Sustainable development is a broad-ranging concept rather than a narrowly defined field of study. As a result, this course is broad in scope, providing an overview of the underlying principales, beliefs and issues and their interconnections. But this course also addresses specific issues in economic/environmental sustainability such as the theory of natural nonrenewable resources (with an emphasis on fossil fuels), the preservation of renewable natural resource stocks (fisheries, forests, water, biodiversity), the sustainable development indicators, both on a theoretical point of view and on an empirical one. The second part of this class will review the latest findings from climate change science, highlighting robust results and key uncertainties about the climate system, the impacts of climate change and the costs of action ; provide an update on the current initiatives to address climate change (among others, existing schemes to manage greenhouse gas emissions and status of ongoing post-Kyoto negotiations) and discuss how the economist toolbox (such as discounting, valuation of environmental resources or economic instruments to mitigate externalities) can provide insights on key decisions about the climate problem. Address : PSE- Campus Jourdan |