Introductory description

Climate change has been widely identified as one of the most important challenges of the 21st century. Making the kinds of changes, in political, social and economic terms, necessary to meet global greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets is a monumental task. Climate change is a newly legitimised area of policymaking, the effects of climate change are uneven, whilst efforts to mitigate for climate change also have costs and benefits that are unevenly distributed. All this makes the politics of mitigating for climate change highly contested. This module provides an overview of the key debates, arguments and conceptual approaches within the global politics of climate change.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Week 1: Climate Science Meets Politics
Week 2: Actors, Institutions and Compromises
Week 3: Collective Action & Negotiations
Week 4: National Government Action
Week 5: Politics of sustainable change: Energy
Week 6: Reading Week
Week 7: Politics of sustainable change: Transport
Week 8: Politics of sustainable change: Buildings & Agriculture
Week 9: Sub-National & Transnational Action
Week 10: Where are we now? What can we do?

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Understand and explain the political and scientific debates behind the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Analyse the role of the main institutions and actors involved in climate change mitigation
• Engage critically with a range of different political approaches to climate change in key sectors such as: energy, agriculture, and transport
• Identify and explore links between global, national and local policies and politics

Indicative reading list

Carter, N. (2018) The Politics of the Environment: Ideas, Activism, Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) (2014) Fifth Assessment Report. Geneva: IPCC. Available here: https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar5/

Garner, R. (2011) Environmental Politics: The Age of Climate Change. Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave Macmillan. (Chapter 1: The Political Dimension of Environmentalism)

Newell, P.; Paterson, M. (2010) Climate Capitalism: Global Warming and the Transformation of the Global Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Chapters 1 & 2)

Arnell, N.W.; Brown, S.; Hinkel, J.; Linke, D.; Lloyd-Hughes, B.; Lowe, J.A.; Nicholls, R.J. Price, J.T.; Warren. R.F. (2015) The global impacts of climate change under pathways that reach 2,3 and 4C above pre-industrial levels. Report from AVOID2 project to the Committee on Climate Change. Available here: https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/AVOID2-2015-Global-impacts-of-climate-change-at-23-and-4K-above-pre-industrial-levels1.pdf

Bernstein, S. (2002) The Compromise of Liberal Environmentalism. New York: Columbia University Press. (Chapter 1)

Eckersley, R. (2004) The Green State: Rethinking democracy and sovereignty. MIT Press. (Chapter 1)

Giddens, A. (2009) The Politics of Climate Change. Cambridge: Polity Press (Chapters 1 & 3)

Gupta, J. (2014) The History of Global Climate Governance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Chapter 1)

IPCC (2002) Historical Overview of Climate Change Science. Geneva: IPCC. Available here: Historical overview of climate change science: https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/ar4-wg1-chapter1.pdf

Lipschutz, R.D. (2012) ‘The sustainability debate: déjà vu all over again’, in P. Dauvergne (ed.) Handbook of Global Environmental Politics (Second Edition). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Interdisciplinary

Students will engage with the science of climate change; as well as public policy, international political economy, and political geography concepts of how we can understand and explain global climate change politics.

International

The module covers international governance of climate change (UNFCCC and COP), as well as climate change policies in a wide range of countries.

Subject specific skills

Being able to link scientific claims about climate change with the politics of acting to mitigate
Understanding some of the complexities involved in the politics of climate change
Knowledge of, and ability to analyse, main political approaches to mitigating for climate change
Identify, and think critically in relation to, climate change policy at global, transnational, sub-national, national levels

Transferable skills

Specific knowledge, relevant to policymaking, about climate change
Communication skills - both written and oral
Critical analytical skills
Further development of the techniques of academic argument, writing and referencing
Working with others when undertaking a range of group exercises during seminars