Gov­ern­ing the Green Trans­ition

Course content

Climate change is the most important challenge facing humanity today, reconfiguring economies and societies across the globe. Addressing climate change through the green transition will entail significant change and conflict. What does that change and conflict look like, and why? Which political actors and interests are involved, and how do they compete for influence over green standards and norms? In Governing The Green Transition, we focus on these questions, examining professional and organizational competition as markets change to bring in the green transition.

Seen through the lens of International Political Economy, this competition comprises not only states but also firms, experts, NGOs and other actors who want to control how standards are set for green transition, how assets are valued, and who ultimately benefits.

The course develops your understanding of different issues in the green transition, drawing on state of the art research (including faculty’s own), providing cases on green investment, climate consulting, corporate activism, taxation and the climate breakdown, plastics, food, and more.

The course also develops your analytical capacity to understand who gets the upper hand, and how professional networks underpin policy and market arrangements for the green transition. You will be trained in how to analyze who has influence in green transition issues. Students will also receive dedicated feedback from faculty to test their arguments and cases throughout the course.

The course is directed at those who want to develop their analytical capacities for thinking about how macro political and economic processes, which enable and constrain the green transition, are linked to micro and meso-level mechanisms of competition and coordination among experts and authorities. The course is especially suited to those who wish to have a career in consulting or policy that is linked to the green transition.

In relation to Nordic Nine

The Governing the Green Transition course supports the Nordic Nine capabilities by teaching analytical approaches to understand humanity’s challenges, climate change specifically, and how they may be resolved (NN3).

The course provides the means to explain the social and politico-economic structures that replicate prosperity and inequality over generations (NN7).

The stress in the course on climate-vulnerable and climate-forcing assets also helps students examine how local communities create value from global connections (NN9).