Enjeux du monde contemporain et initiation à la recherche : Economic growth and planetary limits I

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 and seminars is structured along three main axes: an introduction to environmental discourses on growth and limits (EC: “Economic growth and planetary limits”: 6 hours CM/TD); a zoom on the climate-energy-raw material nexus (EC: “Energy transition”: 3 X 2 of seminars); a “map” of the possibilities for low-carbon economies (EC: “A Good life for all within planetary limits”: 6 hours CM/TD).

A field trip and a research project (by groups of 4 students) are associated with the course. Students are guided by two professors throughout the project (12 hours)

Courses 1, 2 and 3: Economic growth and planetary limits

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.

Seminars 1, 2, 3 Ecological  transition

PACTE: Introduction to environmental politics and environmental town planning

OSUG: Global change and the Earth System: a planet under pressure. Students are introduced to climate change studies and to the major social and environmental challenges of the Anthropocene.

Phitem/LE: 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 RM, environmental (in)justice…)

Courses 4, 5, 6: A Good life for all within planetary limits

This course relies on the works of the Stockholm Resilience Center, Kate Raworth’s Doughnut economics and the University of Leeds’ platform on planetary limits and engages with the following questions: what does it mean to live within planetary limits? Can humanity meet the basic social needs and not transgress the planetary boundaries? What would a fair global ecological transition mean on a global scale?