Short Course Description
Climate change, biodiversity loss, the deterioration of ecosystems, and air and water pollution undermine the sustainability of human society, whose functioning depends on the services that nature provides. This course is an introduction to environmental policy aimed at examining policy tools at the international, national and municipal level that address these challenges and navigate society towards living within the planetary boundaries of our planet. Through lectures, guest lectures, scientific reading, climate simulation and lively class discussions we will delve into climate policy, energy sector policy, municipal level policy, waste management policy and food policy, and review the proposed solutions in light of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The goals of this course are
1) To expose students to the primary drivers of environmental impacts and existing policy tools to mitigate them towards a healthy environment.
2) To contribute to a deeper and broader perspective about on-going debates related to environmental policies.
3) To assess the efficacy of current and alternative environmental policies using a multi-disciplinary approach.
4) To analyze an environmental issue in all its aspects (considerations, identification of involved actors, and process analysis) and assess the relevant policies that can alleviate it.
Full Syllabus
