Walker College of Business

United Nations Climate Change Negotiations (Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt)

This course is focused on the negotiation of climate change agreements under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Since 1992, parties to the UNFCCC meet annually at the Conference of the Parties (COP) to further the collective goal of stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. The COP in Paris in 2015 (COP 21) was a turning point in climate negotiations, signaling a new, more inclusive and “bottom up” approach to managing climate change. COP 27 is in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt is likely to further expand countries’ commitments for climate action in support of the Paris Agreement.

This course aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental issues regarding climate change, the negotiations process and the political dynamics of the UNFCCC. The course is intended to develop students’ analytical thinking and experiential learning at the international level – including attending COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt as delegates from Appalachian State University.

By the end of the course students should: -understand the UNFCCC and the process of climate negotiations and treaty formation -understand the heterogeneity of negotiation positions -have practical experience serving as an observer to the UNFCCC negotiations in COP 27.

Click here to view the syllabus.

This program is currently at capacity, however please fill out this application to be placed on a waitlist.

Visit the official UN Climate Change Negotiations Program Page here.

Program dates:

Please note that this is a fall-semester course with travel to the conference from Nov. 5 to Nov. 12.

On-campus course meetings are Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:30 pm to 4:45 pm. during the regular semester, Aug. 22 to Dec. 6.

Courses

• ECO 4530-101: United Nations Climate Negotiations — 3 credits
• ECO 5530-101: United Nations Climate Negotiations — 3 credits

Credits

• ECO 4530-101: United Nations Climate Negotiations counts as an IB elective (major, approved, required or other), Sustainable Business minor or major elective, COB elective or upper level elective and fulfills the Global Issues requirement.
• ECO 5530-101: United Nations Climate Negotiations - This 3 semester hour course fulfills the international requirement for the MBA program and is an elective for the international business concentration, the economics concentration and the sustainable business concentration. 

Program Leaders

Dr. Dave McEvoy
Chair and Professor, Department of Economics
mcevoydm@appstate.edu