MSc Sustainability (Climate Change)

Programme manager: Dr Jouni Paavola

Background

Climate change is a growing issue for policy makers in all areas of government, at international, national and subnational levels, as well as for financial, organisational and environmental managers, and experts in private and non profit making organisations. The Stern Report concluded in 2007 that ‘climate change is a serious global threat, and it demands an urgent global response’, because ‘the benefits of strong and early action far outweigh the economic costs of not acting’. The report suggested that ‘if we don’t act, the overall costs and risks of climate change will be equivalent to losing at least 5 % of global GDP each year’ and that ‘if a wider range of risks and impacts is taken into account, the estimates of damage could rise to 20 % GDP or more.’ This programme provides students with a solid foundation in the physical science of climate change, climate change impacts and adaptation to climate change, as well as touching on climate change mitigation within broader debates on sustainability.

The programme will draw from the world-class research expertise in the new ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, run jointly between the London School of Economics & Political Sciences (LSE) and the University of Leeds, to be chaired by Stern.

The programme will also benefit from the wider expertise in the Sustainability Research Institute, the Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science and the School of Earth and Environment.The course is aimed particularly at people working or seeking to work on different aspects of climate change in the public and private sectors as well as not-for-profit organisations in the UK, Europe or elsewhere in the world.

What you will achieve

Upon completion of the programme, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a broad interdisciplinary knowledge of the
concepts, information and techniques relevant to
climate change.

• Engage in broader debates about governance solutions
and public policies pertinent to climate change at
international, national and local scales.

• Use a variety of research methods and approaches that are pertinent to interdisciplinary and social scientific research on climate change.

• Understand the influence of political parties and interest groups in collective environmental decisions, and the performance of different forms of policy
intervention in different contexts.

• Understand the methods used to evaluate climate change impacts, and develop the skills to produce adaptation strategies.

• Take a proactive and self-reflective role in working and to develop professional relationships with others, particularly an ability to work in interdisciplinary teams
on problems relating to climate change and sustainability.

• Undertake further studies on climate change and related
topics at a doctoral level.

Modules

Semester 1

• Introduction to Sustainability
• Sustainability Assessment: Tools and Techniques
• Climate Change: Physical Science Basis
• Research Methods

Semester 2

• Climate Change: Impacts and Adaptation
• Climate Change: Governance and Policy
• Sustainability and the Governance of Economic Development
• Elective

Semester 3

• Research Project

For full details of the programme structure and the content of the modules please Click Here - link to module descriptions

Entry requirements

Applications are invited from candidates from a range of backgrounds across the social and natural sciences. Candidates should have a good first degree, an upper second classification or above, or equivalent qualification. Mature applicants without a first degree or with a lower degree classification may be considered on the basis of their relevant industry experience and their potential for benefiting from the programme.

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