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Introduction to Climate Change (UNIB10007)
Undergraduate level 1Points: 12.5Not available in 2026
About this subject
Overview
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This subject is an introduction to the major topics in climate change, including the scientific basis of the greenhouse effect, the history of Earth’s climate, energy options, economics and public policy, the effect of climate change on food, water and health, and the national and international legal frameworks for the management of climate change.
The issues around climate change are evolving rapidly, both politically and within the wider community. This subject is the first of a sequence of three subjects, aimed to provide a broad, cross-disciplinary approach to climate change. In particular, students will explore and debate the issues on a range of topics, with an emphasis on the international and global implications.
Intended learning outcomes
At the completion of this subject, students will:
- Be able to contrast disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives on climate change in order to evaluate local and international public discourse on the topic.
- Investigate contemporary issues of national and global importance related to climate change and be able to apply relevant disciplinary perspectives to answer different aspects of questions raised.
- Demonstrate the ability to critically analyse information on climate change through written and oral communication activities.
- Demonstrate the capacity to integrate disciplinary knowledge and approaches when discussing interdisciplinary problems.
- Define and identify the disciplinary foundation of key terms, concepts and theories of different aspects of climate change knowledge
- Understand how their disciplinary expertise contributes to and responds to climate change research and application in an interdisciplinary context.
Generic skills
On the completion of this subject, students should have developed the following generic skills:
- Quantitative skills, including the ability to compute estimates of relevant data required to understand the scientific issues;
- The ability to write a logically argued and properly researched essay;
- The ability to critically assess information from a range of sources, and assess its quality and relevance to the questions under consideration.
Last updated: 16 November 2025