Introductory description

Climate change poses a significant challenge to traditional assumptions about global political governance. Issues of power, justice, and the failures of existing economic and political models are at the root of the climate challenge. In this introductory module we look beyond technological solutions to examine underlying political, economic and ethical dynamics, posing difficult questions that often challenge mainstream assumptions about how to tackle climate change. We draw on different perspectives and methodologies, including political theory, international relations, and political economy. Weekly topics are arranged around 9 key ideas central to debates about the politics of climate change, such as Justice and Mitigation; Can Capitalism Cope with Climate Change?; Global Climate Governance; Unsustainable Consumption; Carbon Offsetting; Justice and Adaptation; Security Narratives in the Politicisation of Climate Change; The Geopolitics of Sustainable Energy Transformations; How Climate Change Challenges Current Political & Social Orthodoxies; The Anthropocene; Colonialism, Race and Indigenous Perspectives; Loss and Damage; Geoengineering.

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.

The 9 topics covered in any particular year will depend on staff availability but will always include an appropriate mix of topics to cover a range of areas and methodological perspectives on climate politics. Example topics include:

Justice and Mitigation

Policies designed to mitigate climate change can create benefits but also burdens and harms. What is the fairest way of distributing these burdens and benefits? What role, if any, should historical responsibility play? What other values should inform the transition to a sustainable world?

Can Capitalism Cope with Climate Change?

Many mainstream economists argue that governments can address climate change by implementing policies such as carbon taxes, emissions trading schemes, regulations, and investing in clean energy. Some, however, argue that these are not enough and that the root driver of climate change is capitalism (Fraser 2021, 2022; O'Connor 1998; Foster et al 2010; Saito 2023). Are the critics right? Or can there be a green capitalism?

Global Climate Governance

Climate change is a global problem that requires a global response. In this lecture, we will find out that climate governance has in fact become global and includes various non-state actors with innovative governance solutions. However, the current system is also very fragmented, lacks accountability, and largely ignores actors from the Global South.

Can Carbon Offsetting help to solve the Climate Crisis?

Carbon Offsetting allows individuals and organisations to purchase ‘carbon credits’ in order to balance out their own carbon emissions. Offsetting is increasingly widely used and makes a significant contribution to the net zero commitments of various organisations. Yet offsetting raises a number of practical and ethical concerns. How reliable are the estimates of emissions reductions or sequestered carbon used to value offsets? Do offsets disincentivise individuals and organisations from making direct cuts to high-carbon activities? Under what conditions is it ethical to pay others to avoid potentially harmful activities rather than avoid them oneself?

Justice and Adaptation

In the face of worsening climate impacts, societies are taking steps to adapt to climate change, for example by building sea walls, planting new crops, and rethinking water security. Interventions in support of climate adaptation raise significant ethical questions, in the light of the unequal distribution of climate impacts and adaptive capacity. What ethical principles should guide governments and other organisations in making decisions about how to prioritise and implement adaptation interventions?

The Geopolitics of Sustainable Energy Transformations

The global energy system is undergoing considerable changes - largely in the development and application of renewable and electricity storage technologies - designed to reduce emissions in this high-emitting global sector. Although these changes are insufficient, they still have significant implications. This lecture will touch on geopolitical implications and ask key questions such as: What pressures do new energy technologies place on global resources? How are the benefits and costs of energy transformations split between countries and groups within society? Will there be less geopolitical conflict in a world dominated by renewable energy?

Colonialism, Race and Indigenous Perspectives on Climate Politics

Climate change is often understood in planetary terms - as a universal, global threat to the human race. This lecture explores what happens if we try instead to disaggregate and critically investigate causes, effects, and marginalizations in order to understand the politics of universal models. How has colonialism led to the current climate crisis and how can we still see colonial logics operating in proposed political solutions? What alternatives are there to dominant ways of thinking about our relationship with the environment?

Loss and Damage

Climate change losses and damages can be seen as the adverse effects of global climate change that remain after any measures of mitigation and adaptation have been undertaken. But what are the main types of loss and damage? And through what institutions, policies and principles should these losses and damages be addressed?

Geoengineering

The limitations of policies of mitigation and adaptation have encouraged some states to explore the option of geoengineering to enhance the response to global climate change. Widely understood as ‘the deliberate large-scale manipulation of the planetary environment to counteract anthropogenic climate change’ (Royal Society), geoengineering has generated significant critique amongst environmentalists and theorists both in terms of its high risk of failure and for the way it will alter the functioning of natural environmental systems even it proves successful in addressing climate change.

Learning outcomes

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

• Demonstrate an advanced knowledge of political issues around climate change, and arguments for and against different policies in response to climate change, for example to promote adaptation and mitigation, and ascertain their strengths and weaknesses
• Have the ability to apply the theories and arguments analysed in the module to some central questions about climate politics facing contemporary societies.
• Demonstrate enhanced key skills such as written communication skills, problem solving, and information technology skills.
• Construct and substantiate a comprehensive and sophisticated argument

Indicative reading list

Reading lists can be found in Talis

Interdisciplinary

The module is focussed on politics approaches, including political theory, political economy, and international relations, but also includes elements from other disciplines including geography, climate science, and sociology.

International

The module looks at global impacts of climate change as well as global efforts to coordinate a response to climate change.

Subject specific skills

Develop an advanced knowledge of the political and ethical debates that shape decisions about climate change at the level of governments, organisations, and individuals.
Understand some of the controversies around political responses to climate change including challenges to widely endorsed assumptions about how to respond.
Develop knowledge of, and engage critically with, a range of different political approaches to climate change.

Transferable skills

Develop enhanced key skills such as written communication skills, problem solving, and information technology skills.
Construct and substantiate a comprehensive and sophisticated argument