Skip to main content
Climate
Search

Main navigation

  • Climate 101
    • What We Know
    • What Can Be Done
    • Climate Primer
  • Explore
    • Explainers
    • Ask MIT Climate
    • Podcast
    • For Educators
  • MIT Action
    • News
    • Events
    • Resources
  • Search
MIT

Main navigation

  • Climate 101
    • What We Know
    • What Can Be Done
    • Climate Primer
  • Explore
    • Explainers
    • Ask MIT Climate
    • Podcast
    • For Educators
  • MIT Action
    • News
    • Events
    • Resources
  • Search
PostFebruary 14, 2022

Resilience in Action: 2021 Sustainability Reports showcase accomplishments

MITOS Annual Report & GHG Brochure Covers

The 2021 academic year provided a test in the practice of how to accomplish critical sustainability and climate goals while supporting a campus facing a massive disruption—currently from a public health pandemic and community disbursement.  Despite these disruptions, the Office of Sustainability forged ahead and sought to strengthen MIT’s commitment to climate and sustainability and work in partnership across the Institute to formulate and actualize our commitments. The Office of Sustainability 2021 Annual Report and the Progress towards MIT's Greenhouse Gas Goal 2021 highlights the work of the Office of Sustainability on climate resiliency and mitigation, safe and sustainable labs, materials management, designing out waste, and food systems. 

Since the publication of Fast Forward: MIT’s Climate Action Plan for the Decade in May 2021, MITOS now has a new set of campus climate commitments and metrics to inform and implement. The two ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets are net-zero campus by 2026 and the elimination of direct campus emissions by 2050. 
 

Report Highlights

  • Efforts to connect across scales of impact spanning from individuals, campus, city, state, and globe

  • Progress on greenhouse gas reductions and new targets

  • Multiple new data sets and visualizations now available in the DataPool

Interesting changes during COVID-19 Pandemic

  • Waste had been trending down since 2014; however, when the campus shut down in March 2020, there was a marked decrease in waste removed 

  • The Sustainability Incubator Fund allowed campus researchers to study the supply chain, lifecycle use, and disposal processes of PPE. They recommended bulk purchasing and developed a PPE Demand Calculator to right size ordering and ensure access

  • Electricity use declined slightly at the building level, with fewer people using electricity in offices, labs, and residences. However, natural gas use (for heating/cooling) increased slightly to meet the higher building ventilation rates activated to reduce COVID-19 risk

What to look forward to in 2021-2022

  • Overseeing and communicating progress on the 14 Campus Commitments in Fast Forward

  • Expanded data collection and visualizations in the Data Pool

  • Integrating an environmental justice lens into day-to-day work

  • Many more, the report highlights additional new projects in 2022

Read more in the Office of Sustainability 2021 Annual Report and Progress towards MIT's Greenhouse Gas Goal 2021  

by MIT Office of Sustainability
Topics
Buildings
Cities & Planning
Education
Energy
Energy Efficiency
Renewable Energy
Humanities & Social Science
Climate Justice
MIT Action
Waste

Related Posts

PostJuly 4, 2025

Robotic probe quickly measures key properties of new materials

MIT News
Scientists are striving to discover new semiconductor materials that could boost the efficiency of solar cells and other electronics. The pace of innovation is bottlenecked by the speed at which researchers can manually measure important material properties, but a fully autonomous robotic system developed by MIT researchers could speed things up.
PostJuly 2, 2025

3 Questions: How MIT’s venture studio is partnering with MIT labs to solv...

MIT News
David Cohen-Tanugi has been the venture builder for Proto Ventures’ fusion and clean energy channel since 2023.
PostJuly 2, 2025

Confronting the AI/energy conundrum

MIT Energy Initiative
At the 2025 MIT Energy Initiative Spring Symposium, Evelyn Wang (at lectern), the MIT vice president for energy and climate, joined MITEI Director William H. Green to discuss how collaborations across campus can help solve the data center challenge.
PostJuly 1, 2025

VAMO proposes an alternative to architectural permanence

MIT News
VAMO (Vegetal, Animal, Mineral, Other), is an ultra-lightweight, biodegradable, and transportable canopy designed to circle around a brick column in the Corderie of the Venice Arsenale — a historic space originally used to manufacture ropes for the city’s naval fleet.

MIT Climate News in Your Inbox

 
 

MIT Groups Log In

Log In

Footer

  • About
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility
  • Contact
MIT Climate Project
MIT
Communicator Award Winner
Communicator Award Winner