This course introduces students to the economic analysis of climate change and wants to illustrate how climate change is an unintended consequence of economic activities, but also how economists can provide and implement solutions to specific problems related to climate change. Various concepts such as public goods, carbon pricing, quantification of economic damages from climate change as well as the social costs of carbon will be introduced and discussed. Both the theoretical foundations of these concepts as well as benefits, shortcomings and challenges will be discussed. The second part focuses on two specific subfields. First, we study energy markets and the role of decarbonizing energy markets in climate change mitigation. Important concepts such as the merit-order effect, levelized costs of electricity generation as well as energy efficiency measures and energy poverty will be illustrated. Second, the focus will be on the global dimension and coordination issues in international climate change negotiations. Alternative solutions to international treaties and potential disadvantages and solutions to unilateral climate policies will be discussed. The course is structured in five block which all consist of a lecture, the reading of a scientific publication, and a short exercise. All content will be discussed during the sessions.

To attend the course / exercise, registration via e-learning platform OLAT is required. Registration is possible from 3 – 28 February 2025. The students themselves are responsible for checking the creditability of the course to their course of study.

Direct link to OLAT course: to follow