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- Course
“Innovation is the key to addressing the climate crisis” declares Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. The task of unleashing innovative solutions within the high-risk environment of a rapidly warming planet is left to courageous and creative sustainability leaders – individuals working across all sectors who are prepared to forge bold and novel pathways for their organizations and for society at large. Who are these individuals and what attributes distinguish them as change agents? Can these qualities be learned and serve as a blueprint for others to adopt? This course will prepare students to be leaders in developing innovative sustainable frameworks and solutions. We will analyze the characteristics of innovative sustainability leaders, including common themes (if any), how they have grappled with success and failure, and how these individuals become effective leaders who inspire their teams and organizations to act as catalysts for change. Through guest speakers, in-depth discussion, and by using a variety of examples and case studies from the non-profit, profit, and public sectors, we will examine the impacts that
innovative sustainability leaders have on organizational success and failure.
Against the backdrop of a world transformed by climate change, we will then expand our view to assess thesignificance of collaboration both within and beyond the conceptual boundaries of organizations, considering the pivotal roles that diverse stakeholders play in driving advancements in sustainable innovations. Ultimately, we will evaluate the role and responsibility of innovative sustainability leaders to effect transformational change on a societal level. By the end of the course, students will have developed actionable tools, strategies, and critical thinking skills for leading transformational change in their organizations and beyond.
- Topics on: Business, Impact, Innovation
- Course
The city has historically served to gather and leverage the hinterland’s production: it was in cities
that craft guilds were formed to add value to raw materials, crops and piecework were monetized,
knowledge was assembled and disseminated. Within sustainability studies, cities are often cited for
their efficiency, but the importance of their relationship to their hinterlands in a globalized world is
often obscure. Nothing – whether a living creature or a settlement – can have a metabolic rate of
zero. This course will look to the knowledge base of urban metabolism to ask questions about how
cities supply and off-load their metabolic processes, and how that metabolism shapes and is shaped
by each city’s specific spatial and cultural characteristics. Our work presumes that each individual
resource flow can tell a different story about a city’s working, and that by studying a well-chosen flow, we
can find subtle, location-specific ways to talk about that city’s metabolism.
The current discourse of “circularity”, especially circular cities, is often unspecific about geographic and
spatial limitations on manufacturing and re-manufacturing. Learning to estimate the inputs, sinks and
outputs that characterize cities from existing data and records, and to read the places and spaces where
these processes reside provides a rare skill-set for improving the resource sustainability of cities.
We will review documents to help understand the premises of urban metabolism, a relatively new
practice within the field of industrial ecology. We will test these premises against a case study city, Los
Angeles, to see how they apply historically and currently. Reference to the course textbook, Sustainable
Urban Metabolism, in concert with other readings and in-class diagramming exercises, will allow each
student to develop a flexible methodology through which to track and study the interaction of resource
flows and urban culture. In the second half of the semester, class time will also be devoted to developing
and discussing the students’ individual term research projects, in which they will identify and examine a
resource flow that explains best their cities of origin.
Together, we will engage the problem of finding appropriate metrics and proxies that can quantify
city/hinterland interaction but can also support the development of alternate infrastructure and
sustainable practices, from the bottom up and the top down.
- Topics on: Food, Infrastructure
- Course
The Internship in Industry course is an elective course taken by students in the M.S. in Applied Analytics,
Construction Administration, Enterprise Risk Management, Human Capital Management, Sustainability Science, Sustainability Management, Technology Management, and/or Nonprofit Management.
Most people are passionate about many different things, and the SPS Career Design Lab believes the only way to know what you really want to do is to prototype some potential lives, try them out, and see what you really like. This course uses reflection and targeted readings plus career and life design principles to help you complete a successful internship. The ideal internship will provide you an opportunity to gain tangible and practical knowledge in your chosen field by taking on a position in a real working environment that is closely aligned with your coursework and professional interests. The course readings, individual and peer-to-peer assignments, online discussions, and reflective exercises are designed to augment and optimize your internship experience. You will gain exposure to a range of professional practices and roles through discussion of work-related experiences with your peers and instructor.
- Topics on: Analytics, Business, Energy, Engineering, Science, Technology
- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2026
The global energy industry is comprised of the largest and most interrelated set of businesses in the world. From its inception, the industry has grown dramatically to provide ever increasing amounts of energy and electricity to wholesale and retail consumers around the world. Given its unique industry structure, specialized financing techniques have been developed to expand and/or complement conventional public and private financing alternatives. These specialized financing approaches have, in turn, allowed the energy industry to access an unprecedented range of capital sources to fund its increasingly complex operational and financial needs.
This course is designed to familiarize students with the terms and applications of various financing structures developed for the global energy industry in response to ever evolving industry, regulatory and market conditions. While the energy business is quintessentially global in nature, the course will focus largely on public and private financings within domestic (U.S.) markets given their greater maturation. Over the course of the semester, the class will move through a series of modules covering conventional and clean energy markets and their related asset-based, project, and tax-driven financing alternatives. Specific attention will be given to identifying and dimensioning the various risks contained in each of these markets and the relevant physical, contractual, and financial mechanisms which have been designed to allocate such risks among relevant parties.
We will also discuss the inter-related requirements necessary to successfully advance the quest for sustainable development as the foundation for the transition to a low-carbon economy. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the complexities of reducing greenhouse gas emissions while at the same time improving access to reasonably priced energy to spur economic development and enhance global standards of living. Throughout this review particular emphasis will be placed on reconciling the physical and financial requirements of various aspects of the global energy sector to identify and support solutions that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions without sacrificing economic and humanitarian imperatives. Specifically, we will discuss how any energy and power market activity can be sustainable if it is not physically possible, supported by appropriate policy and commercially reasonable at some level.
- Topics on: Business, Economics, Energy, Finance
- Course
Most recently taught Fall 2025
Dynamics of Climate Variability & Climate Change is a CORE course for all Climate School Master’s students. It provides the primary opportunity for students to gain a scientific understanding of the climate system – knowledge that underpins the rest of the program’s goals.
To effectively link Climate to Society, an understanding of the physical workings of the climate system is critical, but not sufficient. One must also be able to interpret climate information like forecasts and observational maps. One must be able to determine the basis of forecasts as well as their uncertainties, and to judge critically the suitability of different types of climate information to answer questions of societal interest. Much of the ability to interpret climate information rests on understanding the physical workings of the climate system. Furthermore, it is important to realize that climate variability acts on a number of time and space scales, which may be further influenced by man-made climate change. How are these various aspects of the climate realized, forecast, interpreted? These are the sorts of issues that we address throughout the semester.
Eventually, one will need to communicate with the public, a boss or co-worker, or even friends and family, in pursuit of linking climate and society. Therefore, one must be fluent in the language appropriate to discuss climate, its variability and its change. Solid understanding and appropriate usage of terminology will be emphasized throughout the course. There will also be a communication project, where students team up in small groups [3-5 people], select a climate science topic from a list provided by the instructors, distill and synthesize the physical understanding, debate/arguments, and societal relevance of this topic. The group will create a short movie suitable for a general audience that will communicate the knowledge and skills developed in the class.
- Topics on: Science
- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2026
The course will focus on the knowledge and skills required to research, ideate, thoughtfully plan, and pitch a new business aimed at mitigating climate-related challenges. The course will serve as a laboratory for students to sharpen their entrepreneurial skills and deepen their understanding of climate change and related challenges, and how to meaningfully address them. Students will work on projects in teams to: 1) identify and define a climate challenge they want to mitigate; 2) engage in research, need finding, customer discovery and development; 3) brainstorm, ideate and generate ideas to mitigate the challenge; 4) create prototypes to get customer/expert feedback; 5) create viable implementation plans & budgets; and 6) practice pitching their initial idea to potential partners and investors.
- Topics on: Business, Technology
- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2026
What is the ultimate responsibility of companies? Fifty years ago, the consensus was that the answer to this question should be maximizing profit and shareholders’ value. Today, however, the answer is more complex. Companies are increasingly being held accountable for environmental and social responsibilities, in addition to their economic performance. As a result, the traditional principles that shaped corporate practices in the 20th century are now being challenged and revised to embrace sustainability as a core component of business.
The Business of Sustainability explores how companies can create long-term value by integrating environmental and social considerations into their core strategies and operations. Through lectures, case studies, interactive discussions, and guest speakers, students will examine how sustainability is reshaping industries such as apparel, food, automotive, and technology. By the end of the course, students will be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to develop effective sustainable business plans that can drive positive change across industries and societies. In line with these learning objectives, the course is organized into three main modules: (1) Sustainability at the corporate level, (2) The psychology of sustainability, and (3) Developing a sustainable business plan.
- Topics on: Business
- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2026
In lieu of the failure of legislatures to pass comprehensive carbon taxes, there is growing pressure on the financial system to address the risks of global warming. One set of pressures is to account for the heightened physical risks due to extreme weather events and potential climate tipping points. Another set of pressures are to find approaches to incentivize corporations to meet the goals set out in the Paris Treaty of 2015. These approaches include (1) mandates or restrictions to only hold companies with decarbonization plans, (2) development of negative emissions technologies such as direct-air capture and (3) promotion of natural capital markets that can be used to offset carbon emissions. Moreover, financial markets also provide crucial information on expectations and plans of economic agents regarding climate change. This course will cover both models and empirical methodologies that are necessary to assess the role of the financial system in addressing global warming.
After this course, students should be proficient in the following: (1) be able to quantitatively evaluate the various risks of global warming to financial markets; (2) evaluate the costs and benefits of various approaches to incentivize corporate reform; and (3) understand the consequences of the transition to a net-zero economy for aggregate risks and growth.
- Topics on: Economics, Finance
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Most recently taught Fall 2025
Impacts from climate change, including rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and more frequent natural disasters are evident across much of the world. This course will offer a focused study of climate change adaptation policy, exploring dimensions of adaptation across sectors and scales. With a thematic interest in pervasive global inequities, the course considers how international development and disaster risk management efforts align with building resilience to risks from a changing climate. An inter-disciplinary framework includes perspectives from the natural sciences, law, architecture, economics, anthropology, humanitarian affairs, and public policy. Case study pedagogy will amplify some of the trade-offs in play for effective adaptation policy.
- Topics on: Adaptation
- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2026
This course examines how climate change is reshaping agricultural systems and explores Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) as a framework for addressing food security, climate resilience, and environmental sustainability. Core topics include climate risk in agriculture, adaptation and mitigation strategies, regenerative and precision agriculture, policy and finance mechanisms, regional case studies, and emerging technologies shaping food systems. Emphasis is placed on understanding trade-offs, implementation challenges, and real-world decision making across diverse agricultural contexts. The course is designed for graduate students in the
Sustainability Management program and is relevant to those pursuing careers in sustainability consulting, policy, finance, food systems planning, and climate adaptation, as well as students seeking a systems-level understanding of agriculture’s role in the climate transition. The course supports the broader programmatic goals of the Sustainability Management curriculum by integrating environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainability within a sector that is both climate-vulnerable and emissions-intensive. It builds directly on core sustainability concepts such as systems thinking, risk assessment, stakeholder analysis, and evidence-based decision making, applying them to agricultural and food systems. The course complements other program offerings focused on climate policy, sustainable investment, and resource management by providing sector-specific depth and applied analytical frameworks. Through case studies, comparative regional analysis, and consulting-style assignments, students develop the ability to translate theory into practical strategies aligned with professional sustainability practice.
- Topics on: Food, Resilence
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Most recently taught Fall 2024
With climate change visibly affecting communities around the world, it is essential to society to transition to renewable energy sources to minimize further climate warming. As for any generation source, installation of renewables is very capital intensive. This course will examine key “ingredients” necessary to finance a renewable project / make it economic, including but not limited to:
• Ability to finance at the project level
• Different forms of capital available / requirements to successfully finance
• Revenue models for renewables investors and required returns
• Role of government incentives in financing renewable energy / latest US legislation
• Key technical issues that arise with increased renewables penetration
• Equity an inclusion in the approach to building a renewable landscape
- Topics on: Energy, Finance
- Course
Most recently taught Fall 2025
We eat food every day. The food system, from agricultural production to processing and distribution to consumption and waste, shapes our lives. The food system also profoundly affects our environment, climate, and public health. This course explores the environmental impact of modern agriculture and the U.S. laws that attempt to address it.
Today’s industrial food system bears little relation to the bucolic family farms that were in Congress’s mind when it passed most modern environmental laws. Since the 1970’s, U.S. agriculture has grown increasingly concentrated and industrial. Arguably, the system is a success: we now produces more food on less land, food is about one-third less expensive today than in 1980; and less than 2% of U.S. employment is in agriculture.
On the other hand, the increased industrialization, without the environmental safeguards applicable to other industries, has led to agriculture being a major source of environmental and health harm. Agriculture occupies approximately 60% of the country’s contiguous land and is the main driver of biodiversity loss. Fertilizers and pesticides running off monoculture fields pollute waters and endanger workers, surrounding communities, and downstream consumers. Almost all our meat is produced in industrial-scale “concentrated animal feeding operations” that house tens of thousands of animals and produce more waste than many cities, yet lack sewage treatment systems and cause significant water and air pollution. Through greenhouse gas emissions and land use, agriculture drives about one-third of climate change. And agriculture is one of the most highly concentrated and unequal sectors of the economy, one in seven in the U.S. are food insecure, and we face a pandemic of food-related chronic diseases.
U.S. environmental and farm laws seek to address (some of) these harms; this course studies the strengths and weaknesses of current law, and explores alternative approaches to environmental and public health protections. How to regulate highly variable biological systems? How to manage the diffuse and unreported nature of most agricultural pollution? How to address the fact that the “machines” of meat production are sentient beings? How should the disparate impacts of food and its production affect policy choices? We consider these questions and more as we confront the need to transform our current food system if we hope to achieve environmental (and social) goals.
- Topics on: Food, Law
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Most recently taught Spring 2026
Although women and children constitute an increasing majority of urban populations worldwide, 20thh- and 21stcentury cities do not appear to have been designed with their needs or interests in mind. A lack of public and green spaces and of safe public toilets, anonymous, colorless high-rise structures, dark underpasses, and, ubiquitously, paltry accommodations for women with young children and the elderly are but a few examples of planning and design seemingly oblivious to the rights of women of all ages to have adequate access to critical goods and services. Even as more aspects of city life and governance become “smart” and more efficient, the un- and underpaid work carried out largely by women that actually makes most cities “tick” and enables city-based businesses to be profitable still goes unrecognized as an essential investment in urban life. Yet without addressing the social aspects of sustainability by considering the contributions, needs, and aspirations of women and families, even the most innovative technical solutions to urban infrastructure challenges — whether in energy, mass transit, resilience-building, sensitive law enforcement, or Geographic Information System-based monitoring of any of the above – cannot be assured of success or durability. The opportunity is there, for corporations, local governments, community organizations, and individuals to take the lead in humanizing the city, in sustainable, cost-effective, timesaving, and lifesaving ways.
- Topics on: Gender, Infrastructure, Planning, Resilence
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Transportation accounts for about 25% of global GHG emissions. Significantly reducing emissions in this sector is fundamental for addressing climate change. Historically, the technical and commercial tools for tackling emissions in this sector have lagged other sectors (for example, electricity production where renewables have been “in the money” for many years). But over the last several years, this dynamic has changed and there is now significant capital and brainpower focused on transportation decarbonization. And despite transportation decarbonization being deemphasized in the current U.S. political environment, the ongoing trend is still highly positive globally.
The course focuses on capturing the key elements that will speed the scale-up to low- and no- carbon transportation (“sustainable transportation”) across the breadth of transportation sectors. In doing so, this scale-up will create new industries and business models – and has the potential to benefit a wide group of people, including those who in the past have been disproportionally affected by poor air quality caused by existing transportation sources. The course is designed for any student who wishes to understand these elements in a deeper way.
The course will explore the decarbonization opportunities and challenges across the various transportation sectors, including light duty, commercial fleets, public transportation, aviation, and marine sectors – as well as areas that cut across all sectors, such as battery adoption, the supply chain for materials, fueling/charging. and the impact of hydrogen. Because the carbon content of propulsion fuels is dependent on other sectors (for example, the transition to renewable electricity), the course will examine the energy transition in transportation in the context of broader decarbonization trends. In exploring each transportation sub-sector, the course will focus mainly from the commercial perspective, but will incorporate the external factors (e.g., innovation, policy, macro-factors) that affect commercial success.
- Topics on: Economics, Infrastructure, Transportation
- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2026
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology to assess the environmental impact of products, services, and industrial processes used across a variety of industries. As a tool it is used to not only to measure environmental impact, but also measure impact reduction and to communicate to a variety of stakeholders including policymakers and consumers. This course is for future LCA practitioners, those working with LCA data, and those wanting to learn the principles of life cycle thinking
The goal of this course is to teach students the principles of LCA and life cycle thinking. You’ll also learn how to complete an LCA from start to finish. In this course you will learn the theory of LCA, including: goal and scope, building a life cycle inventory and assessment, and interpreting the results. More importantly, you will learn the practical application of LCA, including its use in decision-making and the limitations and challenges of using LCA in the real world. This is an elective course and open to cross-registrants outside of SUMA, space permitting. No prior LCA knowledge is required. We will meet in-person Wednesday nights for the full semester. Zoom is available in extenuating circumstances.
- Topics on: Impact
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Most recently taught Spring 2025
Climate change and biodiversity loss are existential threats to the planet, our own health and well-being, and the global economy. The course will identify several key players and leverage points in the capital market and elaborate on whether and how a “systems change” could be achieved to tackle these urgent challenges. In addition to governments and NGOs, the mobilization of capital markets plays a pivotal role. To mobilize capital markets, a thorough understanding of capital markets as well as the mechanisms and obstacles at work is required, as well as innovative solutions that overcome these obstacles. This course will provide a deep dive into several financial innovations that aim to overcome these obstacles and help mobilize capital markets to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss at the system level. In this course, students will learn to think at the system-level, to understand the opportunities and challenges faced in mobilizing capital markets, and to assess concrete obstacles and whether and how financial innovations can bring scalable solutions for the benefit of society.
- Topics on: Biodiversity, Finance
- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2026
This course begins with an overview of the causes and effects of global climate change and the methods available to control and adapt to it. We will then examine the negotiation, implementation and current status of the Montreal Protocol, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the Copenhagen Accord, the Paris Agreement, and the subsequent agreements through that reached at COP30 in Belem, Brazil in November 2025. The focus will then turn to the past and proposed actions of the U.S. Congress, the executive branch (including successive presidential administrations) and the courts, as well as regional, state and municipal efforts. The Clean Air Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Endangered Species Act will receive special attention, as will the authority of an administration to reverse prior policy. We will examine efforts in the U.S. and other countries to use the courts to force action on climate change. We will evaluate the various legal tools that are available to address climate change, including cap-and-trade schemes; carbon taxation; command-and-control regulation; litigation; and securities disclosures. The roles of energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, carbon capture and sequestration, and forestry and agriculture will each receive close attention. Implications for international human rights, international trade, environmental justice, and international and intergenerational equity will be discussed. The course will conclude with examination of proposals for adaptation and geoengineering.
- Topics on: Law, Policy
- Course
Most recently taught Fall 2025
Project finance is a capital-raising technique frequently employed to build or purchase energy assets that produce reliable cashflows. The investment’s risks are mitigated through contracts with project counterparties; project capital is sourced among various investors: corporate sponsors, project developers, investment funds, commercial lenders, development banks, export credit agencies. Projects related to the energy transition to lower-carbon or no-carbon power generation and the parallel expansion of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets are the most prominent examples ofinternational energy project finance today.
The objective of the course is to provide participants with a practical grasp of which types of projects will attract capital from the range of equity and debt sources for energy investment. Relating a project’s risk profile to equity-return targets and credit availability is a prevailing theme of the course. The course gives particular attention to the economics and government incentives behind the energy transition underway globally to greater use of natural gas and renewables in power generation.
- Topics on: Energy, Finance
- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2026
This course surveys the legal and policy mechanisms, and political and social forces, that can be utilized to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases and adapt to a warming planet. The course will examine the international, federal, state, and local legal regimes applicable to climate change. The course begins by covering the negotiation, implementation, and current status of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, and recent developments from COP proceedings. We will examine how climate change intersects with other international law regimes, including international trade law and human rightsobligations.
The focus will then turn to U.S. climate policy and its current state of flux. We will examine the evolution of federal climate policy and the significant shifts occurring under the current administration. The Clean Air Act and regulatory authority will receive special attention, as will the legal authority of an administration to reverse prior policy. We will then evaluate various international and domestic legal tools available to address climate change, including cap-andtrade and carbon offsets, litigation strategies, information disclosure laws, energy transition policies, and adaptation challenges. Special attention will be given to issues of climate justice throughout the course as they intersect with various legal and policy regimes.
- Topics on: Law, Policy
- Course
Most recently taught Fall 2025
Climate change is a threat multiplier. To eliminate inequities in climate risk, it is essential to understand the social, economic, and political factors and processes that contribute to uneven vulnerability and shape adaptive capacity in historically marginalized communities. This course explores these issues, framed by the concept of climate justice, to better explain how and why the situation is as it is presently. In this course, we will bring together interdisciplinary scholarship, social science data, commentary, case studies, policy innovations, advocacy, and practice to examine how climate change shapes society, how social systems influence our efforts to address climate change impacts, and how effectively proposed solutions respond to these impacts.
- Topics on: Justice, Policy