Managed Resources
Projecting changes and risks to managed agriculture, water, land and energy systems
The success of agriculture, water, land and energy systems depends on how we manage critical natural resources. In order to project the future of these systems, our Integrated Global System Modeling (IGSM) framework simulates the behavior of these systems under a variety of scenarios. These scenarios encompass a range of plausible conditions that involve changes in: global and regional environments; population and income and subsequent resource demands; technological efficiency and resulting resource availability; and adaptative strategies where technology, resilience and markets might ameliorate adverse effects of global and regional change.
To enable detailed analyses of these managed resources, the IGSM tracks the evolution of crops, forestry, livestock, water availability, water quality, land use and land cover, as well as the availability and penetration of energy technologies (e.g. fossil, hydro, geothermal, nuclear, wind and solar).
To learn how your organization can benefit from funding our research, please visit the Joint Program Sponsorship page.
Publications
Strzepek, K. and Schlosser, C.A., contributors, Climate Risk Stress Test ((flooding analysis and climate-risk scenarios) (2025)
South African Reserve Bank
Suto, S. (2025)
MS Thesis, System Design and Management Program
News + Media
Keynote address by MIT CS3 Research Scientist Kenneth Strzepek highlights value of index in assessing country-level food security risk
At the MIT Sustainability Summit 2025, MIT Sloan Professor/CS3 faculty affiliate John Sterman stresses the need for “multisolving”—actions that cut emissions and help us adapt to the climate damage we have already caused. (MIT Sloan School of Management)
Components of the Environmental Solutions Initiative will become part of the Climate Project, CS3, Climate Policy Center and other MIT entities (MIT Office of the Vice President for Energy and Climate)
Research Projects
People
