Climate-Resilient Infrastructure | MIT Climate Portal
As climate change causes weather disasters to become more severe or reach new areas, much of our infrastructure will need to be redesigned for climate resilience.| MIT Climate Portal
As climate change causes weather disasters to become more severe or reach new areas, much of our infrastructure will need to be redesigned for climate resilience.| MIT Climate Portal
We interview faculty, scientists and experts at MIT to answer our readers' questions about climate change science and solutions. Write in your question below, and we'll consider it for Ask MIT Climate.| MIT Climate Portal
Ask MIT Climate is here to answer your questions about how our planet is changing, how it will impact life on Earth and what we can do about it. Whether it's simple or sticky, about science or solutions, ask us! We work with MIT faculty and scientists to give you clear, no-nonsense answers grounded in the best scientific information. New answers posted every month.| MIT Climate Portal
Coastal ecosystems, formed by plants that can thrive in saltwater, are especially good at storing carbon because of the thick, rich layers of soil they build up.| MIT Climate Portal
Soil-based carbon sequestration is a way to remove CO2 from the air and store it somewhere it can’t easily escape: in soils, which store carbon in the form of broken-down plant matter.| MIT Climate Portal
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a United Nations body widely considered the world’s top authority on climate science.| MIT Climate Portal
Climate models are computer programs that simulate weather patterns over time. Scientists use these models to predict how the climate might change in the future.| MIT Climate Portal
Sea levels around the world are rising because of climate change, as warming ocean waters and melting ice cause the oceans to encroach on the world's coasts.| MIT Climate Portal
Through tools including "ESG" ratings, green bonds, and fossil fuel divestment, a growing number of investors are factoring risks from climate change into their choices about what assets to buy and sell.| MIT Climate Portal
Yes: although electric cars' batteries make them more carbon-intensive to manufacture than gas cars, they more than make up for it by driving much cleaner under nearly any conditions.| MIT Climate Portal
Heating and cooling is the biggest driver of energy use in homes and commercial buildings. Technology and building design can help keep us comfortable while reducing the impact of that energy use on the climate.| MIT Climate Portal
Net zero emissions are achieved when one's greenhouse gas emissions are effectively balanced out by actions that take or keep greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere.| MIT Climate Portal
Climate targets are the limits that scientists and policymakers set in plans to combat climate change.| MIT Climate Portal
Wind energy is a form of carbon-free, renewable energy, which today makes electricity at a lower average cost than any other form of new-built energy.| MIT Climate Portal
Solar energy is a form of carbon-free, renewable energy, in which sunlight is turned into electricity, heat, or other forms of energy we can use.| MIT Climate Portal
Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical substance in the universe. It can be used as a fuel that does not produce greenhouse gases when burned.| MIT Climate Portal
Hurricanes are intense tropical cyclones. These storms are becoming stronger as climate change warms the oceans.| MIT Climate Portal
Agriculture is likely to face severe impacts from climate change. At the same time, the production, storage, and transport of food contribute to climate change.| MIT Climate Portal
Electric vehicles are a cleaner alternative to gasoline- or diesel-powered cars and trucks—both in terms of harmful air pollution, and the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change.| MIT Climate Portal
Aviation emissions are responsible for around 5% of climate warming, and this share is rising.| MIT Climate Portal
Renewable energy is energy from sources, like wind, solar, and hydropower, that we cannot run out of.| MIT Climate Portal
Nuclear energy is low-carbon energy made by breaking the bonds that hold particles together inside an atom.| MIT Climate Portal
Mining provides us with the building blocks of modern society, but much of the energy used to get minerals out of the ground, and process them, today comes from fossil fuels.| MIT Climate Portal
Energy storage is technology that holds energy at one time so it can be used at another time. Cheap and abundant energy storage is a key challenge for a low-carbon energy system.| MIT Climate Portal
The electric grid is a network of power lines and other infrastructure that moves electricity from power plants to our homes and businesses—and its design affects our options for building a clean energy system.| MIT Climate Portal
In 2022, humans emitted more than 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. It can be difficult to picture a “ton” of a gas like CO2, so let’s describe it in a few different ways.| MIT Climate Portal
Extreme heat is a dangerous weather condition that is becoming more common and severe as climate change warms the planet.| MIT Climate Portal
Cities concentrate people into small areas for good reason, but this makes them major sources of greenhouse gases and uniquely vulnerable to climate risks.| MIT Climate Portal
Plastic pollution does contribute a bit to climate change—and slowing the production of non-degradable plastics has other large benefits for natural ecosystems.| MIT Climate Portal
Freight transportation moves billions of tons of cargo around the world each year. Nearly all freight transportation runs on oil and gas.| MIT Climate Portal
It depends exactly where and how the battery is made—but when it comes to clean technologies like electric cars and solar power, even the dirtiest batteries emit less CO2 than using no battery at all.| MIT Climate Portal
Human-made fertilizers have greatly boosted crop production, letting farmers grow more food on less land. But this uptick in fertilizer use has come at a cost: planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.| MIT Climate Portal
Forests take in carbon from the air and store it in wood, plant matter, and under the soil. Restoring them is an important option for combating climate change.| MIT Climate Portal
Concrete is among the world’s most consumed materials—second only to water. It also produces large amounts of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.| MIT Climate Portal
Greenhouse gases are gases—like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—that keep the Earth warmer than it would be without them.| MIT Climate Portal
Public transportation gets people where they’re going while emitting far fewer climate-warming| MIT Climate Portal
Carbon capture and storage is a technology that captures the carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels before it is released to the atmosphere.| MIT Climate Portal
