Climate change is already having profound effects on world economies. Disruptions and costs associated with extreme events, sea level rise, heat waves, ecological degradation and resource scarcity will only increase as global warming progresses, and far outweigh any short term costs of meaningful climate action. In this Bootcamp, instructors will lay out the basic economic argument for businesses and governments to tackle climate change mitigation and adaptation, and show such action can safeguard the stability of our societies in generations to come.

Learning Objectives

• Fundamentals of economic theories and concepts

• Climate change impacts on global economies and markets

• Quantifying disruptions and costs associated with climate change, climate variability and extreme events

• Accounting for the economics and future prices of energy, water, air, and other natural resources

• Cost/benefit analysis of climate action (or inaction)

• Leveraging microeconomic tools

• Collecting and integrating information from a variety of sources

Course Architects & Reviewers

• Jennifer Aiosa -- Chief Sustainability Officer, Baltimore County, Maryland

• Rachel Bannon-Godfrey -- Vice President, SDG Impact Leader, Stantec

• Louise Bedsworth -- Executive Director, Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment, University of California, Berkeley

• Sean Carpenter – Climate Economy Advisor, City of Fort Collins

• Manishka De Mel — Senior Staff Associate II, Columbia Climate School Center for Climate Systems Research

• Gavin Dillingham -- Vice President of Research, HARC

• Jason Dubow -- Manager, Resource Conservation & Management Unit, Maryland Department of Planning

• Tim Frazier -- Full Professor and Faculty Director, Georgetown

• Tyler Hansen -- Postdoctoral Researcher, Technical University of Denmark

• Sandy Hertz -- Director, Office of Climate Change Resilience and Adaptation, Maryland Department of Transportation

• Brent Jett -- Coastal Resiliency Group Leader, GMB

• Adam Johnson -- Director of Workforce Development, Northern Pennsylvania Regional College

• Yohannes Mariam -- Senior Economist, People's Counsel of the Distract of Columbia

• Don Pagach -- Professor, NC State University

• Lindene Patton – Principal, Earth & Water Group, LLC

• Quin Robertson -- Senior Scientist, Coastal Protection Engineering

• Sim Segal -- President, SimErgy Consulting and Director of ERM Program, Columbia University

• Anthony Underwood -- Associate Professor of Economics, Dickinson College

• Hilari Varnadore -- Vice President for Cities, USGBC

• Mark Way – Corporate Climate Lead, The Nature Conservancy

• Jeff Yorzyk -- Director of Sustainability, HelloFresh US

Sample Screen Shots from the Economics-101 Online Course (2023)