this interview with Susy Jones of MITOS, she discusses her collaborations with campus operations to ensure students have nutritious meals. She also touches on her work with local community organizations to promote food access and affordability. A key initiative involves partnering with CommonWealth Kitchen to develop a local plant-based protein called the "field fritter." The fritter is made from locally-grown yellow peas that support soil health and local farmers. ? Overall, Susy emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together chefs, students, and researchers to explore food and climate solutions. ? #WorldFoodDay #RightToFood https://lnkd.in/eAPyNdkd

MIT's Campus Decarbonization series returns this month with "Decarbonizing the Commonwealth: What does the Massachusetts energy transition mean for MIT?" on October 24th at noon As MIT works toward its 2050 goal of achieving zero on-campus emissions, several key factors come into play, including the state's energy transition. This event offers an overview of MIT’s decarbonization efforts so far, an update from City of Cambridge Chief Climate Office Julie Wormser, and insights from Executive Director of Massachusetts’s Office of Energy Transformation Melissa Lavinson on the state’s ambitious climate goals and their implications for MIT. Register: https://bit.ly/4fi33xN

This summer, the Office of Sustainability welcomed a cohort of six undergraduate students—hosting them in-person for the first time since 2019! The group of student researchers—Jordyn Goldson '27, Dylan Cook '27, Sawyer Garrett '26, Rudiba Laiba '25, Ananda Santos Figueriedo '25, and Megan Lim '24—joined us to support the efforts and goals of the Office, tackle real-world challenges aligned with the missions of The Climate Project at MIT, and work as a team. During their time with us, the students completed research, analyzed data sets, produced videos, built new partnerships, and grappled with climate and sustainability issues during daylong hackathons. They also partnered with other students across campus, having weekly dinners with students taking part in the Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center (PKG) Boston Summer of Service and enrolling with them in the Experiential Ethics course. As the students wrapped up their work with the office, they reflected on the summer, their favorite experiences, and lessons learned for our blog. This is a great read for anyone who wants to learn more about our office as well as how current students are applying their unique knowledge to a global challenge. https://bit.ly/3BacCjy

We're teaming up with MIT Open Space Programming for another edition of their popular Speed Networking. Stop by to network with folks and talk about sustainability at MIT and beyond.

How do you translate climate work, solutions, and challenges for a diverse audience with an ever-changing appetite for these stories? This is a question we posed to Laur Hesse Fisher, Barbara Moran, and Annie Ropeik earlier this year at our Climate in the Media panel and Sustainability Connect. In case you missed it, catch their answers to these questions and more, including how reporters tailor stories for local communities and balancing feature stories with those focused on structural and systemic change https://lnkd.in/e9BKuQNh

Striving for sustainability and significant carbon reductions is crucial for many organizations, yet scaling these initiatives remains a challenge. Georgina Grenon, Director of Sustainability for the Paris 2024 - Comité d'organisation des Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques de 2024 Olympics, shares how she and her team proved that achieving an ambitious carbon goal at speed was indeed possible. Discover the strategies behind their ambitious success and how these can apply to your business. Grenon believes the #Paris2024 Olympics will set a precedent in sustainability that'll inspire industries worldwide. ?? Click on the link to continue watching and learn from the 2024 Paris Olympics' sustainability legacy! https://mitsmr.com/3WeXXKv