Climate Action at MIT Sloan

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AI-enhanced visuals propel sustainable policies

Why It Matters

Skeptics are more likely to approve of sustainable infrastructure when shown AI-enhanced images of how green cityscapes might look, research finds.

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Featured News about Climate & Sustainability

A cargo ship in the ocean. A world map is transposed in the water. Ideas Made to Matter The state of supply chain sustainability A map illustrating what US counties are most vulnerable in the energy transition out of fossil fuels Ideas Made to Matter Which US counties are most vulnerable in the energy transition? Man poses casually for photo MIT News Embracing the future we need A group of people look at rows of solar panels and an electric vehicle Ideas Made to Matter Social learning influences green tech adoption
Catherine Wolfram | Professor, Applied Economics, MIT Sloan, and Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Climate and Energy Economics at the U.S. Treasury
The climate continues to change, and it’s changed pretty dramatically in the last 15 years. I don’t think we should draw too many conclusions about what’s possible.

Climate Action for Managers

How can you help? Data-backed ideas from MIT experts.

A photograph of a forest wildfire next to a screenshot of the en-ROADS climate simulator
This digital tool helps business leaders visualize climate actions By Mar 18, 2024
A big building that appears green with trees
How to choose carbon offsets that actually cut emissions
A forest area is being scanned with machine learning/AI imagery
Tackling climate change with machine learning
A collage of impact investing imagery: a plant growing from a pile of coins, a world map, solar panels and windmill, and financial charts
Why impact investors are embracing systems change

Video Shorts: Climate, explained.

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John Sterman | Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management
Hope isn’t naïve optimism—the belief that some technological breakthrough will save us. It's the belief that what we do matters. That by working together, we can create a better world.

Climate Centers & Intiatives

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Climate Research from MIT Sloan

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Our People, Our Impact

Our students and alumni bring climate solutions from the classroom into the world.

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Manuela Zoninsein

Manuela Zoninsein

EMBA '20, Sustainability Certificate

Founder +CEO, Kadeya

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Rubén Lozano Aguilera

Rubén Lozano Aguilera

MBA '13

Senior Product Manager, Google Maps

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Weixiang Wang

Weixiang Wang

Sloan Fellows MBA '18

Chief Sustainability Officer Ministry of Sustainability & Environment, Singapore

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A headshot photo of Trace smiling in front of a grey background in a blue suit

Trace Allen

  • Degree Program:
    MBA/MCP '24
  • Pronouns:
    he/him
  • At a glance:
    Trace is pursuing a dual degree MBA/Master of City Planning at MIT to focus on the nexus of economic development, entrepreneurship, and environmental justice.
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Photo of Alexa Katz, a caucasian woman with medium length brown hair smiling

Alexa Katz

  • Degree Program:
    MBA '24
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Amar Dayal

Amar Dayal

  • Degree Program:
    MBA '24
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Andres

Andrés Bisonó León

  • Degree Program:
    MBA '23 | Legatum Fellow | PKG IAP Fellow
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Kaya Thomas

Kaya Thomas

  • Program and Year:
    LGO '23
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Zhenny Gong

Zhenny Gong

  • Program and Year:
    MBA '23
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MIT Sloan Students in Action: Spotlight on the Sustainability Summit

  • On the left, Varun Gupta. On the right, Victoria Eugenia Tostado Bringas
    Meet Varun Gupta MBA ’25 and Victoria Eugenia Tostado Bringas SFMBA ’24
    Varun Gupta, MBA ’25, and Victoria Eugenia Tostado Bringas, SFMBA ’24, co-directed sponsorships for the 2024 MIT Sustainability Summit, an annual student-run event that has grown to include hundreds of attendees ranging from professionals, academics, and students.
  • Varun Gupta walks through the halls of MIT Sloan.
    Policy Meets Business
    A dual-degree student with the Harvard Kennedy School, Gupta is working to drive sustainability efforts with policy that creates new and exciting business opportunities. “When we think about systems change, which is the way to create the long-term change required for solving huge issues in society around sustainability and climate, you need the intersection between policy and business.”
  • Victoria Eugenia Tostado Bringas sits in a chair and smiles at the camera.
    Solutions with Real Impact
    “I’ve been an entrepreneur for the past 10 years in Mexico. I’ve seen how the cycles of oil and gas have drastically affected our region economically and socially for the last 30 years. Oil and gas issues affect economic activity: unemployment goes up, and social problems rise. I’ve understood this since I was a child, and I want to find solutions to ease that drastic impact in my region.”
  • Varun Gupta smiles, looking off camera.
    Drive Systemic Change to Enable Sustainability
    “[MIT Sloan’s] focus on innovation, technology, and sustainability were unique compared to other MBA programs … MIT Sloan also pioneered thinking on how culture, politics, business, environment, and entrepreneurship come together to drive systemic change to enable sustainability. Professor John Sterman is highly influential in this space and he was a key draw for me as well.”
  • Victoria Eugenia Tostado Bringas sits in a lecture hall during a class.
    Holistic Sustainability
    “As an entrepreneur, I think: How am I making my community better? How am I helping to create employment? I was looking for a school with a well-developed, holistic sustainability program. MIT also offers an MBA with a sustainability certificate, which isn’t very common.”
  • Two photos, side by side. On the left, Varun Gupta. On the right, Victoria Eugenia Tostado Bringas
    MIT 2024 Sustainability Summit
    This year, the MIT Sustainability Summit aims to bridge the ongoing “collaboration gap” and hasten cross-sectoral action on climate change. Through the lens of System Dynamics, the MIT Sustainability Summit hopes to engage motivated actors—from business, policy, academia—to come together in order to identify the leverage points, remove roadblocks, and accelerate solutions to planetary well-being.
  • Varun Gupta works with two other students.
    Systems Change
    “This year’s focus is systems change. We’re focusing on three impact areas: transportation, the built environment, and agriculture.”
  • Victoria Eugenia Tostado Bringas smiles at someone off camera at an event.
    Part of a Bigger Movement
    “I hope to communicate to companies the imminent need to look at sustainability with a systemic approach and incorporate little and big actions into their strategies. The world is changing; the world requires adaptation from all stakeholders, including companies in the private and the public sector. We’re all part of a bigger movement.”
  • Varun Gupta listens to someone off camera. He sits with two other students.
    An 'Un-Conference'
    “This year, we’re calling it an ‘un-conference’: Typically, a conference has a lot of speakers. There’s a lot of listening and less contribution from audience members who typically have a lot to offer. This year, half of the conference is going to focus on breakout sessions. Each topic area will have a panel of experts. We’ll have case studies with questions and problems that a small group will solve for. We’ll come together as a whole and report out the most creative and exciting solutions for each track. It’s really about attendee participation, in addition to traditional speaker insights.”
  • Victoria Eugenia Tostado Bringas looks out of a window
    Novel and Innovative
    “We cannot have successful businesses if the environment is suffering. The fact that we’re tackling this summit systemically is a novel and innovative thing.”

In the News

  • The Hill

    Professor Catherine Wolfram and co-author write: "The entrenched view that the United States will never support a carbon price is misguided. 2025 will be a big year for Congress to tackle longstanding fiscal issues and further climate policy efforts. Before this can happen, politicians need to hear timely arguments backed by up-to-date evidence."

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  • Financial Times

    In new research, professor Roberto Rigobon, research scientist Florian Berg, and co-author used data from analytics firm Clarity AI to assess the carbon emissions of companies that did and didn't have SBTi-approved targets in place. The results were striking. Companies that set SBTi targets, but didn't obtain assurance on their climate reports, performed no better on emissions reduction than non-SBTi signatories.

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  • Fast Company

    "The impact on jobs of the energy transition is not just going to be where oil and natural gas are drilled, it's going to be all the way up and down the value chain of things we make in the U.S.," said professor Christopher Knittel, coauthor of a research paper on the analysis published today.

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  • The Hill

    Professor Christopher Knittel and co-author write: "Our research paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides new economy-wide data on where employment in the United States is most vulnerable to the economic pressures of the energy transition. We find that the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act fails to effectively support many parts of the country where employment is at risk."

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  • CNN

    "The target here is to produce electricity cheaper than coal and gas plants," senior lecturer John Parsons said. These fossil fuel plants are "terribly simple and cheap to run — they're just dirty," he added.

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  • The Boston Globe

    John Sterman, a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management with a focus in sustainability, achieved the holy grail of net zero eight years ago. His 1920s Lexington home was due for an update, but instead of just "upgrading and renovating," Sterman decided the "incremental cost of going deeper and doing a retrofit" was the right move.

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The Climate Project at MIT

The goal of the Climate Project at MIT is for MIT to become, within the next decade, one of the world’s most prolific and collaborative sources of technological, behavioral, and policy solutions for the global climate challenge. We'll know we have succeed only if, in 10 years, we have changed the expected trajectory of global climate outcomes for the better.