About the MIT Climate Policy Center

The MIT Climate Policy Center’s mission is to serve as a trusted nonpartisan resource for policymakers who wish to advance evidence-based climate policy in the next decade. 

To that end, the Climate Policy Center, which is housed in the MIT Sloan School of Management, facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration involving MIT academic departments, centers, and initiatives across the Institute focused on the climate crisis, and determines how their research can be used to educate and support policymakers. 

The Climate Policy Center’s core goals are to: 

• Serve as MIT’s “front door” for policymakers, coordinating and enhancing MIT’s current, disparate climate research efforts;
• Amplify the efforts of the Climate Project at MIT, an Institute-wide initiative to develop, deliver and scale up climate solutions, and work across all faculty, departments, centers, and initiatives engaged in climate-policy research and outreach; and
• Be a two-way street, deepening relationships between MIT and relevant policymakers to stay abreast of policymakers’ needs. 

LEADERSHIP
 

 Christopher Knittel, MIT Sloan Associate Dean for Climate and Sustainability and the George P. Shultz Professor of Energy Economics at MIT Sloan is the Faculty Director of the MIT Climate Policy Center, and Bethany Patten, EMBA ’13, a Senior Lecturer in Sustainability at MIT Sloan, is the Center’s Executive Director. 

The Center’s initial affiliated faculty and researchers include: John Sterman, the Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management at MIT Sloan as well as Co-Faculty Director of the MIT  Sloan Sustainability Initiative and Director of the MIT System Dynamics Group; and Catherine Wolfram, the William Barton Rogers Professor in Energy and a Professor of Applied Economics at MIT Sloan.              

STRATEGY                                                                            
The MIT Climate Policy Center has a three-  pronged strategy to achieve its mission: 

1. Heighten Awareness of MIT Expertise and Tools: The MIT Climate Policy Center is heightening awareness of MIT’s expertise, tools, and scenario analysis capabilities within the global policy community, including through En-ROADS and the MIT Climate Pathways Project, now housed in the MIT Climate Policy Center. Building on decades of work originated in the MIT Sloan System Dynamics Group by John Sterman, the En-ROADS climate policy simulator is a collaboration between MIT Sloan and the think tank Climate Interactive. En-ROADS is a publicly available computer simulation tool that models how different policies affect elements such as the cost of energy, global temperatures, air quality, and rising sea levels.
2. Convene, Inform, and Recommend: The MIT Climate Policy Center will convene leaders in government, industry, academia, and the nonprofit sector to exchange knowledge and ideas around climate policy.
3. Analyze Policy Proposals and Translate Research: The MIT Climate Policy Center provides rigorous and timely analysis of policy proposals by leveraging expertise from across the Institute.

CREATING A BETTER FUTURE TOGETHER 

By bringing together the brightest minds in academia and government policy, the MIT Climate Policy Center aims to contribute to the fight against climate change in a unique and impactful way. Its activities include raising awareness of MIT research, facilitating conversations among diverse climate policy stakeholders, and responding to the research needs of policymakers. These efforts will build the relationships with policymakers that are needed to amplify the interdisciplinary work of the Climate Project at MIT across the country and around the world. Together, we will work to create a healthier and more sustainable future for all.