Public Policy and Energy

This course aims to provide students with a practical understanding of public policy in the context of energy and climate change policy. The students will be directed to develop pragmatic skills (presentation, communication, official document preparation, and time management skills) that will be useful for future careers not only in public policy but also in other fields such as business. The main angle of this class is public policy, through the window of energy policy. In short, this is a public policy course, which discusses energy issues as its main focus.

The course will discuss policy makers’ decisions, considering multi-faceted factors such as economy, national security, climate change, technology and innovation, foreign policy. International organizations play a significant role in this arena because of the global nature of energy and energy policy, and will therefore be a cross-cutting theme. The course also aims to define the fundamentals of energy markets and systems. In addition, public policy issues such as trade-offs, evidence-based policy making, public awareness and the role of various stakeholders will be picked up and discussed in the class. Students are encouraged to actively participate in the class discussion as this is a student-oriented class where students will be evaluated on their logic, clarity, pace, material, and timeliness.