Module manager: Olaf Corry
Email: T.O.Corry@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
First degree of any kind.
| SOEE5860M | Physical climate change, impacts and mitigation |
| SOEE5870M | Social and Political Dimensions of the Climate Challenge |
This module is not approved as an Elective
This module takes up how and why climate change is increasingly linked to ideas of ‘security’. It evaluates the interlinked scientific (e.g., extreme weather, scenarios, tipping-points) and political debates (such as concerning urgency ‘synchronous failure’ and ‘climate emergency’). We consider possible links between conflict and climate and vulnerability and adaptation strategies, assess diverse measures to secure ecosystems, human habitats and societal values, such as large-scale carbon removal or geoengineering and rapid societal changes.
The module will blend the science and social science of a ‘climate emergency’. Taking examples of that covers deep ocean circulation, sea level rise, sea ice loss, more extreme emissions- and high sensitivity-scenarios, and the case of the Amazon rainforest, students will engage with the scientific and political questions and dilemmas attached to ‘securitising’ the climate: what are the critical tipping points key ecosystems and when will they be encountered? Which actors are called upon to solve climate related security challenges? Do climatic changes lead to or predetermine societal conflicts, migration and crises? What are potential policy-implications of (a declaration of) a climate emergency – will or should it lead to consideration of geoengineering or radical societal transformations?
Learning on this module will include a (disaster) film screening, theoretical and conceptual teaching around cascading risks and how declarations of emergency and security can have political effects by moving or reframing a problem in certain ways, augmenting attention and ‘political will’, but often in ways that favour security-actors and solutions. Students will dig deeper into tipping point debates, and examine projections and data sets related to impacts. A debate on geoengineering and radical climate mitigation will round off the module.
At the end of this module, students will be able to…
1. Compare and evaluate the implications of different ways of interpreting and pursuing ‘climate security’.
2. Assess how and whether ongoing and abrupt climate changes might exacerbate national security challenges and threaten/or human security or wider ecological integrity, e.g., considering tipping points and extremes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere (ice) and biosphere.
3. Analyse how climate measures could create new insecurities in (inter)state politics, people’s livelihoods, and the natural world
4. Interpret the scientific data for monitoring climate, e.g., changes in Earth’s ice, oceans, atmosphere, and biosphere.
5. Explain which actors and climate solutions are empowered and promoted through different climate security-framings.
6. Communicate climate security carefully yet effectively to avoid unintended consequences of climate emergency rhetoric.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
- Identify, analyse, synthesise and present relevant data and arguments
Academic integrity and academic writing (academic). Searching for, evaluating and using appropriate and relevant information sources to help strengthen the quality of academic work and independent research. Writing in a clear, concise, focused and structured manner
- Critical thinking, reading and writing
Critical thinking (work-ready, academic, sustainability). Gathering information from a range of sources, analysing and interpreting data to aid understanding. Weighing up different arguments and perspectives, using supporting evidence to form opinions, arguments, theories and ideas. Questioning norms, practices and opinions; reflecting on own values, perceptions and actions; taking a position in the sustainable development discourse; applying evidence-based decision-making; reframing problems.
- Systems thinking (sustainability).
Recognising and understanding relationships; analyses complex systems (environmental, economic and social systems and interdependencies across these); considering how systems are embedded within different domains and scales; dealing with uncertainty and using analytical thinking.
Integrated problem solving (sustainability).
Applying different problem-solving frameworks to complex sustainable development problems; developing viable, inclusive and equitable solutions; utilising appropriate competencies to solve problems; developing innovative and creative solutions.
Communication (sustainability, work-ready).
Communicating effectively through listening, clarity of expression and constructive inquiry; engaging in interdisciplinary discussion to inform thinking about sustainable futures and seek holistic, creative solutions to problems. Communicating in a clear, concise and focused way; tailoring each message for its intended audience and listening carefully to the views of others.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module. This is the standard wording we were using for blank syllabus
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supervision | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Practicals | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Practicals | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Lecture | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Seminar | 16 | 1 | 16 |
| Independent online learning hours | 36 | ||
| Private study hours | 237 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 27 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 300 | ||
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Essay from a choice of set questions linking scientific and political analysis of climate change and/as security. | 40 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 40 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
| Exam type | Exam duration | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Open Book exam | 0.0 Hrs 25 Mins | 60 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Exams) | 60 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
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