How might communities protect high-carbon ecosystems and create low-carbon housing for all?

The climate crisis requires dramatic action from companies and governments on both mitigation and adaptation. Simultaneously, a zero-carbon world will require both new technologies and equitable approaches to deployment. In response, MIT Solve will focus our ongoing Sustainability Challenges around innovation needs to enable equitable climate action at scale. For 2022, we are focusing on the following two areas:

Protecting Ecosystem Carbon

Natural ecosystems absorb and store huge amounts of carbon and provide many other benefits for both the biosphere and human communities. Stabilizing current carbon-rich ecosystems, such as peatlands or mangrove forests, and driving long-term absorption and storage of natural carbon is critical to mitigating the climate crisis. However, local communities often lack non-destructive opportunities for jobs and income, even when traditional practices or repurposing degraded land might support both people and nature in the long term. Carbon monitoring is a key tool for tracking progress, but current approaches are either hard to verify or expensive to scale–particularly underwater or in soils. For both stabilization and measurement, enabling many separate communities to participate on their terms is critical.

Decarbonizing Housing

Houses make up the majority of the world’s buildings—90% in the US—and are responsible for 17% of total carbon emissions, with more from construction and materials. We need to end those emissions, plus avoid new emissions while housing the one billion people, concentrated in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, who live in informal settlements. Existing buildings need efficiency improvements and easy retrofits for hundreds of millions of fossil fuel uses such as furnaces or unhealthy stoves. In contrast, new housing requires scaling low-carbon supply chains around the world, from material supply through efficient design, construction, and operation in diverse global contexts. Both retrofits and new construction demand can be a source of good low-carbon jobs across the supply chain. Finally, because land use and transportation emissions are linked, all housing innovations should focus on denser, multi-use communities that reduce the need to travel by car.

The MIT Solve community is looking for eight technology-based solutions that help communities thrive with either high-carbon ecosystems or good low-carbon homes at scale. To that end, Solve seeks solutions that:

• Support local economies that protect high-carbon ecosystems from destruction, including forests, peatlands, and mangroves.

• Provide scalable, high-quality monitoring of carbon stocks in soil, peat, and marine environments, including at depth. 

• Develop new value chains for mass creation of inexpensive and low-carbon housing, including changes to materials, designs, or construction methods. 

• Decarbonize heating and cooking systems in existing homes while improving efficiency.

Special Call: Black & Brown Innovators program

A housing system shaped by systemic racism and ongoing bias puts the highest energy costs and lowest access to efficient housing on communities of color, while removing these communities from land and ecosystems they’ve lived with for generations. As part of Solve’s ongoing work on US racial equity, we will select 1-2 solutions from the US working to address these disparities for our Black & Brown Innovators Program.

MIT Solve - Solver Award 

All Solver teams selected for Solve’s Global Challenges and the Indigenous Communities Fellowship will receive a $10,000 grant funded by Solve.

The GSR Prize

GSR will award a prize to solutions that use innovative technology and, in particular, blockchain solutions to address pressing issues in their communities and the world. As a leading cryptocurrency trading firm, GSR seeks to advance education, promote equality of opportunity, and contribute to a sustainable world, emphasizing blockchain and innovative technology-powered solutions. Up to $200,000 will be awarded across Solver teams from the 2022 Global Challenges.

The Living Proof Prize: Women's Leadership Solutions

The Living Proof Prize is open to women-led teams that are using innovative approaches to solve challenges across economic prosperity, health, learning, and sustainability. The prize is funded by Living Proof, a haircare company at the crossroads of innovation and real-world results that is committed to social impact. Up to $100,000 will be granted across up to four Solver teams from the 2022 Global Challenges.

The GM Prize

The GM Prize is open to solutions that help create smart, safe, and sustainable communities around the world. The Prize is funded by General Motors, which is working toward becoming the most inclusive company in the world and is dedicated to making STEM education more accessible and equitable. Up to $150,000 will be granted to up to six Solver teams from the Re-engaging Learners Challenge, the Climate: Ecosystems + Housing Challenge, and the 2022 Indigenous Communities Fellowship.

The Innovation for Women Prize

The Innovation for Women Prize is open to solutions that use innovative technology to empower and enrich the lives of women and girls. The prize will be awarded to women-led, tech-powered solutions that aim to elevate women's voices and support positive and sustainable change in communities around the world. Up to $75,000 will be awarded across up to three Solver teams from the 2022 Global Challenges.

The Andan Prize

The Andan Prize for Innovation in Refugee Inclusion is open to solutions that advance the economic, financial, and political inclusion of refugees. The prize is funded by Andan Foundation, a Swiss non-profit foundation dedicated to supporting solutions that promote refugee resilience, self-reliance and integration. Up to $100,000 will be granted across up to four Solver teams from the 2022 Global Challenges.

AI for Humanity Prize

The AI for Humanity Prize is open to solutions leveraging data science, artificial intelligence, and/or machine learning to benefit humanity, as well as to those planning to utilize these technologies to amplify their impact. The prize is made possible by The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, a philanthropy committed to advancing AI and data solutions to create a thriving, equitable, and sustainable future for all. Up to $150,000 in funding will be awarded across several Solver teams from any of Solve’s 2022 Global Challenges.

Heifer International Prize for Innovation for Smallholder Agriculture

The Heifer International Prize is open to solutions that support smallholder farmers to grow and scale their businesses and protect them from the adverse effects of climate change. The prize is funded by Heifer International, an international development organization on a mission to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way by supporting and investing alongside local farmers and their communities. Up to $250,000 will be granted across several Solver teams from any 2022 Global Challenge or any earlier Solve Global Challenge.

The Elevate Prize

The Elevate Prize will be awarded to one non-profit Solver team from any 2022 Global Challenge or any earlier Solve Global Challenge. This prize is supported by The Elevate Prize Foundation, which has a mission of amplifying the work of impact leaders for social good and driving change together. The Solver team that is selected will participate in both the MIT Solver program and the Elevate Prize program, receiving a minimum of $300,000 over two years and ongoing support from The Elevate Prize Foundation and MIT Solve.