F1ES 4140 - Climate Justice: Actors, Debates and Strategies Deployed at the International Level

Since 2015 and the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) crystalized a transformation - in the making for more than a decade- from the UN as producing and enforcing binding reduction targets for states to a flexible ‘pledge and review’ system of voluntary commitments by state and non-state actors alike. This change affects the way in which actors of the climate debate engage internationally and demands careful attention when analysing its outcomes.

Neither meaningless nor intrinsically positive, the UNFCCC and more generally the UN system remains a theater where different visions of climate action are expressed. If those aiming at keeping the status quo get involved for obvious reasons, what explains the advocacy, engagement and mobilisation of climate justice actors? How are progressive concepts advanced in a likely rigged space?

We will introduce actors centering climate justice framings along with critical thinking in which their demands are based.

We will use a specific concept, the idea of a ‘Just Transition’, which has gathered a lot of attention since the Paris Agreement, to analyse the advocacy, communication and mobilisation practices used to advance new concepts at the United Nations.

Blending theory with activist's practices and media analysis, the course will help students “crack the code” of meticulously crafted communications strategies, understand how the UN is talked about and where narratives come from, as well as providing opportunities for imagining pathways to strategically advance climate justice.

Learning Outcomes:

• Become familiarized with climate justice actors, theories and key demands at the international level.
• Understand and engage with climate justice activists’ practices to advance ideas and rights at the UN, notably around advocacy, communications and organising & mobilisation, and get acquainted with key concepts for strategy development (ie. objectives, theory of change, outcomes, output).
• “Decode” strategies and objectives underlying commonly used climate narratives.

Professional Skills:

Early career understanding of advocacy, communications/ engagement and strategy development in non for profits. Media analysis.

The course is designed in a highly interactive manner, with multiple exercises seeking to ensure maximum participation from each student. Feedback to students is provided regularly on their practice work. Feedback on the course is seek for mid-semester and with an intense evaluation session at the end of the course.

The grading will be based on four components below:

• 25% Individual work on key people working on climate justice
• 40% Final group work in Miro Board
• 25% Group Strategy presentation
• 10% Individual Participation

• In Class Presence: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester
• Online learning activities: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester
• Reading and Preparation for Class: 3 hours a week / 36 hours a semester
• Research and Preparation for Group Work: 4 hours a week / 48 hours a semester
• Research and Preparation for Individual Work: 1 hour a week / 12 hours a semester