MIT CS3 at CERAWeek

For two decades, scientists and climate negotiators have sought to keep the Earth’s mean surface temperature below 2° C above pre-industrial levels, more recently lowering this target to 1.5° C. In January 2025, the global mean surface temperature reached 1.75°C above pre-industrial levels, raising questions about the feasibility and utility of using temperature targets in global efforts to stabilize the climate. 

One of four speakers at a March 13 session entitled “Beyond Degrees: A Call for Rethinking Climate Metrics” at CERAWeek, the world’s premier energy conference, Sergey Paltsev—deputy director of the MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy (CS3) and a senior research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative—explored how climate mitigation efforts could be reframed to maximize progress. 

Paltsev urged decision-makers to stay focused on monitoring and reducing all greenhouse gas emissions rather than just carbon dioxide, and strive to quantify the cost of action versus the cost of inaction to reduce all emissions. He recommended that industry planners set transparent and measurable goals, and that policymakers create realistic policy options and economic incentives that can be deployed to reduce the risk of dangerous climate impacts—rather than relying on overly optimistic goals and technology costs.