Climate Change Mitigation in Developing Countries

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/climate-change-mitigation

Introduction

## Course Review: Climate Change Mitigation in Developing Countries **Course Overview** In an era where climate change poses a formidable challenge to global sustainability, understanding the intricacies of addressing it—particularly in developing countries—is more crucial than ever. The Coursera course "Climate Change Mitigation in Developing Countries" navigates this complex landscape by tackling the dual objectives of poverty alleviation and greenhouse gas emission reduction. This course encourages learners to critically assess how societies can pursue economic growth while fostering climate-friendly policies. ### Syllabus Breakdown The course is structured into several modules, each designed to unravel the multilayered challenges inherent in climate change mitigation: 1. **Complexity of Climate Change Mitigation**: The opening module sets the stage by introducing the concept of 'wicked' problems—issues that are complex and do not yield easy solutions. Through case studies from the MAPS community, which includes Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and South Africa, participants explore initial steps toward developing effective responses to the intertwined issues of development and climate change. 2. **Mandating and Co-Production of Knowledge**: This module emphasizes the importance of collaborative knowledge creation involving academic researchers and influential societal actors. It presents a facilitated approach that spurs systemic change through co-produced knowledge and reviews the role of a Scenario Building Team in fostering this process. 3. **Mitigation Action Research and Modelling**: The focus here shifts to the practical tools and models that enable knowledge generation to drive change. The module dives into the developmental impacts of transitioning to a low-carbon economy, addressing the difficulty of quantifying these impacts compared to emissions and associated costs. 4. **Minding the Mitigation Gap**: Exploring the discrepancies between current emission trends and scientific targets for temperature control, this module encourages learners to contemplate the reasons behind these gaps. Technical challenges and socio-political barriers are examined to prepare participants for real-world mitigation scenarios. 5. **Responding to Mitigation Challenges**: Building on the previous discussions, this module seeks to inspire innovative thinking in tackling the intertwined challenges of climate change and development. It promotes an integrative approach to economic pathways and mitigation strategies, urging learners to think creatively about future solutions. 6. **Bridges to Domestic and International Policy**: The final module synthesizes the course content by discussing the transition from the scenario-building process to influencing both domestic and international policy frameworks. It highlights the critical connections between knowledge creation, policy formation, and the global cooperation necessary for meaningful climate action. ### Course Recommendations **Who Should Enroll?** This course is ideal for professionals, scholars, and activists involved in environmental science, development studies, public policy, or social entrepreneurship. It is particularly relevant for those keen on exploring sustainable development practices in developing nations and those who seek to engage in meaningful climate action that balances economic growth with environmental stewardship. **Learning Outcomes** By the end of the course, participants will have: - A deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding climate change and development. - Practical knowledge about collaborative frameworks for effective mitigation strategies. - Insights into the tools available for assessing and addressing climate change impacts. - Enhanced ability to design innovative interventions to bridge the gap between knowledge and policy. ### Conclusion "Climate Change Mitigation in Developing Countries" is not just an academic exercise but a call to action for those who wish to contribute to sustainable development in an era of climate crisis. By offering a varied and rich curriculum that encompasses theory, practice, and innovative problem-solving, this course equips participants with the necessary skills to navigate the complexities of climate change in the context of developing economies. I highly recommend this course to anyone eager to make a difference in the field of climate change and development.

Syllabus

Complexity of climate change mitigation

Climate change and development both involve many complex problems. Each are 'wicked' problems, meaning they defy easy solutions. Tackling both development and climate change together is a 'super-wicked' problem. But we must start by taking a first step to responding to this 'super-wicked' problem. To do this we’ll share our experiments drawing particularly on the MAPS community, which includes Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and South Africa.

Our approach to mitigation and development is essentially a process that spurs change within a system. The premise is that change happens through co-production of knowledge, which in turn encourages action by actors in a system. We ask the questions: what is the best way to start such an intervention? What could the intervention look like? What are the options for the process design? This week we review the role a Scenario Building Team has to play in supporting knowledge generation.

Knowledge generated through research can effect change. We describe the models and tools that are available to support the generation of this knowledge. Apart from knowledge related to greenhouse gas mitigation and the costs thereof, we are interested in the positive and negative developmental impacts of moving to a low carbon economy. Emissions and costs are relatively easy to quantify but developmental impacts are less easily quantified. This week, we explore how this challenge can be addressed.

What happens when your best efforts are not good enough? We will look at the ‘gaps’ between where we would like to be and where we are.The direction emission trends are headed is a function of everything put into the model (such as population, growth and GDP, and technology). Yet what is required by science is driven by considerations such as how we need to reduce emissions to keep temperature rises below two degrees. This week, in exploring some of the potential reasons for this gap we consider technical reasons and other pushbacks, like vested-interests, political or inherent human behaviour.

There are limitations within our existing toolsets and ways of thinking how we might address the mitigation gap. We need to look more closely at the interface of economic and development pathways and to question the way in which climate change mitigation professionals are approaching this huge and complex climate and development problem. Responses to these challenges include linking of economic and mitigation model to better understand the interconnectedness of mitigation policies and economic development, and involves out-of-the-box thinking when imagining climate and development solutions of the future. This week we hope to inspire innovations and responses to challenges in the climate mitigation and development community.

This is the final module and it tells the story of how we have moved to the end of the scenario building process, and what the impacts of this approach are. This week we speak of two bridges: the bridge between knowledge and domestic policy, and domestic policy and international contributions.