New element in MIT’s overall strategy to combat climate change

January 28, 2021

To the members of the MIT community,

I am pleased to let you know that today we launch the latest element in MIT’s overall effort to combat climate change – the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium (MCSC)

The MCSC will create an alliance of influential corporations, drawn from a broad range of industries, that are highly motivated to work with MIT, and with each other, to pilot and deploy the solutions necessary to reach their own ambitious decarbonization commitments. The goal: to vastly accelerate the implementation of large-scale, real-world solutions, across many sectors, to help address the global climate emergency in time to make a meaningful difference.

The consortium also has the potential to make all of MIT’s climate efforts more effective; just as Climate Grand Challenges is accelerating research on climate science and solutions, the Consortium aims to accelerate the adoption of such solutions, at scale and across industries. The MCSC will play an integral role in MIT’s Climate Action Plan 2.0, to be released this spring. 

You can read more about the consortium and its member companies here.

For developing the vision for this Institute-wide effort and recruiting the remarkable array of inaugural member companies, I am very grateful to the leaders of the MCSC – Dean Anantha Chandrakasan, chair; Professor Jeffrey Grossman, director; and Professor Elsa Olivetti, associate director. I also express our gratitude to all the members of the faculty steering committee. 

At a moment when intense new federal attention to the climate crisis is making room for new hope, I believe MIT must match the moment with new intensity and focus. Today’s announcement is an important step in that response.

With enthusiasm,

L. Rafael Reif