MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium (MCSC)

Overcoming the impact of climate change is the challenge of our time. It will influence all aspects of life on Earth -- from the length of growing seasons to the shape of our coastlines -- and it will observe no geographic boundaries. Efforts to respond to those effects will touch us all. However, society lacks the necessary solutions to affordably achieve net-zero emissions and to effectively and equitably adapt to the climate-related changes that will inevitably occur.

While existing technologies, public education, and policy changes will play a role, they alone are insufficient. At MIT, we believe that cutting-edge advances will be essential -- and the need for them is becoming more and more critical. To deliver solutions at a price society might accept will require both steep reductions in the cost of existing technologies as well as the creation of technologies that don’t yet exist.

With a sense of urgency, we are launching the MIT Climate Grand Challenges Initiative, an Institute-wide research initiative to pursue the highest-impact problems in climate change mitigation and adaptation. The vision is to develop game-changing solutions that could achieve major global progress in decades or less. We cannot pursue an effort of this magnitude alone: MIT has the capacity, experience, and strong desire to work with industry to achieve both local and global solutions at scale. To accelerate our efforts, we are establishing the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium to bring together an influential group of sector leaders to advise MIT on research priorities and strategic direction-setting.

The aim of MCSC is to vastly accelerate the implementation of large-scale, real-world solutions to meet this challenge, and to inspire transformative climate progress across industries – and across the globe. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time. While existing technologies, public education, and policy changes will play a role in achieving net-zero emissions, they alone are insufficient.

By creating an action alliance of sustainability leaders from a broad range of industries, the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium aims to vastly accelerate large-scale, real-world implementation of solutions to the looming threat of climate change. The MCSC unites similarly motivated, highly creative and influential companies to work with MIT to build a comprehensive process, market, and ambitious implementation strategy for environmental innovation.

The catastrophic consequences of climate change already touch every corner of the global economy. Some industries are seeking solutions, setting goals and already making progress; in other sectors, work must still begin. By accelerating progress within industries and by cross-pollinating best practices across sectors, the MCSC aims to drive changes swift and broad enough to match the scale of the climate challenge. The MCSC also recognizes the need to generate enduring environmental solutions that include social equity issues at their core such that all have access to improved quality-of-life and social welfare. The strategy will emphasize rapid prototyping, training leaders who can engage across disciplines, and generating ripples of deeply inclusive change within and across industries.

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS & EXPECTATIONS
(*) Participation in developing climate & sustainability impact pathways
(*) Appointment to MCSC Impact Advisory Board
(*) Exposure to MIT leaders in climate and sustainability research
(*) Participation in MCSC online/in-person seminars and workshops
(*) Direct partnerships with MIT undergraduates conducting climate and sustainability- related research
(*) Opportunity to engage with and mentor climate-focused student clubs and groups, in addition to student entrepreneurship efforts on climate mitigation and adaptation
(*) Option to expand relationship into larger and focused efforts, including separate research agreements
(*) $250k/year for three years

Working closely with this leadership team is the MCSC Faculty Steering Committee, a multi-disciplinary group of MIT faculty. These faculty members have expertise in a wide range of areas, including: Aeronautics and Astronautics | Chemistry | Computer Science | Economics | Engineering (Electrical, Civil and Environmental, Mechanical) | Humanities & Social Sciences | Operations Management | Urban and Real Estate Sustainability.