Natural Resources Conservation 590C - Clean Energy&Climate Pol/Mass

Over the past 20 years, Massachusetts has evolved as a leader in clean energy policy, which has led to market development, job and economic growth, and reductions in greenhouse gas and other emissions. This course will provide direct insights into the brief history of these policy developments, including policy objectives, legislative and regulatory roles, tradeoffs of costs and benefits, the use of analytical methods to establish program design, and stakeholder perspectives and engagement. The course will explore the market and economic development and challenges that have resulted from the policy, and explore the economic tradeoffs and distributional impacts that may result. Lastly, the course will consider the current energy and climate issues in Massachusetts and the latest policy development and proposals that will impact our energy future.

Open to juniors & seniors in ENVIRSCI, BCT, NRC, RES-ECON and M&I-ENG and graduate students. Other junior/senior majors may enroll with permission of instructor and demonstrated completion of basic coursework in economics and environmental/natural resources/public policy.