Massachusetts Institute of Technology
PA-2: Sustainability Planning

In 2015, MIT Provost Martin Schmidt and Executive Vice President Israel Ruiz convened the Campus Sustainability Task Force with a charge to “shape the vision and plan of action for campus sustainability at MIT.” The task force was to engage the MIT community and to integrate “the campus sustainability perspectives of the MIT Office of Sustainability, MIT Energy Initiative, MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, and build upon the MIT Plan for Climate Action.” Its primary activities were to 1) “initiate a process to agree upon a shared and actionable vision for campus sustainability at MIT through 2025, and design a roadmap for achieving this vision,” 2) “facilitate collaborative activities with faculty, students, and staff across MIT’s departments, laboratories, and centers to advance the overarching goal of using the campus as a living lab for sustainability,” and 3) “review outcomes and recommendations from the Sustainability Working Groups coordinated by the Office of Sustainability.” In response to this charge, the Pathway to Sustainability Leadership by MIT report has been drafted and published.

MIT Capital Renewal Plan

REPORT OF THE INSTITUTE COMMUNITY AND EQUITY OFFICER (ICEO): Advancing a Respectful and Caring Community Learning by Doing at MIT
Website: http://iceoreport.mit.edu

MIT Student Access and Affordability Plan
Website: http://sfs.mit.edu/access-affordability

Contained in the Plan for Action on Climate, the following goals are articulated:

Develop an Environment and Sustainability degree option
Meeting the climate challenge will require collaboration among people trained in disparate fields but who share a fluency in climate science; with a new minor in Environment and Sustainability, all MIT undergraduates will have the option of developing this “bilingual” strength. Thanks to the generous support of Derry and Charlene Kabcenell, funds are available to develop or adapt a sequence of options for interdisciplinary, problem-centered courses focused on climate change and related environmental crises. Classes will be drawn from all five Schools, underscoring our recognition of the economic, political, cultural and design dimensions of thinking about the environment and sustainability. Together these courses will make possible a new Environment and Sustainability Minor.

Develop an online Climate Change and Sustainability credential
The impacts of climate change are likely to be felt first and worst in parts of the developing world, where advanced education can be hard to come by. To help people everywhere educate and empower themselves on the subject of global warming, MIT will develop an MITx Climate Change and Sustainability credential, building on Professor Kerry Emanuel’s outstanding course on climate change. Via edX, it will be open to unlimited learners around the world.

Explore broad adoption of principles of “benign and sustainable design”
Engineers, architects and other designers have long considered “environmental externalities” in their work. But to make the practice more rigorous, far-reaching and systematic, it must be built into how and what we teach. We have asked Dean of Engineering Ian Wai and Dean of Architecture and Planning Hashim Sarkis to explore with their faculty ways to inject principles of “benign and sustainable design” throughout MIT’s engineering and design curricula. In addition, the School of Humanities, Arts and Sciences offers courses in anthropology, and through the program in Science, Technology and Society, that contribute to how humans and cultures think about and experience design. These courses will provide models and different points of view on what is considered benign and sustainable. We will also reach out to peer universities to learn from their experience and explore ways to make these principles more universal.

Contained in the Plan for Action on Climate, the following goals related to research are articulated:

Our objective: to minimize emission of carbon dioxide, methane and other global warming agents into the atmosphere, and to devise pathways for adaptation to climate change, through the active involvement of the MIT community, proactively engaged with industry, government, academia, foundations, philanthropists and the public.

To reach that objective, we will:
A. Through research improve our understanding of climate change and advance novel, targeted mitigation and adaptation solutions
B. Through research accelerate progress towards low- and zero-carbon energy technologies
C. Through research use our community as a test bed for change

Contained in the Pathway to Sustainability Leadership by MIT Report (draft):

MIT comprises a diverse set of individuals. Each member of the community—whether student, faculty, or staff—has the potential to contribute to a sustainable campus in unique ways. This report seeks to guide, incentivize, and empower individuals to make a sustainable campus the “new business as usual” and to welcome the contribution of each member of the MIT community in this endeavor. CSTF Report (draft):

Commitments
1. Embed sustainability into all aspects of the MIT experience, ranging from dorms, living groups, classrooms, labs, offices, and other facilities to our integration with the broader community.

Contained in the Plan for Action on Climate, the following goals related to campus engagement are articulated:

1. We will deploy an open data platform for campus energy use.
To improve our energy management and to provide faculty, sta and students with a useful resource for research and intelligent decision-making, we will institute a new regime to measure campus energy use and will share our ndings through an open data platform.

2.We will activate our campus as a living lab.
As we renew the campus, we will actively seek opportunities to test carbon e cient technologies and practices, and to o er hands-on education in climate science and sustainable design. This might include a rooftop-testing facility for the kind of solar technologies our faculty and students are busy inventing even now.

Within the Climate Action Plan, the following objectives address public engagement:

D. Share what we know, and learn from others around the world

MIT often serves as an independent voice in contentious, technically grounded policy debates. In that spirit, and at the urging of the Climate Change Conversation Committee, we will accelerate our efforts to offer the public a trusted source of climate change information, to engage leaders and citizens in the effort for solutions, and to use MIT’s expertise in online education to dramatically expand our reach. To those ends, under the coordination of ESI:

We will educate leaders in industry and government through a new suite of short courses and executive seminars—using online learning technologies to reach leaders everywhere and at every level, far from Cambridge or Washington, DC—on the risks of and options for combating climate change.

We will expand the capacity of MIT’s Climate CoLab. This digital community, led by more than 200 experts, has already engaged nearly 50,000 individuals from over 170 countries to crowdsource climate priorities and novel solutions. We will support its expansion as a vital asset.

We will mobilize the strength of our alumni. MIT’s 130,000 alumni represent an exceptional untapped resource for driving substantive progress on climate change—and we are certain that our graduates will know be er than we do how to make the most of their strength, from their technical expertise to their professional and community networks. With practical support from MIT’s Climate CoLab, today we open a competition to determine the most effective ways for the MIT alumni community to help MIT implement today’s plan.

We will create a web portal on climate change to supply the public with timely, accurate climate information and offer diverse expert perspectives.

We will pursue solutions through the convening power of “Solve.” In October, MIT hosted the inaugural session of “Solve,” an effort to convene a wide range of in influential thinkers and doers with the power and position to drive progress on a set of great global challenges, including climate change. MIT will convene Solve each year, and in the intervening months will work with participants to sustain the momentum for progress.

Our objective: to minimize emission of carbon dioxide, methane and other global warming agents into the atmosphere, and to devise pathways for adaptation to climate change, through the active involvement of the MIT community, proactively engaged with industry, government, academia, foundations, philanthropists and the public.

To reach that objective, we will:
A. Improve our understanding of climate change and advance novel, targeted mitigation and adaptation solutions
B. Accelerate progress towards low- and zero-carbon energy technologies
C. Educate a new generation of climate, energy and environmental innovators
D. Share what we know, and learn from others around the world
E. Use our community as a test bed for change

From: Climate Action Plan

Climate Action Plan:

We will reduce campus greenhouse gas emissions 32% by 2030.

In its campus operations, MIT will pursue a coordinated suite of carbon-reduction strategies focused on power generation, distribution and demand management. After careful study, we believe this path makes an initial 32% reduction feasible despite projected growth of the campus; we will pursue further reductions if possible. These strategies will include making significant improvements to the cogeneration plant that provides 85% of campus energy; pursuing additional renewable energy options for our remaining power requirements; and renewing our aging utility distribution system. MIT is also committed to the integration of low-carbon design strategies, and ultra-efficient energy technologies within our buildings. We will develop and share a campus climate action plan within the year.

Sustainability Working Group Recommendations Report:

The Sustainable Design and Construction Working Group established a set of principles to guide the development and implementation of their recommendations:

Recommendations
• Commit to an integrated design process that embeds sustainability into the design, construction, and renovation of all new and existing MIT buildings, including their systems, materials, sites, and infrastructure.
• Prioritize energy efficiency strategies and reduction in carbon emissions in new and existing MIT buildings based on a life-cycle approach.
• Create feedback loops for all stakeholders that result in continuous improvement and ongoing performance optimization and enhancement of the buildings.
• Develop internal resources to ensure the implementation of sustainable design and construction for all projects, ranging from small-scale renovations to large-scale new construction.

• Transition to the LEED Gold version 4 rating system for all capital construction projects and integrate LEED certification strategies into renovations and capital renewal projects (FY2016).
Sustainability Working Group Recommendations
7

• Develop MIT-specific sustainability standards for capital construction, renovation, and capital renewal projects (FY2016).
• Develop an MIT-specific LEED framework and sustainability standards for new construction and large renovations (FY2016).
• Develop sustainability standards for system-wide initiatives, partial renovations, and limited- scope projects that do not comply with LEED (FY2016).
• Develop a product sustainability assessment and building materials list to integrate with building design standards (FY2016).
• Develop a streamlined life-cycle cost analysis framework and calculator applicable to capital construction and capital renewal projects (FY2017).
• Develop benchmarks for building types (labs, offices, classrooms, and residences) (FY2017), and review and update them annually.
• Develop Sustainable Building Operations and Maintenance Guidelines (FY2018).
• Assess the effectiveness of a carbon “shadow pricing” strategy to influence all future capital renewal projects.

E. Use our community as a test bed for change

As we work to pioneer technologies and policies to help society combat climate change, we feel a keen responsibility to improve the sustainability of our campus and to use it as a test bed for faculty, student and staff ideas. Moreover, we will actively share pertinent results of our reduction strategies and related research projects, in case they could be helpful to similar campuses and organizations around the world. We begin with these steps:
We will reduce campus greenhouse gas emissions 32% by 2030.

In its campus operations, MIT will pursue a coordinated suite of carbon-reduction strategies focused on power generation, distribution and demand management. After careful study, we believe this path makes an initial 32% reduction feasible despite projected growth of the campus; we will pursue further reductions if possible. These strategies will include making signi cant improvements to the cogeneration plant that provides 85% of campus energy; pursuing additional renewable energy options for our remaining power requirements; and renewing our aging utility distribution system. MIT is also committed to the integration of low-carbon design strategies, and ultra-efficient energy technologies within our buildings. We will develop and share a campus climate action plan within the year.

We will eliminate the use of fuel oil in campus power generation by 2019.

As a component of our capital renewal plan, natural gas will be the primary fuel source in MIT’s Cogeneration Plant. Ultra-low-sulfur diesel will be used only in emergency situations.
We will actively pursue new carbon-cutting strategies across campus.
Capturing the recommendations of the 2015 Sustainability Working Groups, the upcoming Campus Sustainability Report aligns campus operations along a set of sustainability principles, putting MIT on a path to being a state-of-the-art sustainable campus. The report leverages the MIT 2030 Capital Renewal Plan, identifying this major campus transformation as presenting rare openings to invest in efficient building systems, envelopes, metering and new technologies. MIT is committed to an integrated design process that factors sustainability into the design, construction and renovation of all new and existing MIT buildings, including their systems, materials, sites and infrastructure. In the next fiffteen years, for example, the majority of building roofs at MIT will be replaced. We will take advantage of this opportunity to evaluate and deploy a range of sustainable roof strategies, from today’s solar panels to “green roofs” and beyond. We will also use the renewal process to create “green laboratories.”
We will enact “carbon shadow pricing.”
A central problem in fighting climate change is that carbon emissions are effectively “free”; neither individuals nor institutions have much direct incentive to cut back. Appropriate pricing of carbon is widely accepted as an essential policy instrument to help mitigate climate disruption. As we push toward our 32% reduction in carbon emissions, we will experiment with the effects of including in our institutional decision-making an honest accounting of carbon costs. This will require that we design, implement and assess the e effectiveness of a carbon “shadow pricing” plan; to start with, it would be intended to influence all future capital renewal projects. We will also study selected aspects of end-user carbon pricing on our campus, to provide data that students and faculty can use to study what policies would best reduce carbon emissions by changing habits and behaviors.
We will deploy an open data platform for campus energy use.

To improve our energy management and to provide faculty, staff and students with a useful resource for research and intelligent decision-making, we will institute a new regime to measure campus energy use and will share our findings through an open data platform.
We will activate our campus as a living lab.

As we renew the campus, we will actively seek opportunities to test carbon efficient technologies and practices, and to o er hands-on education in climate science and sustainable design. This might include a rooftop-testing facility for the kind of solar technologies our faculty and students are busy inventing even now.

From: Climate Action Plan

The Stormwater and Landscape Management Working Group was tasked with identifying strategies for achieving cost-effective, comprehensive, and sustainable stormwater and landscape management practices to support the health of the Charles River Watershed; enhance campus and residential life for students, faculty, and staff; and advance MIT’s sustainability objectives. Their recommendations target the following areas of campus management and design:
Overview of Working Group Scope
• Utilities
• Grounds maintenance
• Planning and landscape engineering
• Stormwater and landscape management practices

The Stormwater and Land Management Working Group established a set of principles to guide the development and implementation of their recommendations:

Recommendations
• Foster the resiliency of our land and water systems in a changing New England climate.
• Enhance the water quality of the Charles River Watershed.
• Plan comprehensively for a renewed campus commons that supports the health and well-being of the MIT community and other living systems.
• Develop systems and practices in the built environment that mimic the natural hydrological cycle, build healthy soils, and support biodiversity.

From Sustainability Working Group Recommendations Report

The Materials and Waste Management Group Recommendations:

Recommendations

• Support and facilitate a life-cycle approach to the purchase of products, services, and materials that maximize benefits to human and ecological health.
• Maximize the potential of existing systems to reduce waste and the unnecessary consumption of materials.
• Engage vendors as partners in transforming MIT’s supply chain.
• Reduce the impact of material flows on the environment.
• Integrate concepts of the circular economy framework, which essentially “designs out waste” to ensure that all materials used can be dissembled and re-purposed, to inform materials management practices at MIT.

Goal Setting
• Set a waste reduction and diversion goal for the Institute (FY2016).

New/Improved Standards, Processes, and Tools

• Develop a program to incentivize vendors to advance MIT’s commitment to sustainability by identifying and implementing sustainable solutions for procurement and materials management. Identify vendors to engage with (FY2016) and implement strategies (FY2017).
• Develop a program to assess, pilot, evaluate, and scale up innovative materials management strategies on campus.
• Develop a method to select and evaluate pilot projects (FY2016).
• Identify 2–3 projects per year to assess, pilot, and evaluate for potential scale-up. Possibilities may include a Styrofoam packaging take-back program (FY2016) and a chemical-sharing program (FY2017).
• Evaluate and develop a comprehensive database of pilot projects (FY2017).
• Evaluate existing waste management processes (i.e., solid waste and food scraps disposal and recycling) at MIT, assess best practices, and identify opportunities for new, innovative, and sustainable waste diversion, collection, and disposal methods (FY2017).
• Evaluate current electronic waste disposal and collection practices (FY2017).
• Evaluate opportunities to integrate waste-to-energy technology on the MIT campus (FY2017).
• Develop and implement Sustainable Procurement guidelines and metrics for vendors and purchasers (FY2017).
• Annually assess the top five commonly purchased products by quantity and seek sustainable alternatives for them where feasible (FY2017).
• Evaluate the potential to integrate MIT’s reuse and recycling networks with its procurement systems and develop supporting integration tools.
• Develop a framework and identify a location for a “smart reuse” facility that integrates information technology to dynamically manage and share information on materials and products for reuse (FY2017).
• Develop an Institute-wide tool that integrates MIT’s reuse and recycling networks with its procurement systems (FY2018).
Recommended Plans
• Develop a Materials and Waste Management Plan (FY2017).
Data Collection and Management Strategies
• Refine the waste data collection process (FY2016).
• Establish a process by which to collect and analyze procurement data (FY2017).
Education, Training, and Collaboration
• Develop an education and outreach program targeting authorized purchasing personnel (FY2017).
• Create an incentive program to encourage purchasers to choose environmentally preferred products (FY2018).

From Sustainability Working Group Recommendations Report

Access MIT
Your commute counts. Switch it up.
In 2016, MIT set out in to reduce parking demand on campus by 10% below 2016 levels by 2018 with the launch of Access MIT, which combines pay-per-day parking for most parkers with free access to MBTA subway and local bus, among other benefits.

Under the leadership of the MIT Committee for Transportation and Parking , the newly launched Access MIT program is an initiative to create a variety of affordable, low-carbon transportation options and change the way the MIT community thinks about commuting.

Access MIT program elements include:

Free, unrestricted use of the MBTA subway and local bus systems for benefits-eligible Cambridge campus MIT faculty, staff, and postdocs

A 60% commuter rail subsidy

A 50% subsidy for parking at MBTA stations, up to $100 per month

A shift from annual to daily pay-per-day parking plans at MIT gated lots

A commuter dashboard for MIT employees that tracks your commute, helps plan trips, and match carpoolers up with each other https://mit.rideamigos.com/

"MIT’s GHG phase 1 reduction strategy focuses on mitigating emissions associated with its primary sources of GHG: academic building spaces, fleet vehicles, and fugitive emissions. Emissions associated with the operation of MIT-owned academic buildings make-up the single largest source of GHG, equaling 204,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalents (MTCO2e) in our baseline year [2014]. A 32% net reduction of those emissions (excluding any campus growth) requires a reduction by 2030 of approximately 65,280 MTCE from our existing building operations. However, to accommodate expected campus growth through 2030, additional reductions will have to be realized to off-set the projected additional emissions.

Fleet vehicles
Comprising over 160 departmental vehicles and shuttles, fuel use by MIT’s campus vehicle fleet contributed 1,150 MTCO2e in baseline year 2014. Mitigation strategies include expansion of alternative fuels (including expanding campus electric-vehicle charging infrastructure), optimizing vehicle sizes for required duty, and improved transit routing and scheduling.

From: MIT GHG Emissions Reduction Strategy

The Materials and Waste Management Group established a set of principles to guide the development and implementation of their recommendations:

Recommendations
• Support and facilitate a life-cycle approach to the purchase of products, services, and materials that maximize benefits to human and ecological health.
• Maximize the potential of existing systems to reduce waste and the unnecessary consumption of materials.
• Engage vendors as partners in transforming MIT’s supply chain.
• Reduce the impact of material flows on the environment.
• Integrate concepts of the circular economy framework, which essentially “designs out waste” to ensure that all materials used can be dissembled and re-purposed, to inform materials management practices at MIT.

Goal Setting
• Set a waste reduction and diversion goal for the Institute (FY2016).

New/Improved Standards, Processes, and Tools

• Develop a program to incentivize vendors to advance MIT’s commitment to sustainability by identifying and implementing sustainable solutions for procurement and materials management. Identify vendors to engage with (FY2016) and implement strategies (FY2017).
• Develop a program to assess, pilot, evaluate, and scale up innovative materials management strategies on campus.
• Develop a method to select and evaluate pilot projects (FY2016).
• Identify 2–3 projects per year to assess, pilot, and evaluate for potential scale-up. Possibilities may include a Styrofoam packaging take-back program (FY2016) and a chemical-sharing program (FY2017).
• Evaluate and develop a comprehensive database of pilot projects (FY2017).
• Evaluate existing waste management processes (i.e., solid waste and food scraps disposal and recycling) at MIT, assess best practices, and identify opportunities for new, innovative, and sustainable waste diversion, collection, and disposal methods (FY2017).
• Evaluate current electronic waste disposal and collection practices (FY2017).
• Evaluate opportunities to integrate waste-to-energy technology on the MIT campus (FY2017).
• Develop and implement Sustainable Procurement guidelines and metrics for vendors and purchasers (FY2017).
• Annually assess the top five commonly purchased products by quantity and seek sustainable alternatives for them where feasible (FY2017).
• Evaluate the potential to integrate MIT’s reuse and recycling networks with its procurement systems and develop supporting integration tools.
• Develop a framework and identify a location for a “smart reuse” facility that integrates information technology to dynamically manage and share information on materials and products for reuse (FY2017).
• Develop an Institute-wide tool that integrates MIT’s reuse and recycling networks with its procurement systems (FY2018).
Recommended Plans
• Develop a Materials and Waste Management Plan (FY2017).
Data Collection and Management Strategies
• Refine the waste data collection process (FY2016).
• Establish a process by which to collect and analyze procurement data (FY2017).
Education, Training, and Collaboration
• Develop an education and outreach program targeting authorized purchasing personnel (FY2017).
• Create an incentive program to encourage purchasers to choose environmentally preferred products (FY2018).

From: Sustainability Working Group Recommendations Report

The Sustainable Design and Construction Working Group

Goal Setting
• Set campus-wide energy- and water-reduction goals by June 2016.

The Green Labs Working Group established the following key principles to guide the development and implementation of their recommendations:

Recommendations
• Optimize energy and water use within lab facilities.
• Develop processes to ensure continuous improvement and optimized performance of our labs.

From: Sustainability Working Group Recommendations Report

Table 1. Major recommendations for advancing a respectful and caring community at MIT (including diversity and equity)

C1: Create an MIT Compact
C2: Launch an education campaign, employing bystander videos and leadership workshops
C3: Policies and complaint- handling procedures
E5: Educate all community members about unconscious bias
E4: Implement recommendations of existing faculty equity reports
S1: Create and use a Community and Equity Dashboard
S2: Join the Leading for Change Higher Education Diversity Consortium
C5: Implement a paid “Time for Learning and Doing” during work hours program
C6: Establish a Mentoring Resource Center
E8: Enhance the MIT MLK programs
E6: Consider appointing a faculty recruitment concierge
E2: Collect applicant-pool data for all academic and research hires
S3: Appoint Equity Committees
C4: Organize an annual Community and Equity Challenge competition
E1: Increase the URM percentage of non-faculty academics
E3: Review salary equity for postdocs and all employee categories
E7: Connect the STEM pipeline at MIT

From: REPORT OF THE INSTITUTE COMMUNITY AND EQUITY OFFICER (ICEO): Advancing
a Respectful and Caring Community Learning by Doing at MIT (http://iceoreport.mit.edu)

http://diversity.mit.edu

MIT Student Access and Affordability
MIT works closely with all families who qualify for financial aid to develop an individual affordability plan tailored to their financial circumstances.
http://sfs.mit.edu/access-affordability

http://due.mit.edu/news/2013/affordability-mit

The Division of Student Life's (DSL) first published goal is to "enrich students' holistic wellbeing". DSL offers several measurable objectives, or "initiatives", that address Wellbeing & Work. The objectives listed below are published online at http://studentlife.mit.edu/about/goals-mission-and-organization.

INITIATIVE 1: Create a food secure campus and meet urgent student needs

Decrease food insecurity issues through implementation of working group recommendations. [SSW/RE]
Open TechMart at-cost grocery store and add weekend grocery shuttles. [RE/SSW/AO]
Advance mission of ARM Coalition and CASE to support low-income students. [SSW]
Evaluate SwipeShare’s effectiveness and use data to improve program impact. [SSW/AO]

INITIATIVE 2: Develop academic department support networks

Rollout faculty guide and training and online CARE form for reporting student concerns. [SSW]
Begin to develop comprehensive plan for student support and wellbeing education and training, including strengthening connections to academic departments. [SSW]
Continue to advance efforts to build a centrally located Wellbeing Hub. [SSW]

INITIATIVE 3: Focus on physical health as a means to stress reduction and wellbeing

Continue to develop curricula and programming to meets students’ needs (e.g., yoga, meditation). [DAPER]
Implement Engineering Success program for student-athletes. [DAPER]
Enhance the EngineeringYourHealth Plus program. [DAPER/SSW]

INITIATIVE 4: Strengthen living community support networks

Expand the scope and structure of the RPM program. [RE]
Develop and enhance the GRA position, including “cluster” system for smaller groups.
Expand S3 Connector Program to remaining dorms and pilot for FSILGs. [RE/SSW]

The MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) creates new opportunities for art, science and technology to thrive as interrelated, mutually informing modes of exploration, knowledge and discovery. CAST’s multidisciplinary platform presents performing and visual arts programs, supports research projects for artists working with science and engineering labs, and sponsors symposia, classes, workshops, design studios, lectures and publications.

BETWEEN 2012-16:
80+ faculty members representing all five schools have collaborated with CAST (see list of partners)
1,700+ students enrolled in classes or participated in a workshop or performance
123 grants were awarded
9 collaborative projects have appeared in international festivals or exhibitions

CAST has produced:
14 classes
19 exhibitions
28 performances
3 symposia and conferences

arts.mit.edu/cast

Several reminders are sent per year by members of the MIT Leadership. Samples below:

"L. Rafael Reif, President
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Building 3-208 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139-4307 u.s.a. Phone 1-617-253-0148

October 21, 2015

Dear members of the MIT community,
I write to share a plan of action for redoubling MIT’s efforts to confront the urgent challenge of climate change. This five-year plan represents the shared perspective of MIT’s senior officers, informed by extensive discussion, reflection and input from across the MIT community.

We build on last year’s Campus Conversation on Climate Change and draw insight from the proposals of its organizing committee. I am grateful to Professor Roman Stocker and his committee for helping our community explore this complex and potentially divisive topic with civility, candor and mutual respect, and for producing a thought-provoking report. I also thank the hundreds of faculty, students, staff and alumni who offered detailed comments on the committee’s report over the summer. Through this extended exploration, we all learned a great deal—and we saw the MIT community at its problem- solving best.

The Campus Conversation, in turn, emerged in response to efforts of the student-led group, Fossil Free MIT, to galvanize systemic action on climate change. The advocacy of these students helped to inspire the plan we issue today; it would not have taken shape as it has without their willingness to work with us toward the shared goal of meaningful climate action. I hope they will join us in this great work.

I am also extremely grateful to the Conversation Leadership for the stewardship of this process: Vice President for Research Maria Zuber, Provost Martin Schmidt, Environmental Solutions Initiative Founding Director Susan Solomon and MIT Energy Initiative Director Robert Armstrong. In particular, we are indebted to Maria for the brilliant leadership, broad consultation and consensus building that produced today’s far-reaching plan. We will also rely on her for the oversight and ongoing coordination of our research, outreach and convening efforts, to ensure our plan of action succeeds.

Finally, I thank every one of you who participated. I ask you to stay involved. The people of MIT are already hard at work on many aspects of climate change; today’s plan unites, extends and accelerates these vital efforts, with fresh energy, urgency and vision.
There is room and reason for each of us to be part of the solution. I urge everyone to join us in rising to this historic challenge.

Sincerely,
L. Rafael Reif

http://web.mit.edu/climateaction/ClimateChangeStatement-2015Oct21.pdf

MIT Corporation endorsement
http://news.mit.edu/2015/new-climate-change-strategy-1021"

Sent by Israel Ruiz, Exec Vice President and Treasurer
June 2016

Dear MIT faculty and staff,

I am delighted to share the launch of Access MIT, an expanded program of commuting benefits designed to offer faculty and staff more flexible and affordable transportation options. Access MIT embraces the goals of MIT's Plan for Action on Climate Change, and is a visible demonstration of our commitment to lowering MIT's commuter-related emissions. The program will launch MIT as a leader in offering affordable access to public transportation.

Beginning with the new academic year, all Cambridge campus benefits-eligible employees, including parkers, will have access to free subway and local bus passes, and commuter rail subsidies will be increased. In addition, we will shift from annual to daily pay-per-day parking plans at MIT gated lots, providing parkers with the flexibility to explore lower cost, sustainable options throughout the year. Maximum annual parking expense will be capped at the price of an annual parking permit in non-gated lots to accommodate commuters without easy access to public transit options.

New Access MIT benefits include:
Free MBTA subway and local bus access with chips embedded in new MIT ID cards;
Pay-per-day parking plans at MIT gated lots, with expense capped at $1,760 (the price for a 2016-17 academic year annual parking permit in non-gated lots);
Increased commuter rail subsidy from 50% to 60%; and
Subsidized parking of 50% at MBTA stations, up to $100 per month.
A link to the full description of benefits is provided below.

Beginning next week and through the summer, the Office of Parking and Transportation will reach out to every department on campus with instructions for replacing existing ID cards for those that wish to take advantage of the Access MIT pass. New cards will have an embedded chip to enable free MBTA subway and local bus access. I encourage you to explore these expanded benefits and replace your ID card this summer, whether you drive, take transit, walk or bike to work.

With Access MIT, the Institute will be one of the largest employers in the state to provide this level of universal transit benefits. I want to express my gratitude to the members of the Committee for Transportation and Parking for their dedication in bringing these new commuting options to our campus.

Sincerely,
Israel Ruiz

Program information:
Read about the new program in this news article.
Learn about the details of the program on the Commuter Connections website.


Sent September 27th by Israel Ruiz, EVPT and Marty Schmidt, Provost

The members of the MIT community,

Two years ago we convened the Campus Sustainability Task Force (CSTF), charged to shape a vision and plan of action for campus sustainability at MIT. The CSTF has now drafted its report, Pathway to Sustainability Leadership by MIT, which reflects input from students, faculty, staff, and alumni since the CSTF launch in 2015. In releasing the preliminary report, we are opening a comment period through November, during which we are actively seeking feedback from across the MIT community.

We invite you to attend a campus-wide forum to discuss the report on Tuesday, October 17, 12:00 pm–1:30 pm in the Millikan Room (E53-482). Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP if you would like to attend.

We encourage you to read the report, which lays out the five key elements of the pathway to sustainability leadership. It is important for all voices to be heard as Institute leadership considers the task force’s recommendations. We and task force co-chairs Andrea Campbell and Julie Newman are eager to hear your thoughts, and hope you will attend the open forum. You may also send comments to sustainablemit@mit.edu.

Sincerely,

Marty Schmidt
Provost

Israel Ruiz
Executive Vice President and Treasurer

Sustainability, as framed by the need to promote health and wellbeing for a growing world population while reducing our global footprint to within Earth’s capacity to sustain us, is a defining challenge for the world’s citizens in the 21st century, and for MIT."

Pathway to Sustainability Leadership by MIT
Incubation, Transformation, and Mobilization
http://web.mit.edu/cstfreport-pre/docs/cstf-prelimreport.pdf (draft)

Forming networks around the region and world

MITOS recognizes that the underlying challenges of sustainability are global – and require deep collaboration with regional, national, and global partners. The campus itself—while embedded in a distinct, urban community– is a truly global institution, educating, hosting, and employing thousands of international scholars, staff, and faculty.Connecting to communities of problem solvers across the Northeast and globe

MITOS actively participates in networks around the region and globe – working together on shared issues ranging from climate resiliency strategies to data and metrics.

The International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN)

ISCN is a global forum supporting leading colleges, universities, and corporate campuses in the exchange of information, ideas, and best practices for achieving sustainable campus operations and integrating sustainability in research and teaching. Read more here about ISCN and its collaboration with MIT.

MIT engages with the ISCN :
-By attending the ISCN’s annual conference
-By participating in the ISCN’s Advisory Committee to develop programs and strengthen ISCN member participation and relationship development with members from MIT’s Office of Sustainability
-By participating in ongoing research and development activities through strong connections with other ISCN members.
-For example, MIT has partnered with Delft University of Technology for a Global Living Lab Framework connecting ISCN members from across the globe.