The MIT Global Change Forum has gained an international reputation for serious, frank, informed discussion of global change issues. The Forum meetings provide a non-official, neutral setting for analysis and discussion of science and policy aspects of global change, and for independent assessment of studies and policy proposals. Each Forum brings together a group of 60 to 100 representatives of industry, government, international bodies, and research groups for discussion of the evolving understanding of the science and policy aspects of the climate issue. In this way, the work of the Program is provided in an open way to industry and non-profit groups and to national and international policy-making bodies.

The MIT Global Change Forum series is organised within the MIT Joint Program on the Science & Policy of Global Change, which was founded in 1991 as an interdisciplinary organization that conducts research, independent policy analysis, and public communication on issues of global environmental change. It is not a degree-granting entity.

The Joint Program combines the capabilities of two pre-existing MIT research centers : the Center for Global Change Science and the Center for Energy & Environmental Policy Research. It brings together an interactive group of faculty, staff and student researchers. Resources of the parent centers are strengthened by links to the Marine Biological Laboratory's Ecosystems Center in Woods Hole, Mass., to the MIT Climate Modeling Initiative, and other MIT environmental programs.