GLA2029H: The Sustainability Imperative: Implications for Global Affairs and Public Policy

This course initially explores the latest science of climate change followed by the international legal and policy framework to address climate change developed over time including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement highlighting the key points for the post-2020 climate change regime. Students will then be given an understanding of the international and domestic legal, economic, and financial dimensions of climate change. They will be provided with some of the strategies national governments can use to bring down greenhouse gas emissions as well as to adapt to climate change including the process for developing and updating Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). In addition to reviewing the obligations of national governments as parties to the Paris Agreement as a legally binding international treaty on climate change, the course will also discuss the roles of: subnational governments including cities, states, provinces, as well as the partnerships that exist among these groups; civil society (non-state actors) including Indigenous peoples and non-governmental (NGOs) organizations; and business in the net-zero transition.

0.50
St. George
In Class