The Road to the Green Transition

Course Director: Pamela Campa

Content

The course critically explores the main policy challenges in achieving ‘net zero’ greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as called for in the Paris Agreement. Special emphasis will be placed on the role of economic policy, the role of the private sector, and the multi-level politics behind the green transition

Format & Structure

The course is designed and taught jointly by CIVICA professors. On top of lectures, students work in teams across countries and disciplines, with the aim of completing a final capstone project assignment related to climate policy challenges.

All sessions will be recorded and made available for students who are unable to attend live due to overlapping holidays or exams at their home institution.

Course Administrator: jessica.kihlman@hhs.se

At the end of the course students will be able to:

1. Outline the green transition objectives, and how they relate to global, European, and national decarbonization policies.
2. Critically assess the short-, medium- and long-term challenges in bringing about a green transition, and understand who the main stakeholders are.
3. Apply insights from relevant academic and policy literatures to analyzing the prospects of achieving the green transition objectives.
4. Identify and analyze the main economic and societal challenges posed by the green transition, and how these relate to domestic, European, and international politics.

There are no prerequisites, but the course will fit better toward the end of the MSc program than near the beginning.

Preliminary reading list:

• Agbemabiese, L., Nkomo, J., and Sokona, Y. (2012), Enabling Innovations in Energy Access: An African Perspective, Energy Policy 47, Supplement 1 (June), 38-47. (10p)
• Ahlstrom, H. and Monciardini, D. (2022). The Regulatory Dynamics of Sustainable Finance: Paradoxical Success and Limitations of Reform, Journal of Business Ethics 177 (1), 193-212. (20p)
• Baute, S. (2024). The Distributive Politics of the Green Transition: A Conjoint Experiment on EU Climate Change Mitigation Policy, Journal of European Public Policy, 1-29. (30p)
• Browne, K. E. (2022). Rethinking Governance in International Climate Finance: Structural Change and Alternative Approaches, WIREs Climate Change, 13, e795. (23p)
• Bryant, G. and Webber, S. (2024). Climate Finance, Agenda Publishing (ISBN 978- 1- 78821- 462- 9). Chapter 3: Climate Risk and Chapter 6: Big Green States. (20p+23p)
• Bulfone, F., Ergen, T., and Kalaitzake, M. (2023). No Strings Attached: Corporate Welfare, State Intervention and the Issue of Conditionality, Competition and Change, 27 (2), 253-276. (24p), 26 August 2024 Page 3 of 6
• Burer, M.J., and Wüstenhagen, J. (2009). Which Renewable Energy Policy Is a Venture Capitalist's Best Friend? Empirical Evidence from a Survey of International Cleantech Investors. Energy Policy 37(12) (December 2009): 4997-5006. (10p)
• de Serres, A., Llewellyn, J., and Llewellyn, P. (2011). The Political Economy of Climate Change Mitigation Policies: How to Build a Constituency to Address Global Warming? OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 887, OECD Publishing, Paris. (35p)
• Ellingsen, T. (2024). Solving Social Dilemmas, Working Paper. (30p)
• Grubb, M., McDowall, W., and Drummond, P. (2017). On Order and Complexity in Innovations Systems: Conceptual Frameworks for Policy Mixes in Sustainability Transitions, Energy Research & Social Science 33, Supplement C (November 1), 21-34. (14p)
• Hassler, J., Krusell, P., and Olovsson, C. (2023). The Macroeconomics of Climate Change: Starting Points, Tentative Results, and a Way Forward. Working Paper 24-8, Peterson Institute of International Economics. (35p)
• Michaelowa, K., Michaelowa, A., Reinsberg, B. and Shishlov, I. (2020). Do Multilateral Development Bank Trust Funds Allocate Climate Finance Efficiently? Sustainability 12, 5529. (17p)
• Oberthür, S. and Von Homeyer, I. (2023). From Emissions Trading to the European Green Deal: The Evolution of the Climate Policy Mix and Climate Policy Integration in the EU. Journal of European Public Policy, 30(3), 445-468. (24p)
• Park, J. (2023). Understanding the USD 10+ Trillion Climate Finance Dilemma: Implications for the 2023 COP28 Climate Conference', PLOS Climate, 2, e0000302. (5p)
• Ringel, M, Bruch, N., and Knodt, M. (2021). Is Clean Energy Contested? Exploring Which Issues Matter to Stakeholders in the European Green Deal, Energy Research & Social Science 77, 102083. (12p)
• United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2023). Sixth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2023. Available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/ (30p)
• Wüstenhagen, R. and Menichetti, E. (2012). Strategic Choices for Renewable Energy Investment: Conceptual Framework and Opportunities for Further Research, Energy Policy 40(1), 1-10. (11p)

The only grade granted is Pass

The final evaluation of the course is based on a group capstone project, to be developed by teams of up to 5 students representing (at least) 3 campuses, under the supervision of designated faculty members or researchers from the alliance.

Each team must prepare a ~45-minute podcast that delves deeply into one of the green transition issues covered in the course, unpacks the complexity of the related policy problems, and highlights policy options to overcome them.

Apart from the capstone project that is conducted in groups, fifty percent of the grade will be based on an individual assignment.

Multicampus courses will be graded on a pass/fail basis. The students can receive Civica grades, but these are to be translated into pass/fail grades at SSE.

Find the course schedule in TimeEdit

Have you been granted educational support because of a documented disability? If so, please contact the course director as soon as possible so that adequate accommodations can be made.

Contact specialneeds@hhs.se if you have questions about being granted educational support or need a copy of your educational support certificate.

For more information, visit the Specific Educational Needs page on the Student Hub (login required).