Prof Simon Dietz

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Environmental Economics and Climate Change. This course is available on the MSc in Environment and Development and MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

A comprehensive guide to the issue of climate change, from fundamental concepts in climate science, through estimating the future impacts of climate change on economies and societies, to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by using economic instruments such as carbon trading. Interdisciplinary, but with an emphasis on economic analysis, albeit taught in a non-technical style.

22 hours of lectures and 7 hours and 30 minutes of seminars in the MT.

Students will write one essay (unassessed), on which they will receive written feedback. The essay serves as a mock exam, there is no word limit, but students should time themselves to write it in 50 minutes.

Detailed reading lists will be provided to support each course component.

The following texts will be particularly useful:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2014). Climate Change 2014: Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Maslin, M. (2008). Global Warming: a Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Stern, N. (2007). The Economics of Climate Change: the Stern Review. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours) in the main exam period.