Module manager: Valeria Tolis
Email: V.Tolis@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
SOEE5473M Climate and environmental policy and governance.
This module is not approved as an Elective
This module introduces students to the ways in which the relations between society and the environment are governed. It investigates how the various discourses and practices of environmental governance are socio-politically produced and contested by a range of actors and institutions to produce particular and contingent environmental policy and social outcomes. We first focus on the role of politics in environmental governance, notably on how power and politics pervades the ways in which environmental issues are understood and constructed as a policy problem. Further, we address the evolution of environmental governance from state-led to a variety of multi-actor and multi-centre modes of climate and/or environmental governance and identify key governance challenges. We then take a close look at the development, choice and diffusion of the variety of policy instruments and policy mixes governed by different actors. We explore political, governance and policy mechanisms within and across international, regional, national, and local levels, and illustrate these ongoing processes through the use of practical examples and case studies from both the Global North and South. The lectures and seminars engage critically with the core readings and showcase the wide-range of research being undertaken within the Sustainability Research Institute.
On completion of this module, students will have:
1) An understanding of the political nature of governance and policymaking processes and how these continuously shape the understanding and framing of environmental issues and knowledge.
2) Appraised the changing modes of environmental governance within and between the international, regional, national, and local levels of analysis via the use of practical examples from both the Global North and Global South.
3) A critical understanding of how conventional state-led governance has given way to a proliferation of 'new' and dynamic modes of governance in which state-market-civil society distinctions blur.
4) Assessed, developed and deployed policy instruments and policy mixes and provided policy advice to decision-makers and stakeholders.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
SSLO1: Describe how “environmental issues” are interwoven with power and politics and how these processes produce environmental knowledge and shape decision-making.
SSLO2: Appraise the functioning of different modes of environmental governance and the roles governments, markets, and civil society actors play within and across multiple levels of governance.
SSLO3: Critically analyse the nature, influence, and limits of different environmental policy instruments and policy mixes.
SSLO4: Evaluate environmental policy successes and failures, and formulate recommendations for improvement.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module, students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes as per the University of Leeds skills matrix:
SKLO1: Problem solving (Sustainability Skill): Apply different problem-solving frameworks to complex sustainable development problems; explores innovative and creative solutions; develops viable, inclusive and equitable solutions.
SKLO2: Collaboration (Sustainability Skill): Learn from others (including peers, and others inside and outside of their institution); respects the needs, perspectives and actions of other stakeholders; contribute to collaborative and participatory problem solving; apply inter and trans disciplinarity to problem solving.
SKLO3: Critical thinking (Sustainability Skill): Engage in the sustainable development discourse to gather information from a range of sources, analyse, and interpret data to aid understanding of socio-political dimension of environmental governance and how this influences policy-making.
SKLO4: Effective communication (Sustainability Skill): Effectively communicate key facts and ideas to a variety of audience and in a variety of formats. Respects and considers the needs and perspectives of others. Engages in interdisciplinary discussion to inform their thinking about sustainable futures.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 10 | 1.5 | 15 |
| Seminar | 10 | 1.5 | 15 |
| Private study hours | 120 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 30 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 150 | ||
Students will receive formative feedback in class during seminars. The current split of summative assessments (2 summative for a 15- credit module) ensures a continued assessment.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Oral assessment (Group work) | 30 |
| Coursework | Coursework | 70 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Alternate resit will be available for Assessment 1 = an individual recorded presentation on a new topic; the recording will include a reflective analysis on group working to demonstrate that learning outcome.
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 29/04/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team