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Discover climate course materials and resources.
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- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2025
This course covers the major steps in the investigation, assessment, and remediation of contaminated sites, including sustainable considerations. The course will introduce the student to the multidisciplinary aspects of environmental remediation, an important background for any environmental career, such as an environmental consultant, a corporate remediation manager or a government regulator. Management and remediation of contaminated sites is an important consideration in sustainable regional development, since failure to control contamination usually yields an everincreasing area of impact, with greater environmental and societal costs. Sustainable remediation in particular has received increased emphasis by the US EPA and is now a required component of remedy selection. Considerations for sustainable remediation, as well as sustainable environmental practices in environmental investigation, will be discussed throughout the course. Using US EPA Superfund guidance as a framework, the course will explore the major steps in identifying a site, establishing the degree of contamination, identifying the likely ecological and human receptors, and selecting and implementing a remedial action. The Superfund process has been extensively developed through more than 30 years of legislature and agency guidance, and now provides a robust approach for pollution assessment and remediation. Contaminated sites typically involve a broad spectrum of contaminants across at least two media, including soils, sediments, groundwater, surface water, and air. In this course we will examine the main steps involved in environmental investigation and remediation primarily from a technical perspective, although legal aspects will be incorporated at the major decision points in the process. In particular, the course will focus on the main environmental sampling and analytical techniques needed to conduct a remedial investigation, and cover some of the main remedial engineering considerations for the successful selection and implementation of a sustainable and resilient remedy. Students will be assigned one of several completed Superfund sites to track the application of the Superfund process to a real-world example as the class proceeds, providing a regular link between theory and application.
- Topics on: Resilence
- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2025
The importance of designing, building, and leading sustainable organizations is indisputable. Sustainability
encompasses not only the environmental footprint of an organization but also the way in which firms treat
workers and customers both within their firm and supply chain network. Understanding the role of operational
excellence and strategic supply chain management in achieving sustainability is critical for effective leadership.
This course examines a variety of approaches to designing sustainability into an organization’s operations and
how to measure and reduce a firm’s operational environmental impact. We also explore themes of risk,
accountability, and sustainability within global supply chains. What challenges do firms face in being socially
responsible when managing globally distributed supply chains? Three themes comprise this course: (1)
designing sustainable operations, (2) drivers and consequences of sustainability, and (3) global sourcing and
social responsibility.
- Topics on: Business, Impact, Supply Chain
- Course
Most recently taught Fall 2025
- Topics on: Science
- Course
Most recently taught Fall 2025
This is a calculus-based treatment of the physics of Earth’s climate and the mechanisms of anthropogenic climate change. By the end of this course, you will understand:
- The structure and characteristics of Earth’s climate;
- How the climate’s structure and characteristics are determined by solar radiation and rotating, stratified fluid dynamics;
- Why and how anthropogenic climate change is occurring, including the key uncertainties; and
- Some features and mechanisms of natural climate variability and extreme weather events.
This course is designed for undergraduate students seeking a quantitative, physics-based introduction to climate and climate change science. EESC V2100 (Climate Systems) is not a prerequisite, but can also be taken for credit if it is taken before this course. If you have taken V2100, you will see some material for the second time, though in a more quantitative manner. This course does not, however, cover much about biogeochemical cycles or paleoclimate; these topics are addressed the 3000-level, calculus-based counterpart course to this one, EESC 3031. This course focuses on the physics of the atmosphere and ocean.
- Topics on: Science
- Course
Most recently taught Fall 2025
Climate change is among the most important, and most daunting, challenges of our time. The problem is so immense – and the required solutions so transformative – that all segments of society will need to pitch in if we are to avoid the worst.
This course examines the role of states, cities, and other sub-nationals in crafting and implementing the policy, technical, and behavioral changes necessary to address the climate crisis. While action (or opposition) at the federal level tends to get the lion’s share of attention here in the United States, the reality is that cities, states, and other sub-nationals have an enormous, if not leading, role to play both here and across the globe. Indeed, one could argue that subnationals represent the front lines in the fight.
Substantively, our primary focus will be on the role of these actors in driving the necessary transition to clean energy, perhaps the key component in the overall effort to stave off the worst impacts of climate change. The energy sector is also fertile ground for state and city action since states and cities oversee power grids, establish building codes, and regulate electric and other utilities, among other relevant activities. Many of the issues and dynamics we will examine in the energy area also have direct application to other aspects of climate policy, including issues of climate justice. We will also explore the dynamics around adaptation and resilience measures, and the trade-offs between them and the broader effort to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The goal of the course is to get students to think more deeply about climate change and, in particular, the complex intersection of science, economics, and politics that makes policy in this area so interesting and, at the same time, so difficult. Students will need to think beyond declaring climate change a “crisis” that requires us to move to a clean economy “immediately”. They will also need to think practically. Subnational governments are generally resource constrained and possess limited jurisdiction. At the same time, they are the primary, if not only, entities suited to address any number of purely local responsibilities, such as local law enforcement, economic development, and public health matters. Engaging meaningfully on climate change risks diverting resources from these day-to-day priorities and introduces national (and global) dynamics into local politics.
Our emphasis, therefore, will be on tackling second-level issues such as what the mechanics of subnational action look like, where will the funding come from, what is the interplay between the energy transition on the one hand and economic growth and economic fairness, NIMBY-ism (even from supporters of climate action) on the other. Above all, we will focus on how to think about policy in this area in a way that takes account of the significant political overhang that permeates every aspect. Success in this course will require thinking about how specific action can be crafted and actually implemented in an efficient and effective way.
- Topics on: Justice, Policy
- Course
Most recently taught Fall 2025
This course teaches the fundamentals of urban hydrology from an engineering perspective, with a focus on stormwater and flood control. It will expose you to current events in hydrology while incorporating contemporary concepts such as climate change, cloudburst management, and green infrastructure.
The semester is divided into sections on hydrology, the principles for estimating runoff from rainfall and hydraulics as well as the principles for storing and conveying runoff to protect life and property. Emphasis is placed on skills and methods for approaching engineering problems from a practical perspective. You will learn to solve engineering problems by applying laws of conservation of mass and energy to both gravity-fed and pumped systems. Examples will include real-life projects that the instructor has worked on over the course of their career. This in-depth insight bridges the gap between classroom learning and industry practice, exposing you to the types of questions you might encounter on a Professional Engineer examination.
You will also learn the basics of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and rainfall-runoff modeling using EPA’s Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). For your final project, you will identify and recommend solutions for a flood control problem adapted from ongoing work at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. By the end of the course, you will have the requisite technical background to design a storm sewer system. Students who take this course have gone on to careers in government, consulting, and other sectors of stormwater management, playing important roles in addressing one of the greatest challenges of our time.
To take this course, you must complete ENME E3161 Fluid Mechanics.
- Topics on: Engineering, Science
- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2026
The transition to a net-zero economy is of particular relevance to Emerging and Developing economies, which are both the most vulnerable to climate change and also the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. The transition is creating considerable challenges but also opening up significant opportunities: over $200 trillion of investments will be needed in order to ensure that global temperatures stay well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, with most to be invested in the infrastructure sector of emerging and developing economies. The class will explore the challenges of the transition to a low-carbon economy. It will examine the new mechanisms that are being put in place to channel finance toward the greening of emerging and developing countries. It will also discuss some of the challenges linked to financing adaptation and resilience.
- Topics on: Decarbonization, Energy, Net Zero, Net Zero Strategies, Resilence
- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2025
This seminar focuses on the law, research, and policy regarding the mitigation, adaptation, and prevention of (further) climate change – at the international, federal, state, and municipal levels. The seminar is structured in three parts: doctrinal law; research; and writing. It aims to be participatory, and your engagement in weekly discussions, as well as timely submissions of all assignments, is required. Given the complexity of the material covered, this is an interdisciplinary seminar. It begins with a philosophical and historical overview of the causes and effects of global climate change and the methods available to control and adapt to it. It covers legal ethics, as well as international and domestic public law. It gives a brief overview of the negotiation, implementation, and current status of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement. It then discusses how treaties are implemented in the United States. The focus will then turn to the U.S. Congress, the executive branch, 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. Finally, we will talk about various legal tools available to address climate change, including cap-and-trade schemes; carbon taxation; regulations; and litigation.
- Topics on: Policy
- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2026
- Topics on: Justice, Policy
- Course
Most recently taught Fall 2024
Climate change mitigation is the greatest global political challenge of our times. This course uses concepts drawn from the broader political science literature to analyze the recent history and possible future trajectories of interactions between international and domestic politics and climate change. It focuses on mitigation questions, and includes the international political economy of various relevant commercial sectors. It has no prerequisites, and no background knowledge is required. The course has two fundamental goals: to increase student understanding of the complexity of political issues and interests involved in global climate change problems, and to counter growing climate despair by suggesting realistic paths forward toward global net zero carbon emissions. Class lectures will leave significant time for student questions and discussion. There is also a required weekly discussion section, BC3005.
- Topics on: Mitigation, Net Zero, Net Zero Strategies
- Course
Following the events of Hurricane Sandy, New York City has emerged as a leading city for climate action, pushing forward and experimenting with a broad range of climate policies and tools, including climate adaptation and resilience measures, decarbonization actions and legislation, environmental justice, and fossil fuel divestment, among others.
This course will offer a focused study of New York City’s approach to confronting our climate crisis. This will include an exploration of the many actions taken by NYC, their effectiveness, proposals to build upon or improve them, and their comparisons to other actions around the globe. This course is designed to encourage active discussion, participation, and practical application of the material.
The assignments and activities aim to help students build a solid understanding of key concepts while developing analytical skills, which will then apply to real-world scenarios. Guest lecturers with experience in New York City’s climate policy actions may join from time to time.
- Topics on: Decarbonization, Policy, Resilence
- Course
Natural-based solutions (Nbs) refer to actions aimed at protecting, better managing, and restoring nature to achieve climate goals. Adopting sustainable agricultural practices following agroecology principles provides a cost-effective Nbs pathway to mitigate climate impacts, while also ensuring food security and environmental sustainability. This course will introduce the principles of agroecology, the key concepts of carbon and nitrogen dynamics, as well as the commonly adopted agroecological practices across various agricultural landscapes, including croplands, grasslands, agroforestry, and urban agricultural systems. A combination of lectures, discussions, and field activities will be utilized to demonstrate how agroecological practices can be monitored in terms of their influence on ecosystem services.
This course will prepare students to apply principles of sustainability science to improved soil and agricultural management, addressing the growing need for better adoption of land based Nbs. This course will also delve into the technological aspects of Nbs monitoring that will help working professionals in conservation, environmental, and sustainable business organizations develop the necessary skills to evaluate the outcomes of sustainable land management practices to inform management decisions, policy making, and incentive-based programs. Designed to meet the degree requirements for Area 2 (Methods of Earth Observation and Measurement) and Area 5 (Sustainability Policy or Management) for the M.S. in Sustainability Science Program, this elective course aims to connect scientific methods with decision-making processes to prepare students to be leaders in sustainability and make impacts on both local and large-scale climate issues.
- Topics on: Food
- Course
Most recently taught Fall 2025
The goal of this course is to introduce fundamental principles of carbon dioxide capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) that enable carbon management and are necessary for climate change mitigation. This is a survey-style class – different CCUS technology options will be introduced and their underlying fundamental scientific and engineering principles will be taught. Real-world technologies in the carbon capture industry and examples of advanced scientific research in the field of CCUS will be discussed throughout the course. Course topics will include: point source carbon capture for power and industrial sources, carbon dioxide removal and direct air capture, electrochemical and thermochemical CO2 conversion, carbon mineralization and CO2 transport and storage. Additionally, students will learn to perform systems-level design and analyses of carbon management technologies and will be introduced to Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Technoeconomic Analysis (TEA) that can be applied to carbon management technologies and other engineering and design problems. Public engagement, social and environmental justice and policy considerations around carbon management will be discussed but the course focus will be science and technology. The course will have a significant emphasis on collaborative learning and will include a group design project focused on design and analysis of a carbon management process.
- Topics on: Decarbonization, Science
- Course
This Physical Dimensions/Quantitative Analytics course will provide real-world information about energy management. Through lectures, problem sets, and readings, students will learn about energy audits, analyze the energy performance of various technologies, and evaluate the energy use and financial impacts of upgrades and operational improvements to building systems. Pending permission from various NYC job sites, we will also make a handful of field trips to view various energy-consuming technologies in vivo. This course is designed to provide all sustainability students with quantitative analytical tools.
While this course focuses largely on energy-efficiency in buildings, the principles involved apply to all areas of sustainability decision-making.
The course is a full-semester, in-person elective, and is generally open, space permitting and with the instructor’s written approval, to cross-registrants from all other Columbia University programs. There are no prerequisites, but students are strongly urged to acquire at least basic Excel skills, either on their own or via SUMA’s training resources.
- Topics on: Energy
- Course
Most recently taught Fall 2025
This course will educate students and support effective coastal resilience planning and climate justice, through social and data science learning and data acquisition and analysis, making use of emerging technologies and best practices for collaboration with environmental and climate justice practitioners.
Instruction is provided in two areas: i. climate adaptation planning & climate justice; and, ii. data science: acquisition, analysis and visualization. Students and instructors will work with two participating community-based climate and environmental justice organizations to collect and analyze biological, geographic and socio-economic data relevant to local resilience needs. Once the data has been acquired or generated and quality-assured, the students and community partner organizations will prepare it for presentation to federal, state and local planning officials, to help ensure that the resilience goals and related concerns identified by our community partners will be fully reflected in future planning by those officials.
- Topics on: Justice, Planning
- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2025
Providing for clean drinking water, healthy aquatic ecosystems and sustainable energy supplies is a growing challenge in today’s resource-hungry and climate-impacted world. True, lasting water and energy sustainability will require a combination of legal reforms, social cooperation and technical innovation with few if any precedents in US history. GU4050 examines the laws, social forces and technologies that have shaped America’s current water and energy policies and considers how these policies must change for us to achieve long-term sustainability. Class will be held in Martin Luther King (MLK) 609 on Mondays from 4:10 – 6 pm.
- Topics on: Energy, Policy
- Course
Most recently taught Spring 2025
As human populations continue to expand, concurrent increases in energy and food will be required. Consequently, fossil fuel burning and deforestation will continue to be human-derived sources of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). This increase in CO2 and other infra-red trapping gases is of consequence to human health—but for two reasons. The first is one you are all familiar with—climatic change—and the consequences from heat to air pollution, from water quality to migration. The second reason is that CO2 is the source of carbon for plants—and hence for all living things. And that increase, of and by itself, will also impact human health—directly (allergic dermatitis) and indirectly (human nutrition, medicine). In this course, our focus will be on how CO2 and climate change alter plant biology and the subsequent consequences for human health.
Overall, the course will have three main components. We begin with an overview of interactions between the plant kingdom and human health with a climate lens. In the second section we segue to a global overview of rising CO2 and climate change, and how those impacts, in turn, will influence all of the interactions related to plant biology and health with a merited focus on food security. Finally, for the remainder of the course, our emphasis will be on evaluating preventative strategies related to mitigation and adaptation to climate change impacts specific to potential transformations of plant biology’s traditional role in human society, and to communicate those evaluations simply and understandably to a lay audience.
The course is appropriate for students who are interested in global climate change and who wish to expand their general knowledge as to likely outcomes related to plant biology, and the consequences to human health, including food security, nutrition, pollen allergens, and ethnopharmacology.
- Topics on: Food, Planning
- Course
The goal of this course is to introduce fundamental principles of carbon dioxide capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) that enable carbon management and are necessary for climate change mitigation. This is a survey-style class – different CCUS technology options will be introduced and their underlying fundamental scientific and engineering principles will be taught.
Real-world technologies in the carbon capture industry and examples of advanced scientific research in the field of CCUS will be discussed throughout the course. Course topics will include: point source carbon capture for power and industrial sources, carbon dioxide removal and direct air capture, electrochemical and thermochemical CO2 conversion, carbon mineralization and CO2 transport and storage.
- Topics on: Decarbonization, Policy
- Course
Most recently taught in Spring 2025
Climate change is causing preventable injuries, illnesses, and deaths, with each additional unit of warming projected to further increase morbidity and mortality from most climate-sensitive health outcomes without additional, timely, and effective investments in adaptation and rapid and sufficient reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Vulnerable populations and regions will be differentially affected, with the potential to increase poverty and inequities.
The effects of climate change are already harming health around the world, and impacts will only intensify in the coming years. Heat waves and extreme events are increasing in frequency and strength, and sea level poses an existential threat for many urban areas. A number of major health risks are plant related. These include food and water security, changes in plant based medicines, pesticide usage, and seasonal rhinitis.
Risks for some vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever, are projected to increase with warming from 1.5°C to 2°C, including potential shifts in their geographic range and changes in their seasonal distribution.
Adaptation (adjustments in response to actual or expected climatic shifts) and mitigation (efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions) are the primary policy responses to the health risks of climate change. Health adaptation can reduce the current and projected burdens of climate-sensitive health outcomes over the short term in many countries, mitigation in health practice and management is an additional possibility. However, under high emission scenarios, climate change will be rapid and extensive, leading to fundamental shifts in the burden of climate-sensitive health outcomes that will challenging for many countries to manage. Such challenges will be unprecedented, and there is a fundamental need for MPH candidates to communicate and address these risks in ways that are meaningful to a lay public.
- Topics on: Adaptation, Planning, Policy
- Course
Most recently taught in 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