Policymaking for Climate and Circular Economy (5 ECTS credits)
Navigate the instruments of environmental policy with confidence, and turn sustainability challenges like climate and energy into business opportunities.
About the course
In the wake of the accelerating pace of ongoing sustainability transitions, environmental policy is becoming increasingly extensive, complex and contested. The aim of this course is to give participants an introduction to the underlying issues behind our environmental and climate challenges, and to equip them with a range of environmental policy instruments and tools to engage with them skilfully in their own profession or future work. A secondary aim is to learn to navigate the paradoxical information environment we find ourselves in, with better tools (such as AI) for seeking out information but at the same time a growing spread of disinformation.
Learning objectives
- describe how market mechanisms work and relate them to the market failures underlying environmental problems
- describe how environmental policy instruments work
- distinguish the effect that different environmental policy instruments have on incentives to change technology and behaviour, and how they affect the distribution of costs associated with environmental improvements
- identify which environmental policy instruments are central to the climate challenge and the circular economy within the transport, construction and energy sectors, and analyse public acceptance of these instruments
- assess the significance of environmental and climate policy design in achieving set goals
- describe the concept of the circular economy and explain how efficiency can be increased and pressure on ecosystems reduced by following its principles
- recognise common misconceptions about climate physics and explain the role that net-zero emissions play in a stable climate
- use Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a learning tool, both to deepen and to convey knowledge within the course topics, and reflect on the potential opportunities and risks of using AI
Content
The course content aims to build an understanding of why we face environmental challenges and what we can do about them.
The course introduces material within the following areas:
Environmental policy instruments for challenges such as climate change, the energy crisis, pollution and the management of scarce resources. These include taxes, subsidies, direct regulation, emissions trading, congestion charges, information and more. Principles for a fair distribution of global responsibility, theories on the choice and design of policy instruments, climate negotiations and a description of the policymaking process are also covered.
Fundamental economic concepts and models, which underpin how the instruments work, are explained. This includes, for example, market mechanisms (including supply and demand) and market failures.
The concept of the circular economy is presented, and various examples of its areas of application, along with the challenges it faces, are discussed.
Perspectives on policy instruments and insights from several experts across different sectors of society will be presented through interviews and podcasts, focusing on the role and consequences of policy instruments for the experts’ work and for the sustainability transition in their industry. The role of information and disinformation campaigns in shaping public debate around the climate challenge and the conditions for climate policy instruments, as well as basic facts about climate physics, are also included.
AI as a support for learning and knowledge-sharing within the course topics.
Organisation
The course combines online sessions, digital learning materials, individual assignments and group work, while staying at the forefront of using AI to deepen the learning process. The online sessions include academic lectures, guest lectures from industry, seminars and workshops. The digital learning materials include, among other things, video clips, self-assessment quizzes, texts, practice exercises and case studies of environmental challenges.
The mix of students and professionals from different disciplines and sectors creates a dynamic and stimulating learning environment where different perspectives and experiences are highly valued and actively drawn upon.
The online resources are organised into structured modules on a learning platform, which are used to prepare for the online materials and the synchronous online sessions. In this course, participants are also guided in how to integrate various AI tools into their studies to make their learning easier and more engaging, and in how AI can be used to convey knowledge.
To some extent, the course will also be linked to a global massive open online course (MOOC). This helps broaden the opportunity to specialise in the geographic or thematic area you’re most interested in, and to understand how conditions for tackling climate and resource challenges differ across different parts of the world.
The course is taught online during the daytime, with one compulsory in-person session, the exam, which takes place at Chalmers Campus.
This course (5 ECTS credits) is intended for both professionals and students. It is ideally taken alongside its sibling course, Policymaking for Climate and Circular Economy: Project Course, 2.5 ECTS credits, in which participants work in project form to analyse a question within a relevant area.
Language of instruction
The course is taught in Swedish.
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Course Participant profile
Prerequisites: General eligibility for first-cycle (bachelor’s level) studies, plus English 6.