F1IP 4110 - Climate Change Economics

Climate change has been described as “the greatest challenge of our time” by Thomas Stocker, former co-chair of the IPCC. It is therefore a critical issue that the field of environmental economics can help address. The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Synthesis Report, Climate Change 2023, is the latest in a long series of assessments emphasizing the urgent need for deep and rapid decarbonization of both consumption and production systems to avert the severe, and potentially catastrophic, consequences of accelerating global warming in the 21st century.

This course aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of climate change, focusing on the role that economic policy can play in addressing it. It explores the mechanisms linking economic activity to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, methods for modelling the societal costs of climate change, and the economic instruments policymakers can use to promote decarbonization while preparing for climate adaptation.

Learning Outcomes:

• Knowledge of the main climate change mitigation and adaptation policy tools and their tradeoffs
• Understanding of the economic modelling of climate change mitigation and damages
• Ability to produce policy briefs from the relevant academic literature

Professional Skills:

Redaction of policy brief and/or empirical work

Research & Analysis

Critical thinking

Minimum background in micro and macroeconomics required

Lecture and presentation. Online office hours to help students with their project

• Simulation with the DICE model under various parametrizations (take-home paper, 40%
• Individual presentation (max. 5 minutes) of a research article related to the theme of the session (oral presentation, 20%)
• Group presentation on thematic debates (max. 10 minutes) as rehearsal for the final exam (oral presentation, 5%)
• Final written exam (in-class, 35%) with two parts: (a) a multiple-choice questionnaire; (b) a short essay (choice between several questions)

• Attendance: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester
• Reading and preparation for class: 2 hours per week / 24 hours per semester
• Research and preparation for individual and group presentations: 2 hours per week / 24 hours per semester
• Preparation of the take-home modelling exercise: 3 hours per week / 36 hours per semester
• Preparation for the final written exam: 2 hours per week / 24 hours per semester