Sustainable Climate Economics and Politics
| Numbering Code | G-GES32 64525 LE43 | Year/Term | 2022 ・ Second semester | |
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| Number of Credits | 2 | Course Type | Lecture | |
| Target Year | Master's students | Target Student | ||
| Language | English | Day/Period | Thu.3 | |
| Instructor name | Sven Rudolph (Graduate School of Economics Program-Specific Associate Professor) | |||
| Outline and Purpose of the Course |
Global warming is one of the major threats to humankind, but sustainability economics provides promising tools for limiting anthropogenic climate change. Against this background, this course provides students with advanced understanding of international and domestic climate policy regimes and specialized tools for evaluating market-based approaches to climate protection. The course starts with an introduction to global warming and international climate policy (including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement), continues with analyzing sustainability economics' policy responses (e.g. carbon pricing), and finishes with identifying the chances and barriers of sustainable domestic climate policy. At the end of the course students examine and evaluate selected case studies on domestic market-based climate policy and present their results at a (mock) conference based on a policy brief/essay. Throughout the course, students will be exposed to interdisciplinary perspectives on a range of controversial debates, reflecting the highly politicized nature of international and domestic climate policy. |
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| Course Goals |
On successful completion of this course, students will be able to (1) demonstrate an informed critical understanding of anthropogenic climate change as well as past and present international climate regimes such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement and selected domestic climate policy programs; (2) show advanced understanding and knowledge of sustainability economics and its implications for climate policy; (3) evaluate market-based climate policy options such as carbon taxes and cap-and-trade and identify the political barriers to sustainable climate policy; (4) appropriately communicate the findings of their analysis to a non-specialist audience and engage in scientific discussions; and (5) efficiently work individually and as an integral part of a study team. |
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| Schedule and Contents |
(1) Introduction to the course (2) Global warming and international climate regimes: past and presence (3) Principles of economics (4) How markets work: basics in welfare economics (5) How markets fail: public goods and externalities (6) How economics can help: internalization vs. standard-pricing (7) What prices can achieve: the merits of the Standard-Price-Approach (8) What sustainability economics can add: environmental vs. ecological economics (9) How to include justice considerations: designing sustainable carbon markets (10) What Public Choice can add: the economic analysis of politics (11) Why politics resist carbon markets: the political economy of carbon pricing (12) Students' conference on sustainable climate policy I (13) Students' conference on sustainable climate policy II (14) Seminar paper supervision (15) Feedback on presentations and papers Check the information on KULASIS and PandA as lessons might be held online. |
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| Evaluation Methods and Policy |
Assignments/Quizzes: 1/3 Conference presentation: 1/3 Policy brief/essay: 1/3 Achievement level is assessed by GSGES's criteria. |
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| Course Requirements | None | |||
| Study outside of Class (preparation and review) |
In addition to class attendance, students are expected to prepare and review classes on a regular basis and complete assignments out of class. Students are required to spend on average 3 hours of effort (contact and non-contact) per session plus extra preparation time for the conference presentation and policy brief/essay. |
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| Textbooks | Textbooks/References | General readings will be announced in the first session, specialized readings will be provided throughout the course. | ||
| References, etc. | General readings will be announced in the first session, specialized readings will be provided throughout the course. | |||
