ENVS 131B: The Political Economy of Global Climate GovernanceInstructor: Claudia Horn Prerequisites: None Course Description: Global transition, decarbonization, climate mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage are the challenges of our generation and generations to come. Still, as ‘money makes the world go around,’ a dominant part of climate governance approaches these challenges primarily in vague monetary terms. For instance, to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the CPI estimates that international climate finance should increase by 590% – to $4.35 trillion annually by 2030. At the same time, climate change will cost the U.S. alone $2 trillion a year. Companies boast with financial pledges, as do political leaders, prominently rich countries who pledged $100 billion per year by 2020 for climate action in the Global South–a promise they have never come close to fulfilling. 2 Moreover, these estimates and pledges do not consider how finance relates to the politics of climate change, the societal transformations that are already taking place due to the climate crisis, and those necessary to avoid ecological collapse. How can climate finance enable climate mitigation, adaptation, and repair for loss and damages while promoting human rights and democratic participation? Focusing on the perspective of Latin America and the Caribbean and various cases from this region, this course will address these questions and the answers proposed by different actors. The first part of this course examines the global climate governance framework, mechanisms, institutions, and policies of climate finance and the global financial system itself. This section will also consider the relationship between global market capitalism and climate change, including market-based mechanisms such as carbon offsets and critiques of the commodification of common goods. Different weeks, sessions, and readings will focus on specific actors and institutions - global financial institutions such as the World Bank, traditional public donor agencies, governments, and corporations. We will discuss their role, relevance, and relationship to communities seeking finance, especially power, colonialism, and inequality issues. The second part of the course looks at concrete socio-environmental challenges in urban and rural contexts in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as existing and needed climate investments into food security, resilience, water access, sustainable public transport, and renewable and accessible energy, amongst others. The third part finally looks at more or less comprehensive proposals for the integration of climate finance in broader socioecological transformations in the LAC region, from market-let proposals like the green economy, heterogeneous proposals of Green New Deals and state-led Just Transformations to more radical concepts like Buen Vivir, ecofeminism and Eco-socialism. We will analyze where these concepts come from and their assumptions concerning the value and valorization of common goods, productive labor, and reproductive labor. Session: Extended Day: Online Asynchronous 10-week Time: Asynchronous Credit Hours: 4 Credits Course Format: 10-week Asynchronous Online format Brandeis Graduation Requirement Fulfilled: DJW, SS Enrollment Limit: 20 students Course Classification: Undergraduate Level Course Course Tuition: $3,700 Course Fees: None Open to High School Students: No |
