COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO PROGRAM
This course received the First CEMS Outstanding Contribution to the CEMS MIM Award and it makes its 16th edition with 10 universities participating together
The course contributed to CEMS Student's education by:
- Mechanisms: The students will gain an understanding of the negotiation process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and deep knowledge about Climate Change issues and their consequences for business.
- Interests of parties: Students will learn about the often diverging interests of parties involved in global climate policy negotiations, including governments, sector-specific industry associations, global companies, and environmental & humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
- Connections: Participants will learn how corporate strategies and public policies are interlinked, both in terms of challenges and solutions.
- Business strategy: The students will learn about strategic frameworks for assessing the impact of climate change on markets and customer demand. This knowledge is essential for developing corporate strategies that avoid the negative consequences of climate change and take advantage of business opportunities evolving from a changing market environment.
- International cooperation: Through interaction with students from other countries, all participants will not only learn how to develop solutions in consensus, but will also experience firsthand the international dimension of the climate change challenge.
- Negotiation skills: All students should learn the basic principles of the mutual gains approach to negotiation, gain a better understanding of bilateral and multilateral negotiation dynamics, and be able to see the climate negotiations through this lens..
Course Learning Objectives
Course description
Climate change is one of today's most pressing issues. Businesses influence climate change and are influenced by climate change. As an emitter of greenhouse gases, the corporate sector bears some responsibility for the problem and will be asked to find solutions. And as users of natural resources, corporations will face new uncertainties and scarcities as climate change occurs. Given these interconnections, many businesses are seeking to shape public policy and public opinion on climate change.
According to Sir Nicholas Stern, former chief economist of the World Bank, without action, the overall costs of climate change will be equivalent to losing 5-20% of global gross domestic product (GDP) each year, but one percent of global GDP per annum is required to be invested to avoid the worst effects of climate change. However, the business relevance of climate change is insufficiently understood by future decision-makers in international management and society.
The business relevance of climate change is insufficiently understood by future decision-makers in international management and society. We believe that tomorrow's business leaders should be educated on the key elements of climate change - the science, the evolving policy, and role of business. They can become an essential part of the solution, but only if equipped with a sound understanding of the challenges at hand and the processes by which new policies are constructed. The Climate Policy Course and Simulation is an innovative educational approach that aims to close this knowledge gap. Its goal is to broaden students' understanding of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement, and the current climate change negotiations process, as well as the impact of climate regulations on the future of business.
The course modules deal with core issues related to climate change and include a wide range of effective didactic tools and exercises. The course is dedicated to Master's students of leading European universities, offering a deeper understanding of the background and consequences of climate change for business, as well as corporate responses to this phenomenon. In terms of content, the students are given a deeper understanding of the background and consequences of climate change for business, and of corporate responses to it. Special emphasis is laid on international and national regulatory frameworks, and on emerging resource challenges and market opportunities. The course was first offered in 2009, with two CEMS Schools participating. Since then, it has gained in popularity and importance and involved ten participating CEMS Schools in 2021.
Learning objectives and competencies
The CEMS Climate Policy Course and Simulation: Negotiation and Strategy Skills, provides students with important background information on climate change, and familiarizes them with its implications on an economic, political and social level.
ESADE, in collaboration with nine other leading European business schools [St Gallen (Switzerland), Cologne (Germany), UCD (Ireland), Bergen (Norway), Erasmus-Rotterdam (The Netherlands), Budapest (Hungary), Warsaw (Poland), Milano (Italy) and Stockholm (Sweden)] offers the CEMS Model UNFCCC, a unique course on climate change and its implications for business, followed by a two-day simulation of the UN climate negotiations with master-level students from all the participating schools. The course is part of the CEMS Master in International Management's curriculum and allows participating students not only to increase their knowledge about the global climate challenge but also to gain first-hand experience in finding solutions to this phenomenon. The intense multilateral negotiations enable students to get first-hand experience in what governments can do to successfully address climate change, why global progress on this issue has been slow, and what they can do about it as future decision-makers.
While the overall syllabus of the course is the same for all the participative universities, the schedule can differ from one school to another. The syllabus aims to level the knowledge of all students before the final climate change negotiation simulation. The course is structured into three modules;
- The first module consists of the theoretical basis of the course, an extensive introduction to the topic of climate change and climate policy, where the role of business in climate change is highlighted. At the end of this first module, all participating students will be assigned a role and a country for a final two-day exercise that will consist of a mock United Nations Climate Change negotiation session or role-play,
- The second module will introduce students to the current United Nations climate change negotiations and prepare them for the mock climate change session. Each student will either be a representative from the government, a non-governmental organization, or an industrial sector. This approach aims to provide an experience not only in the inter-governmental debate on climate change issues but also in the way civil society and business interests can influence these discussions,
- The last module will consist of a role-play (a UNFCCC role-play conference of the parties), which will be hosted by one of the participating Universities. Students need to cover their own travel and accommodation expenses for the two-day role play. This year, the role play will be hosted by the Corvinus University (Budapest)
Besides deepening the students' understanding of climate change issues, the specific objectives of the course are:
- Global Challenge: The students will gain an understanding of global policy approaches to tackle disruptive climate change under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
- Interests of parties: Students will learn about the diverging interests of parties involved in global climate policy negotiations, including governments, industry associations, global companies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
- Business strategy: The students will learn about strategic tools for assessing the impact of climate change on firms, consumers, and financial markets. This knowledge is essential for developing successful corporate strategies to hedge against climate risk and embrace low-carbon business opportunities.
- Connections: Participants will learn how corporate strategies and public policies are interlinked, both in terms of challenges and solutions.
- Intercultural management: Through face-to-face interaction with students from other countries, participants will learn how to develop consensus solutions, but will also experience the global dimension of the climate challenge.
- Negotiation skills: Students learn the basic principles of the mutual gains approach to negotiation, gain a better understanding of bilateral and multilateral negotiation dynamics, and practice their skills in climate negotiations.
We expect our students to gain new skills and knowledge in relation to the implications of climate change policies for business in the 21st Century.
CONTENT
1. Module-1 (Session 1).- Introduction to Climate Change and Climate Policy 1.1 Welcome to the Anthropocene
1.2 The Climate Change issue
The basic facts
1.3 What Science is Saying
The international Panel of Climate Change (IPCC)
Effects and consequences of Climate Change
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2. Module 1 (Session 2).- Response Mechanisms: Climate Policy (UNFCCC) and the Business Response 2.1 The United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Basic Principles Enshrined in the UNFCCC
The alignment with the UNCOB
2.2 The Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement
Key elements of the Paris agreement
2.3 The Business Response (link to the e-book)
Corporate Sustainability
Business strategies to address Climate Change
Decarbonizing the company and its value chain
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3. Module 1 (Session 3).- Mitigation and Compliance 3.1 Options for Climate Change: Mitigation
Emissions Scenarios: Mitigation and Stabilization
The Emission Gap
Policies, Instruments, and Co-operation Arrangements
3.2 The Energy Dilemma
3.3 Compliance
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4. Module 1 (Session 4).- Adaptation, Financing and Resourcing 4.1 Options for Climate Change: Adaptation
Adaptation and Environmental Risks
Sectorial consequences
The Adaptation Gap
Economic Sectors and Policy
Human Health and Safety
4.2 Financing and the Green Climate Fund
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5. Module 1 (Session 5).- Market- and Loss and Damage-Mechanisms 5.1 Market Mechanisms
5.2 Loss and Damage mechanisms
5.3 Climate Refugees
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6. Module 2 (Session 6).- Fundamentals of Negotiation 6.1 Fundamentals of Negotiation
6.2 The Challenges of the Post-2012 regime
Burden-sharing in an International Climate Agreement
Technology Transfer in an International Climate Agreement (international carbon markets and technology transfer; additional technology policy in post-2012 international climate agreements)
Reforming the Clean Development Mechanism
Addressing Deforestation in the Paris Agreement
Making Global Climate Policy Compatible with Global Trade Policy
6.3 Alliances and coalitions in the UNFCCC process
6.4 Negotiator¿s guidance
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7. Module 2 (Session 7).- Final preparation for the Role Play (I). 7.1 Two days negotiation: preliminary information
7.2 Background paper presentations
7.3 Position paper deadline
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8. Module 2 (Session 8).- Final preparation for the Role Play (II) 8.1 Students receive their confidential negotiating instructions, according to the template attached. Some points will be established well in advance, others will be adjusted based on the presentations and position papers.
8.2 Feedback on Position papers
8.3 General conclusions
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9. Module 3 (Session 9).- Role Play (Two days exercise) |
Methodology
The course consists of a combination of lectures, case studies, and two group project. The final group project is an assignment (Background paper and Position paper) to prepare for the final role play.
This course is unique in its approach. In order to maximize students' benefit as well as to leverage the expertise of involved faculty, teaching and background material will be shared among participating universities. The didactic concept of the role play (including students' assignments for position and background paper) will mainly be provided by the University of Cologne (Germany). Regular conference calls with involved faculty will be organized prior to the start of the role play.
Each student has an individual role in the Role Play, and is also part of a small team or delegation. Most delegations include multiple representatives of one country or group of countries. Based on the assigned roles, students are to prepare a background presentation and a position paper regarding the country/organization that they are to represent (second group project). The position paper asks each team to prepare their negotiation positions and think through the dynamics of a multilateral negotiation by preparing conditional fallback options. The main issues to be negotiated are divided into 4 working groups: Working Group Chairs will be selected between participants during the course and trained accordingly
Working Group 1: Mitigation and compliance
Working Group 2: Adaptation and Climate Refugees
Working Group 3: Market mechanisms
Working Group 4: Climate Finance
During the final simulation, government representatives' task is to reach an agreement on these three "agenda items. in the above four different working groups. In line with international law, representatives of NGOs and lobbyists from the industry do not have the right to vote but try to influence the outcome by delivering statements and extraordinary actions and they can participate in the discussions.
The working groups are headed by a total of eight Chairs (two for each of the fourth working group), who are instructed to lead the negotiations during the simulation. Instead of writing a position paper, Working Group Chairs prepare the negotiations by synthesizing the positions of the other parties.
The final role play (2 days) will take place at one of the participating universities in this course during the second week of May 2023 (week to be confirmed later). Students need to cover their own cost of travel and accommodation for the Roleplay part. During the last two editions due to COVID restrictions, This year Role Play is going to be hosted by the Corvinus Universioty (Budapest, Hungary)
