UE Croissance économique et limites planétaires: climat, biodiversité

The goal of this module is to introduce students to the energy and environmental issues raised by the modern quest for economic growth and to map out the potential of the ecological transition. This series of courses is structured along three main axes: an introduction to environmental discourses on growth and limits; a zoom on the climate-energy-raw material nexus; a “map” of the possibilities for low-carbon economies. 

Students will learn about the physical foundations of economic growth. We will look at both the importance of economic growth (and energy use) for human welfare and the huge environmental footprint of growth. Students will explore different − sometimes radically different − perspectives on issues ranging from what makes growth possible and whether economic growth is sustainable in a physically finite world to what is to be done about environmental destruction and climate change. Specifically, they will learn about 3 schools of thought relevant to the academic conversation about the limits to growth: (1) the degrowth perspective, (2) the green growth perspective, and (3) cornucopianism.

Students are introduced to climate change studies and to the major social and environmental challenges of the Anthropocene. Living most fossil fuels in the ground to meet the conditions of the Paris Agreement and transitioning to low-carbon economies implies an increasing demand on mineral resources. This course deals with the demand for raw materials in a low-carbon world and the challenges that come along (energy transition scenarios and energy mixes, extraction and processing of raw materials, environmental (in)justice…) .