MITEI collaborates on research and education activities with faculty members from many MIT centers, departments, and laboratories pursuing interdisciplinary energy and environmental activities. In particular, researchers from both the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research and the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change are working with MITEI researchers to support the work of the Future Energy Systems Center.
Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
Established in 1977, the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR) promotes research on energy and environmental policy to support improved decision-making by government and industry. It is directed by Christopher Knittel (MIT Sloan) and jointly sponsored by MITEI, the Department of Economics, and the MIT Sloan School of Management.
CEEPR carries out rigorous and objective research for improved decision-making in government and the private sector, and closely cooperates with government and industry partners from around the globe. Affiliated faculty and research staff as well as external research affiliates contribute to the empirical study of a wide range of policy issues related to energy supply and demand and the environment. A legacy of excellence in energy economics, enhanced with interdisciplinary cooperation across MIT’s schools and departments, informs pioneering research on pressing challenges in energy and environmental policy.
CEEPR produces working papers, policy briefs, and research input to larger, interdisciplinary studies, and hosts two annual research workshops at MIT. CEEPR has extensive previous and current international collaborations and has co-organized a series of international energy policy conferences, including partnerships with the Energy Policy Research Group at the University of Cambridge, UK, the Technical University of Denmark, and the Copenhagen Business School.
CEEPR houses the Roosevelt Project, a research initiative which takes a multidisciplinary approach to examining the transitional challenges associated with deep decarbonization of the U.S. economy. The project was initiated by former U.S. Secretary of Energy and Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems emeritus Ernest J. Moniz and engages a breadth of MIT and Harvard faculty and researchers across academic domains including economics, engineering, sociology, urban studies and planning, and political science. Phases One and Two are complete. Phase Three is currently underway and includes studies on long-distance electric transmission, strategic metals and minerals, and low-carbon steel in the United States.
CEEPR is also host to MIT Institute Innovation Fellow Brian Deese and his team. Over the past year they focused their efforts on launching the Clean Investment Monitor (CIM), which tracks public and private investments in climate technologies in the United States. Through this data and analysis, the CIM provides insights into investment trends, the effects of federal and state policies, and on-the-ground progress in the United States towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. It has already been cited multiple times in several high-profile media stories and used by the wider public in analyses and assessments of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change
In August 2024, the MIT School of Science launched a new center, under the leadership of Professor Noelle Selin, called the MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy (CS3), incorporating and succeeding both the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and the Center for Global Change Science, both of which previously had been led by Professor Ronald Prinn. While adding new capabilities, CS3 aims to produce leading-edge research to help guide societal transitions toward a more sustainable future. Drawing on the long history of MIT’s efforts to address global change and its integrated environmental and human dimensions, CS3 is well-positioned to lead burgeoning global efforts to advance the field of sustainability science, which seeks to understand nature-society systems in their full complexity.
