Lectures
- 1. Introduction and overview
- 2. Institutions I: political and analytical organizations
- 3. Review of the mathematics of climate analysis
- 4. Climate I: past climate, and gases, aerosols and radiation
- 5. Economics primer
- 6. Climate II: dynamics of the atmosphere and oceans
- 7. Economics of the global commons
- 8. Economics I: economic growth, technology and greenhouse gas emissions
- 9. Institutions II: the international climate negotiations
- 10. Economics II: the economics of greenhouse gas emissions control
- 12. Climate III: interaction of atmosphere, oceans and biosphere
- 13. Analysis of the benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation
- 14. Economics III: climate policy analysis
- 15. Emissions trading and tax systems
- 16. Climate machine IV: regional impacts of climate change
- 17. Review of methods of uncertainty analysis
- 18. Integrated assessment I: sensitivity and uncertainty analysis
- 19. Sea level rise and adaptation
- 20. Methods for decision under uncertainty
- 23. Climate V: unresolved problems in climate analysis
Global Climate Change
Course Summary
This course is based on Global Climate Change: Economics, Science, and Policy, Spring 2008 made available by Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.
This course introduces scientific, economic, and ecological issues underlying the threat of global climate change, and the institutions engaged in negotiating an international response. It also develops an integrated approach to analysis of climate change processes, and assessment of proposed policy measures, drawing on research and model development within the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.
Reading Material
1. Uniting on Climate: A Guide to the Climate Change Convention and the Kyoto ProtocolUniting on Climate: A Guide to the Climate Change Convention and the Kyoto Protocol. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 2007, pp. 7-38. (PDF - 3.7 MB)
(Image source: Uniting on Climate, UNFCCC)
Summary for Policymakers, Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Fourth Assessment Report. (PDF - 1.9 MB)
3. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis
Summary for Policymakers, Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group I, Fourth Assessment Report, pp. 1-17. (PDF - 3.7 MB)
4. The Economics of Climate Change: A Primer
The Economics of Climate Change: A Primer. US Congressional Budget Office, 2003
5. Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much at What Cost?
Executive Summary, Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much at What Cost? McKinsey & Company, 2007. (PDF)
6. The Kyoto Protocol and Developing Countries
Babiker, Mustafa, John Reilly, and Henry Jacoby. "The Kyoto Protocol and Developing Countries." MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Report No. 56, October 1999.
7. The MIT Integrated Global System Model (IGSM)
Sokolov, A. P., et al. "The MIT Integrated Global System Model (IGSM) Version 2: Model Description and Baseline Evaluation." MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Report No. 124, July 2005. (PDF - 1.4 MB)
8. Scenarios of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Anthropogenic Concentrations
Executive Summary, Scenarios of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Anthropogenic Concentrations. U.S. Climate Change Science Program, Synthesis and Assessment Product 2.1a, 2007. (PDF)
9. Emissions Trading in the U.S.: Experience, Lessons and Considerations for Greenhouse Gases
Ellerman, A. Denny, Paul Joskow, and David Harrison, Jr. "Emissions Trading in the U.S.: Experience, Lessons and Considerations for Greenhouse Gases." Washington, DC: Pew Center for Global Climate Change. (PDF)
10. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
Summary for Policymakers, Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group II, Fourth Assessment Report. (PDF)
