Introduction to Environmental Policy*

*Fundamental course required to complete the 12-course Executive Education Program

Instructor: Bipasha Chatterjee
Course number: ENVB 0351 N

Fulfills requirement: Fundamental (F)
Day: Tuesday
Dates: October 8, 15, 22, 29, November 5 (Module 2, 5 sessions)
Time: 6:10 – 8:10 PM

Course Description

The past two decades have seen an increasing amount of attention given to the importance of environmental policy and planning in promoting a sustainable future for the planet. This course examines contemporary domestic and international issues that require environmental policy and planning solutions. It explores policy responses to local and global environmental problems such as biodiversity loss, air and water pollution, climate change, and environmental justice. The course examines how governments of advance and developing countries, non-governmental organizations, the scientific community, and the private sector shape environmental policy through a wide range of economic, social, and political factors. Topics cover the history, evolution and the application of existing environmental policies in the world, change in the USA’s and China’s environmental regulation in recent years, international environmental treaties including Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, new clean energy policies, and incentives for the private sector for promoting sustainable technologies.

About the Instructor

Bipasha Chatterjee is an environmental economist and a policy consultant with post-graduate degrees from the University of Cambridge, UK and from the London School of Economics, UK. She started her career with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy and went on to work as a governance reform consultant (KPMG and AEA GROUP) in the UK. She has extensive experience in working on environmental and climate change policy issues. She has led projects in the areas of climate change mitigation action, Kyoto Protocol and clean development mechanism (CDM), renewable energy-related research, and advisory work. She is currently an Executive Education Instructor for the Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability (EICES), teaching courses on environmental policy and agricultural economics. She also teaches BA and MA environmental economic courses at Hunter College, City University of New York, and Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute.