Climate Geopolitics (2235.YR.011227.1)

General information

Type:	OPT	Curs:	4	Period:	S semester
ECTS Credits:	6 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

Group	Teacher	Department	Language
Year 4	Marie Vandendriessche	Esade	ENG

Climate change is one of the major challenges of our generation. It is also one of the most difficult global problems to tackle. In this course, you will learn why climate change is such a complex problem to solve and gain the ability to accurately analyze the current and coming debates on climate change, its (geopolitical) effects and its solutions.

Upon completing the course, students should be able to:
- discuss topics related to climate change accurately and insightfully, drawing from a solid understanding of the basic scientific frameworks of reference and of the deep relation of climate change with today's economy and its use of energy;
- analyze the global governance of climate change by accurately identifying the main actors, their interests, and the most important policy options available;
- apply basic international relations concepts and frameworks to study the global governance of climate change and other environmental issues;
- follow and discuss, at a basic-intermediate level, the international negotiations on climate change, analyzing the difficulty in decision-making and leadership in multilateral contexts; and
- identify the geopolitical consequences of climate change impacts and the energy transition, applying certain axes of analysis to understand particular country cases.

1. Climate change as an issue: Conceptualization, causes, impacts, policy options

2. Key learnings from global environmental governance and the global governance life cycle

3. The global governance of climate change

4. The geopolitics of climate change and the energy transition

Sessions in this course will combine theoretical and analytical concepts with practical applications. Each session will include elements of interactive lecturing, class discussions and debates, and discussions of readings which help to build our analytical framework. Student participation and preparation of readings will be crucial throughout.

Note: This guide may be subject to changes in case of restrictions imposed by the competent authorities which affect teaching practices.

Compulsory and recommended readings (academic articles, reports, book chapters) will be distributed during the course.

Group	Teacher	Department
Year 4	Marie Vandendriessche	Esade