Introductory description

Over 140 countries, 280 cities, and 1,180 of the world's largest corporation are committed to delivering net zero emissions as part of the global effort to meet the United Nations Paris target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels. Setting targets and meeting them are, of course, two very different exercises. Climate policies have contributed significantly towards the rapid global rise of renewable forms of energy, electrification in heat and transport sectors, and the growth of the 'green' economy in many countries - but the emissions curve has not yet flattened and opposition to mitigation policy remains vocal.

This module explores the highly complex politics that sits behind increasingly varied attempts to mitigate for climate change. The implications of climate change are experienced in such an uneven manner, responsibility for historic and current emissions are concentrated in the Global North and BRICS countries, whilst, crucially, no administration, be it global, national, local or corporate, has all the answers regarding how to meet global targets.

As such, this module introduces students to:
The variety of policies currently in place to mitigate for climate change.
The main political actors responsible for climate policy making and reaching global agreement.
Orthodox and alternative political ideas about how to understand climate change and how to address it.
The main themes that dominate political debates about climate change today.

In doing so, this module offers students the tools with which to think critically about current approaches to governing for climate change, to evaluate key challenges and opportunities, and, using this knowledge, think creatively about how to meet net zero emissions targets in a just and lasting manner.

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: Why we Govern for Climate Change: Science Meets Politics
Week 2: Negotiating Climate Change Mitigation
Week 3: Governing for Climate Change: Global & Regional Scale
Week 4: Governing Climate Change: National Scale
Week 5: Governing Climate Change: Local & Transnational Scales
Week 6: Reading Week
Week 7: Key Theme 1: the Politics of Phase Out: Fossil Fuels, Incumbency, and Backlash
Week 8: Key Theme 2: the Politics of Low Emissions Alternatives
Week 9: Key Theme 3: Justice & Equity
Week 10: Key Theme 4: Growth, Green Growth & De-growth

Learning outcomes

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

• Identify the main political ideas, approaches to, and actors involved in current attempts to govern for climate change
• Critically evaluate climate change mitigation and adaptation policies
• Identify dynamic inter-relationships between climate change and other policy areas - such as energy, transport, agriculture, health, and economic policy.
• Understand the key obstacles to, and opportunities for, just and sustainable transformations
• Critically evaluate alternative political approaches to governing climate change

Indicative reading list

Beeson, M (2019) Environmental populism: the politics of survival in the Anthropocene. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan
Bernstein, S. (2001) The compromise of liberal environmentalism. Columbia University Press
Buller, A. (2022) The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism. Manchester University Press
Carroll, W. et al (2018) 'The Corporate Elite and the Architecture of Climate Change Denial', Canadian Review of Sociology
Dubash, N. (2021) ‘Varieties of climate governance: the emergence and functioning of climate institutions’, Environmental Politics 30:1, 1-25
Gambhir, A. (2023) ‘This really does change everything: attaining 1.5°C needs all available mitigation levers’ Environmental Research Letters 18 (2023) 022001
Geels, F.; Turnheim, B. (2022) The Great Reconfiguration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Goeminne, G. (2012) ‘Lost in translation: Climate denial and the return of the political’, Global Environmental Politics 12:2, 1-8
Hickel, J. (2022) ‘Quantifying national responsibility for climate breakdown: an equality-based attribution approach for carbon dioxide emissions in excess of the planetary boundary’, Lancet Planet Health 2020, 4: 399-404
Jacobs, M. (2023) ‘Circuses have evolved and so must UN climate summits’, Climate Home News 5 February 2023
Jacobs, M. (2021) ‘Reflections on COP26: International diplomacy, global justice, and the greening of capitalism’, The Political Quarterly Online
Jordan. A.; Moore, B. (2020) Durable by Design? Policy Feedback in a Changing Climate. Cambridge University Press
Kuzemko, C. (2016) ‘Climate change benchmarking: constructing a sustainable future?’, Review of International Studies 41:5, 969-992
Newell, P.; Paterson, M. (2010) Climate capitalism: Global warming and the transformation of the global economy. Cambridge University Press
Paterson, M.; Tobin, P.; Van Deveer, S. (2022) ‘Climate Governance Antagonisms: Policy stability and repoliticization’, Global Environmental Politics 22:2, 1-11
Paterson, M. (2021) In Search of Climate Politics. Cambridge University Press
Scoones, I.; Leach, M.; Newell, P. (2015) The politics of green transformations. Florence: Taylor and Francis
Skovgaard, J.; van Asselt, H. (2018) The politics of fossil fuel subsidies and their reform. Cambridge University Press
Stevenson, H. (2020) Global Environmental Politics: Problems, policy and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Willis, B. (2020) Too hot to handle? The democratic challenge of climate change. Bristol: Bristol University Press

Interdisciplinary

This module draws on international political economy; climate science; human geography and sociology to explain and explore the complex global politics of acting to address climate change.

International

This module takes an explicitly global view of the politics of climate change, and will cover politics and policy within a range of countries but also on the international and transnational scales. This includes non-Western views about what climate change means politically and how to solve it.

Subject specific skills

Develop an advanced knowledge of the political debates and struggles that influence political decisions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change
Gain tools to analyse the roles of the main political actors involved, at multiple scales, in climate change action
Develop knowledge of, and engage critically with, a range of different political approaches to climate change
Apply political concepts to reveal how climate change policy is shaped, constrained, and developed
Gain tools to identify climate solutions that take political debates, struggles, and approaches into account

Transferable skills

Specific knowledge, relevant to policymaking in governance and corporate situations, about climate change
Communication skills - both written and presentation
Critical analytical skills
Further development of the techniques of academic argument, writing and referencing
Working with others when undertaking group exercises