MIT makes progress on campus climate goals
In 2021, MIT set campus decarbonization goals as part of its Fast Forward climate action plan .
“Decarbonizing our campus goes hand-in-hand with MIT playing a leadership role in promoting carbon reduction and climate resilience through its research, innovation, and efforts to inform public policy in this area,” says Glen Shor, executive vice president and treasurer. “Our teams are leveraging that same innovative spirit to meet our campus climate goals.”
Over the past decade, the Institute has decreased energy use per square foot by more than 10 percent, even as the campus has grown and research activity has intensified. Rooftop solar power generation has increased by more than five times in the same period, with installations added to the Stratton Student Center (Building W20), the Dewey Library (Building E53), the New Vassar undergraduate residence hall (Building W46), Graduate Junction (Buildings W87 and W88), and the theater arts building (Building W97). Thirty-three MIT building projects have earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. And in May, the Tina and Hamid Moghadam Building (Building 55) became MIT’s first Living Future Zero Carbon Certified building.
“We’ve completed more than 300 energy-efficiency projects across campus, focusing on our most energy-intensive research buildings, and ultimately touching nearly every corner of MIT,” notes Joe Higgins, vice president for campus services and stewardship.
Case in point: Building 46, home to the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Complex, and the Metropolitan Storage Warehouse (Building W41), newly home to the School of Architecture and Planning.
Building 46 was identified as one of MIT’s biggest energy users and the building with the greatest carbon-reduction potential. In 2024, the Institute completed a lab-by-lab renovation and improved Building 46’s mechanical systems infrastructure. The result: a 35 percent reduction in building energy use and carbon emissions — roughly a 2 percent reduction in overall campus emissions.