Ask MIT Climate

MIT Climate Project

Get smart quickly on climate change. This award-winning MIT podcast breaks down the science, technologies, and policies behind climate change, how it’s impacting us, and what our society can do about it. Each quick episode gives you the what, why, and how on climate change — from real scientists — to help us all make informed decisions for our future.

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83 episodes
Updated July 2

Episodes83

Newest first

Feb 20, 2025 · 15 min
Farm to table, with a side of fossil fuels
The way we grow and distribute food today is deeply dependent on fossil fuels, yet that dependence can feel invisible. Sustainable food systems researcher Prof. Jennifer Clapp joins the show to walk us through all the ways fossil fuels are used to produce one simple food item: a tortilla chip.
Jun 6, 2024 · 16 min
2°C: the story of the global climate goal
The landmark Paris Agreement of 2015 gave the world a shared target for halting climate change: that global warming should stop well short of 2 degrees Celsius. But how did that target come about, and what exactly does it mean?
May 30, 2024 · 9 min
Slow carbon, fast carbon
The Earth naturally absorbs some of our climate pollution from burning fossil fuels. But how much, and how fast?
May 23, 2024 · 12 min
Is it safe to store CO2 underground?
Today, companies are storing millions of tons of carbon dioxide underground every year to prevent this climate pollution from warming the planet. In the future it might be billions of tons. But is it dangerous to pump so much liquefied carbon below our feet?
May 16, 2024 · 13 min
An introduction to carbon capture (re-air)
What if there was a way to continue using fossil fuels for energy without emitting CO2 into the atmosphere? To prepare for a new listener question about carbon capture, we're re-airing this season two episode.
May 9, 2024 · 14 min
How clean is green hydrogen?
Is hydrogen fuel a climate solution? That depends on how you produce it.
May 2, 2024 · 10 min
Why are EVs more popular than hydrogen cars?
Just 20 years ago, hydrogen cars and battery electric cars were pretty evenly matched as clean alternatives to gas-powered vehicles. But today, batteries are way ahead: the big car companies are rapidly electrifying their lineups, while only a few hydrogen cars are available. What happened?
Apr 25, 2024 · 14 min
An introduction to hydrogen energy (re-air)
Hydrogen gas acts like a fossil fuel, but with no carbon emissions. Is it the silver bullet we’ve been waiting for? To prepare for some new listener questions about hydrogen energy, we're re-airing this season four episode in which Prof. Svetlana Ikonnikova of the Technical University of Munich explains how hydrogen works and its potential in the energy transition.
Apr 11, 2024 · 7 min
Do wind turbines kill birds?
MIT Professor Michael Howland returns to the podcast to answer a listener's question about the risks of wind energy to birds—and explain how wind turbines compare to coal plants, power lines, office towers, housecats, and other threats to birdlife in the modern world.
Apr 4, 2024 · 7 min
Do wind turbines freeze up in the cold?
You might have heard how wind turbines failed in Texas during a terrible cold front in 2021. Does this mean we can’t rely on this clean, renewable source of energy when the weather turns extreme?
Mar 28, 2024 · 8 min
Won’t more CO2 help plants grow?
Plants take in CO2 from the air to grow—and today’s atmosphere has about 50% more CO2 than it did before we started burning massive amounts of fossil fuels. So, is that great news for plants?
Mar 15, 2024 · 1 min
Season 6 Preview: Something a Little Different
People all around the world write into our team with questions about climate change. So this season, we’re working with scientists and experts at MIT and beyond, to answer those questions in language we can all understand.
Dec 7, 2023 · 15 min
Why does it take five years to build a wind farm?
The United States has a goal to power the country with 100% clean electricity by 2035. Unfortunately, our energy regulations are not set up to make this much change this quickly. Energy economist John Parsons of MIT joins the show to explain how much clean energy infrastructure we need to build, the obstacles to building it, and reform ideas to transform our energy system on the timeline our climate goals demand.
Nov 30, 2023 · 14 min
Energy storage: keeping the lights on with a clean electric grid
The large majority of new energy we’re building today comes from clean, renewable wind and solar projects. But to keep building wind and solar at this pace, we need energy storage: technologies that save energy when the weather is favorable, and use it when wind and sun are scarce.
Nov 16, 2023 · 12 min
A public health expert’s guide to climate change
We all want to live full, healthy lives. But climate change is threatening a growing number of people’s lives and well-being. So we’ve invited a guest on the show to help us see climate change not in tons of carbon dioxide, but as a matter of health.
Nov 9, 2023 · 21 min
TILclimate presents: What the heck is El Niño, anyway? (from Outside/In)
We were going to produce an episode on El Niño, and its relationship to climate change. And then we found out that Outside/In, from New Hampshire Public Radio, already did that. And they did a really good job.
Nov 2, 2023 · 13 min
Wildfires and how we're changing them
If you live in the U.S. Mountain West, the Pacific Coast of the Americas, or large parts of Australia or southern Europe, there’s a good chance a major wildfire has passed near you in the last five or six years—maybe one more intense than anything you’ve ever heard of in your area. But why exactly are wildfires getting worse? Is climate change entirely to blame? And what should we be preparing for next?
Oct 26, 2023 · 14 min
Can desalination solve water scarcity?
Today we’re talking about desalination: turning saltwater into freshwater, so we can drink it or use it to grow crops. And we’re talking about this because, in many parts of the world, freshwater is getting harder to come by. So… is converting saltwater a good solution?
Oct 19, 2023 · 14 min
Don’t throw away your refrigerator
Refrigerants are in every refrigerator, freezer and air conditioner, and the world is on track to make a lot more of them in the years to come. They’re also powerful greenhouse gases: often thousands of times more warming than carbon dioxide.
Oct 12, 2023 · 12 min
How tackling methane cools the planet fast
Carbon dioxide—CO2—is the greenhouse gas you’ve probably heard most about, on this podcast and elsewhere. But it turns out, methane is an incredibly important greenhouse gas too.

Ask MIT Climate

Farm to table, with a side of fossil fuels

2°C: the story of the global climate goal

Slow carbon, fast carbon

Is it safe to store CO2 underground?

An introduction to carbon capture (re-air)

How clean is green hydrogen?

Why are EVs more popular than hydrogen cars?

An introduction to hydrogen energy (re-air)

Do wind turbines kill birds?

Do wind turbines freeze up in the cold?

Won’t more CO2 help plants grow?

Season 6 Preview: Something a Little Different

Why does it take five years to build a wind farm?

Energy storage: keeping the lights on with a clean electric grid

A public health expert’s guide to climate change

TILclimate presents: What the heck is El Niño, anyway? (from Outside/In)

Wildfires and how we're changing them

Can desalination solve water scarcity?

Don’t throw away your refrigerator

How tackling methane cools the planet fast