Individuals cannot solve the climate emergency, even if we all have a role to play. Neither can individual countries. Climate change is a collective action problem that requires international cooperation to transform the global economy by 2050. Building on the success of the Montreal Protocol, the United Nations has worked to bring its member nations together in a similar process to confront climate change. The results of the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) Climate Change Conferences dating back to 1995 have been decidedly mixed. The United States never ratified the Kyoto Protocol and the 2009 Copenhagen meeting failed to reach an agreement. In 2015, the Paris Agreement made a breakthrough, but subsequent COP meetings have struggled to find agreement on how to meet the Paris targets or adequately fund the Loss and Damage Fund. This course will focus on this international process, first by stepping back and exploring the historical context of climate science, planetary thinking, economic growth, denialism and obstruction, new technologies, and the efficacy of international environmental agreements. We will then work together to organize a mock future COP meeting, developing negotiating positions for different national governments with the goal of developing what a new agreement might look like that address competing national concerns (e.g. United States, China, India, Canada, the European Union, Nigeria, and Small Island Nations). We will also consider the role of non-governmental actors in the COP meeting and the success of the commitments (e.g. the United Nations, large banks, Greenpeace and the Sunrise Movement, the climate tech sector, farmers organizations, and the major oil companies). Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hoursPrerequisite(s): IS 220.3, IS 211.3 or IS 212.3; or the permission of the IS program adviser or the History Department Head.
Individuals cannot solve the climate emergency, even if we all have a role to play. Neither can individual countries. Climate change is a collective action problem that requires international cooperation to transform the global economy by 2050. Building on the success of the Montreal Protocol, the United Nations has worked to bring its member nations together in a similar process to confront climate change. The results of the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) Climate Change Conferences dating back to 1995 have been decidedly mixed. The United States never ratified the Kyoto Protocol and the 2009 Copenhagen meeting failed to reach an agreement. In 2015, the Paris Agreement made a breakthrough, but subsequent COP meetings have struggled to find agreement on how to meet the Paris targets or adequately fund the Loss and Damage Fund. This course will focus on this international process, first by stepping back and exploring the historical context of climate science, planetary thinking, economic growth, denialism and obstruction, new technologies, and the efficacy of international environmental agreements. We will then work together to organize a mock future COP meeting, developing negotiating positions for different national governments with the goal of developing what a new agreement might look like that address competing national concerns (e.g. United States, China, India, Canada, the European Union, Nigeria, and Small Island Nations). We will also consider the role of non-governmental actors in the COP meeting and the success of the commitments (e.g. the United Nations, large banks, Greenpeace and the Sunrise Movement, the climate tech sector, farmers organizations, and the major oil companies). Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hoursPrerequisite(s): IS 220.3, IS 211.3 or IS 212.3; or the permission of the IS program adviser or the History Department Head.
