The Roosevelt Project at MIT envisions a decarbonized world that doesn’t leave anyone behind.

Initiated and led by former US Secretary of Energy Ernest J. Moniz, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems emeritus, the initiative engages local and national decision-makers in conversations on what a socially just post-carbon economy might look like. This is “not only the right thing to do, but essential to minimize political headwinds to make progress on the climate process,” Moniz says.

“Our mission is to understand how the country could decarbonize while boosting economic opportunities for at-risk communities. If laws and bills are written correctly, these communities can grow while still decarbonizing,” says Christopher R. Knittel, the George P. Shultz Professor of Energy Economics and professor of applied economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a Roosevelt Project researcher.

Named for three iconic Roosevelts—Teddy, for his stewardship of the natural world; Franklin, for the infrastructure-focused New Deal; and Eleanor, for her passion for social justice—the project, a three-phase initiative of the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, encompasses more than 30 MIT and Harvard economists, engineers, sociologists, urban planners, political scientists, and graduate students. The MIT research is supported by the Emerson Collective, which has longstanding interest in both social equity and climate.