MIT, Québec Research Institutions Launch Initiative to Analyze Low-Carbon Energy Policy Options

Focusing on New England/Québec Region, Québec premier and MIT vice president for research speak at Boston signing ceremony; Hydro-Québec CEO pledges funding.

By 2020, the state of Massachusetts is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions at least 25 percent compared with 1990 levels, all while up to 25 percent of its electricity generation facilities are expected to go offline.  Angling to shore up its energy resources without driving up emissions levels, the state recently passed a bill requiring Massachusetts to procure long-term contracts that tap 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power and 1,200 megawatts of hydropower or other renewables by 2025.  (One megawatt can power up to 1,000 homes.)  Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, who signed the bill into law, argues that a significant infusion of Canadian hydropower will be needed to enable the state to meet its impending energy and climate deadlines.

Aiming to equip decision-makers in the New England/Québec region with the knowledge they’ll need to evaluate this and other cross-border, low-carbon energy and climate policy options, the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and two Montréal-based research institutions — the business school Hautes Études en Commerce (HEC), and Ouranos, a climate-change think tank — launched a new collaboration on energy, economy, and climate policy analysis at a signing ceremony on Aug. 28 in Boston.

Read more at MIT, Québec Research Institutions Launch Initiative to Analyze Low-Carbon Energy Policy Options