Campus | MIT Sustainability

Campus partnerships and strategic collaborations

When climate scientists, transportation experts, and researchers work with staff and the broader community – each bringing their own backgrounds and expertise – new ideas emerge and have the momentum to succeed. From the Undergraduate Association’s Committee on Sustainability to the Working Green Committee, such campus partnerships and strategic collaborations inspire and inform MIT’s efforts to create a more sustainable campus.

In addition to facilitating working groups and task forces, MITOS also organizes events like the annual Sustainability Connect meeting, which convenes MIT committees, groups, and thinkers involved in creating next generation campus sustainability programs. Learn more below.

MITOS Campus Events and Working Groups

MITOS seeks to engage and empower staff, students, and faculty to inform and shape the future of sustainability on campus, through the facilitation of working groups, task forces, and key events.

Effie Jia

Sustainability Leadership Steering Committee

In 2015, MIT Provost Martin Schmidt and Executive Vice President and Treasurer Israel Ruiz convened the Campus Sustainability Task Force. In 2018, the Task Force drafted the Pathway to Sustainability Leadership by MIT , a vision and comprehensive framework for MIT’s commitment to campus sustainability.

The Task Force sponsored a community forum in June 2018 to generate input into how to implement this vision successfully. After taking this input into consideration, MIT announced the next phase of this process, endorsing the following conditions of success and establishing a new Steering Committee.

Sustainability Leadership Steering Committee

Campus Sustainability Task Force

The Campus Sustainability Task Force is working to shape the vision and plan of action for campus sustainability at MIT. The Task Force, working with the Office of Sustainability, will provide a forum to share the campus sustainability perspectives of the MIT Energy Initiative, MIT Environmental Initiative, and Climate Action at MIT. Its membership is working to engage the MIT community--faculty, students and staff from across the schools and interdisciplinary laboratories--with regard to campus sustainability. It will publish a blueprint for sustainability in the coming months.

Campus Sustainability Task Force

Sustainability Connect

Sustainability Connect is an annual meeting hosted by MITOS for all MIT committees, groups, and thinkers involved in creating game-changing campus sustainability programs at MIT.

Sustainability Connect

Sustainability Working Groups

In November 2015, the MIT Office of Sustainability (MITOS) released its first set of recommendations, generated by the 2014-2015 Sustainability Working Groups, which addresses the following topics: building design and construction; stormwater and land management; materials management; and green labs.

Working Group Recommendations

Earth Day Collective

Each year, MITOS engages a group of academic and administrative programs to form an "Earth Day Collective" to sponsor small campus-based projects, by providing small grants. The mini grant initiative is meant to fuel student, staff, and faculty teams to develop creative projects on campus that harness their scientific, social, artistic, and technological problem-solving skills. Projects advance climate action, resource-efficiency, sustainable behavior or other innovative sustainability initiatives.

Earth Day Collective

Get involved in a sustainability group on campus

There are plenty of opportunities to learn and get involved. Start by joining a group.

Working Green Committee

MIT staff for sustainability.

UA Sustainability

Undergraduate Association’s (UA) Committee on Sustainability

GSC Sustainability

MIT Graduate Student Council Sustainability Subcommittee

MIT Sustainability Summit

MIT Sloan School of Management Sustainability Summit - an annual student-run conference

MIT Energy Club