1 Residence Unit-Climate School
1 RU Climate School
1 RU Full Time Enrollment in the Climate School
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Instructor:
Cari E Shimkus
Info - 0 points
1/2 RU Climate School
1/2 RU tuition for Climate School students
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Instructor:
Cari E Shimkus
Info - 0 points
Extended Residence Climate School
Extended Residence CLIM
Extended Residence enrollment category for Climate School students.
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Instructor:
Cari E Shimkus
Info - 0 points
Quant Methods for Climate Applications
Quant Methods-CLMT Applic
Required course for students in the Climate and Society MA program. An overview of how climate-societal and intra-societal relationships can be evaluated and quantified using relevant data sets, statistical tools, and dynamical models. Concepts and methods in quantitative modeling, data organization, and statistical analysis, with applications to climate and climate impacts. Students will also do some simple model experiments and evaluate the results. Lab required. Pre-requisites: undergraduate-level coursework in introductory statistics or data analysis; knowledge of calculus; basic familiarity with R programming language.
- MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Jason Smerdon
CULPA: 4 h-index: 47 Info - 4 points
Regional Climate science and forecasting
Regional climate & foreca
Effective climate adaptation requires the wise application of climate information to decision making on an everyday basis. Many decisions in society are at local scales, and regional climate information considered at appropriate scales and in appropriate forms co-developed by scientists, forecast providers and users is central to the concept of climate services. Students will build an understanding of the dynamics of climate variability and change at regional and local scales, along with the sources of modern climate information used to help manage climate-related risks and adapt to climate change. This includes hands-on Climate Data Analysis and proactive Risk Analysis using historical climate data, real-time monitoring, climate forecasts, and climate change projections.
- T 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Andrew Robertson
Info - 3 points
Climate Change and Disaster Management
Climate Change Disaster M
As climate related disasters continue to grow, the impacts of climate change and sustainable development on disaster threats and vulnerabilities are increasingly pronounced. Many of those in the field of disaster management are having to contend with increasing frequency and severity of disasters. Concurrently, disaster risk reduction and response frameworks are struggling to meet the challenge of 21st century disasters. At the same time, the field of disaster research is generating new insights into how the built environment, social structures, and ecological dynamics are intersecting to set the stage for disaster vulnerability, and thus can be better engineered for resilience. As this field continues to evolve, many who many not necessarily identify as disaster managers are also increasingly involved in disaster management in some capacity. With this, the dynamics of disaster risk reduction and disaster management are essential in working with communities and negotiating development activities in ways that are inclusive of a broad range of values, goals and incentive structures.
- T 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Jeffrey Schlegelmilch
Info - 3 points
Social Impact: Business, Society & the E
Soc Impacts: Bus, Soc & E
The Social Impact: Business, Society, and the Natural Environment course explores the relationship between corporations, society, and the natural environment. Specifically, it examines the ways in which governments, (for-profit and non-profit) organizations, and investors (fail to) have positive impact and manage issues where the pursuit of private goals is deemed inconsistent with the public interest.
- T 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Caroline Flammer
Info - 3 points
Climate Mobility
It is widely accepted that climate factors can and do affect human mobility, though the degree of their influence varies depending on local contexts. In the case of population displacement, rapid onset climate extremes have a relatively direct impact on mobility, and for longer-term migration climate factors also have been shown to play a role, often mediated by more direct drivers. There is a growing recognition that underlying institutional and structural factors (i.e., root causes) shape the way the climate stressors impact local migration decision-making, and that cultural proclivities and inequitable access to resources, markets, and political power structures often set the stage for ensuing migration flows (domestic and international). In many low income settings the donor and development assistance community are grappling with these complex nexus issues as they seek to develop policies and programs that reduce the potential for distress or mass migration. Responses to date generally fall into four categories; 1) those that address the livelihood aspects of climate migration -- e.g., by improving the prospects for local adaptation; 2) those that seek to facilitate mobility as an adaptation mechanism; 3) those that resettle people in new locations and offer migrant protections; and 4) those that seek to mitigate the impacts of those movements, including environmental impacts, on receiving communities. In high income settings, responses to current and potentially increased immigration from developing countries tends to fall into two camps: a resurgent nationalism with measures to prevent or deter migration versus more migrant-friendly policies that seek to protect migrant rights while acknowledging responsibility for historic greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, high income countries are facing climate impacts of their own such as sea level rise, riparian flooding and massive fires that have displaced thousands and prompted managed retreat from at-risk areas. All this has brought to the fore questions of equity and climate justice as marginalized populations everywhere are often disproportionately affected and least compensated. This interdisciplinary course focuses on the social, demographic, economic, political, environmental and climatic factors that shape human mobility, while addressing the legal categories of international mobility (e.g., migrant versus refugee). We explore underlying drivers of the various types of migration – from forced to voluntary and those forms in between – in ord
- R 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Alexander M Desherbinin
Info - 3 points
Post-Disaster Recovery: Housing/Economic
This course is designed as an elective to the Climate and Society Master of Arts degree program. The purpose of this course is to prepare those entering the climate policy and practice workforce for addressing these challenges and solutions by providing an overview of the fields of economic and housing recovery within the context of climate change and climate driven disasters.
- R 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
- 3 points
Earth Studio: Toward Climate Justice and
Earth Studio: Climate Jus
“Earth Studio: Toward Climate Justice and Resilience: Caribbean Basin
is a (3) credit elective course offered in the Columbia Climate School Masters of Climate and Society Program.
Taught in a collaborative format with GSAPP’s Water Urbanism Design (UD) Studio, this course will explore climate justice and action through the intersections of urban planning, design, and policy in support of communities and ecologies on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
- R 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Johanna Lovecchio
Info - 3 points
Climate Change Law and Policy
This course surveys the legal and policy mechanisms, and political and social forces, that can be utilized to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases and to adapt to a warming planet. We will start with a brief introduction to the kinds of policy challenges that climate change poses to international and domestic legal regimes. The course will then consider the international, federal, state and local legal regimes applicable to climate change, with an emphasis on U.S. law and policy.
In particular, the course will cover the negotiation, implementation and current status of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the Copenhagen Accord, the Paris Agreement, the Glasgow Climate Pact and the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan. The focus will then turn to the past and proposed actions of the U.S. Congress, the executive branch and the courts, as well as regional, state and municipal efforts. The Clean Air Act and the National Environmental Policy Act will receive special attention, as will the authority of an administration to reverse prior policy. We will examine efforts in the U.S. and other countries to use the courts to force action on climate change.
We will evaluate the various legal tools that are available to address climate change, including cap-and-trade and carbon offsets; command-and-control regulation; litigation; and securities disclosures. Implications for international human rights, environmental and climate justice, international and intergenerational equity will be discussed.
- M 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Sheila Foster
Info - 3 points
Food Systems & Climate Interactions
Food Syst. & CLMT Interac
This graduate-level course provides an overview of current and future anthropogenic climate change impacts on food systems and vice versa. The first half of the course will explore the relationship between climate change impacts across food systems and how we grow, transport, process, and consume food impact climate and environmental change. The second half of the course will explore mitigation and adaptation measures across food systems. Throughout the course, we will undertake deep-dive case studies to provide local context to this complex relationship between climate change and food.
- W 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
- 3 points
Black Ecologies
African and African Diasporic peoples have been central to the creation and transformation of global ecologies and landscapes. As the birthplace of humankind, the African continent features the longest archaeological record in the world, with abundant, yet often underrepresented, material and historical evidence for remarkable Indigenous African innovations in the areas of technology, food production, and resource and land use. This course specifically examines Black ecologies preceding and then radically transformed by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Beginning in the late fifteenth century, the enslavement of millions of Africans and their forced translocation to the Americas and Caribbean precipitated ecological transformations on all sides of the Atlantic, as African peoples, knowledge, resources and ecological inheritances were appropriated by the European mercantile system. Enslaved Africans transformed American landscapes via extractive industries of plantations and mines and suffered the emergence of toxic landscapes and disease alongside Native American communities. Africans also recreated African ecologies as they created livelihoods and landscapes of resistance and freedom in the Americas. The legacies of the Atlantic Era maintain a persistent dynamic in which African and African Diasporic communities experience disproportionate burdens of environmental injustice today. The concept of Black ecologies reflects the marginality, systemic racism and dispossession experienced by Black peoples and their landscapes. Black ecologies also allow us to understand African and African Diasporic ecological innovations, resistance and resilience, and the pathways to future sustainability and justice they promise.
- R 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Kristina Douglass
Info - 3 points
Disaster Research Methods
The field of disaster research is relatively new in the United States, as a specific field of study, with the first disaster research center being founded in the early 1960s. The field itself is now highly multi-disciplinary, drawing from the social sciences, anthropology, political science, computer science, engineering, earth sciences, psychology, and medicine and public health. These academic fields have intersected with the practice community by informing holistic emergency planning for all members of a community. Furthermore, these research outputs have informed federal and state policy, the private sector, and community organizations to inform program design and implementation. Translating research into practice remains a constant challenge in this rapidly evolving field. The methodological approaches to disaster research are just as diverse and have become increasingly complex with the advent of big data, the ubiquity of spatial information, and novel cross-disciplinary research. As a new era of compound and cascading disasters has triggered a constant “response” mode within the field of emergency management, the need for practitioners and research with a fluency in research and evaluation methods is required to critically evaluate or generate high quality and ethically based research.
- T 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Jonathan J Sury
Info - 3 points
History of the Climate Crisis
The climate crisis is a defining feature of contemporary life. How did we get here? This course considers the historical, social, ethical, and political life of global warming in an effort to better understand the present climate age. Themes and topics include: the origins of fossil fuel-based energy systems and the cultural life of oil; the history of climate science and the geopolitics of climate knowledge production; the emergence of climate change as a global political issue; debates about political responses to climate change versus market-based approaches; the question of culpability and who should be held responsible for causing global warming; and the recent emergence of a global climate justice movement and its relationship to racial justice and indigenous rights movements.
- T 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Leah V Aronowsky
Info - 3 points
Climate Risk Assessment
This graduate-level course surveys the many components that go into climate risk assessment, with an emphasis on climate impacts and vulnerability. We will survey the latest research on climate hazards, with an emphasis on the types of extreme weather events that have the largest societal impacts. We will then explore these impacts in detail, by sector and system. We will next investigate determinants of vulnerability, and how vulnerability magnifies climate impacts. We then query how climate solutions can be integrated into risk assessments in a recursive manner. Throughout the course, we will strike a balance between foundational (‘IPCC-type’) examples on the one hand, and emerging topics like compound extreme events and existential risk on the other. Throughout the course we will study and employ a number of risk assessment methodologies, based on case studies from within the private, public, and non-profit sectors.
- R 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Radley M Horton
Info - 3 points
Extreme Weather Events and Climate Chang
Extreme Weather and Clima
This seminar class will give an overview of the current knowledge of extreme weather events and the impact of anthropogenic climate change on their characteristics. We will start the course by defining extreme weather events and the current state-of-the-art knowledge of how anthropogenic activities influence them, including trends, detection and attribution, as well as future projections. We will discuss the methods typically used for analyzing extreme events and what are the existing uncertainties. The existing warning systems and forecasts for extreme events will be briefly discussed, including their communication and impacts and possible mitigation measures.
- R 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Suzana J de Camargo
Info - 3 points
Spatial Analysis of Food Security
Spatial Analysis Food Sec
Globally, over 2 billion people are suffering from moderate-to-severe food insecurity and the Sudan famine being the first famine declared in 2025 since 2020. One key aspect to understanding food insecurity is its spatial distribution and trends that contribute to how food secure a population is. This course will teach students how to collect and analyze spatial data related to food security, as well as touch on important topics in food insecurity. The course will focus on taking real-life food security questions and applying spatial analysis techniques to these questions. In the course, we will cover an introduction to spatial analysis, natural experiments in geography, applying remote sensing to food insecurity, climate shocks and food security, and seasonal forecasting and food security.
This class will have a lecture aspect, which will mainly focus on topics in food security and how they relate to data collection, and a lab section, which will be an opportunity for students to collect data directly, clean the data, and analyze the data using the R programming language with spatial research methods. Example topics in class will be climate variability and food insecurity, policies that can successfully address food insecurity, and understanding spatial aggregation in food security statistics and how that can influence interpretation. These topics will then be further explored in the lab section of the class: specifically focusing on downloading weather data for time series analysis, using a convergence of datasets to map hotspots, and investigating how survey data intersects with spatial datasets.
- T 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Sarah L Blakeley
Info - 3 points
Computing and Research Methods for Clima
Nearly all subdisciplines in climate now rely on aspects of data science to understand problems and evaluate solutions. Climate science is generating “big data” including petabytes of observations from sources such as NASA and even more from climate models. With this big, complex data burden comes the need for advanced data science techniques such that scientists can better understand our climate system and explore possible solutions to the challenge of climate change.
This course is a broad introduction to research computing and data science drawing from examples in climate science. Students will learn how to work with, analyze, and visualize big datasets. The course will utilize the scientific python ecosystem, Unix/Linux, shell scripting, terminal commands, git/github, and other techniques.
- T 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Daniel Westervelt
Info - 3 points
Sovereign Finance, Climate and Developme
Sovereign Finc, Climate,
The ability of many emerging market and developing economy (EMDE) countries to meet their climate financing objectives depends to a large extent on their cost of capital, which in turn is impacted by the actual and perceived risks of their sovereign debt. According to the Jubilee Report published in June 2025 by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the Columbia University Initiative for Policy Dialogue, 54 countries spend over ten percent of their revenues on interest payments, and 3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more on interest than healthcare. EMDE countries need workable tools to reduce financing costs and manage sovereign debt in order to fund their development needs and to achieve the climate objectives set out in their nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement.
This course will explore the roots of the problem, including the pro-cyclical nature of sovereign financing and refinancing; the role of international financial institutions and credit rating agencies; and the main obstacles to resolving sovereign debt distress in an orderly and timely way, contrasting resolution tools for sovereign debt with those available in the private sector. Drawing on real-world case studies, we will look at structural innovations that could help debottleneck climate finance, and how effective they can be. We will consider several prominent proposals to reorient the global financial architecture, focusing on whether and to what extent they can reduce EMDE funding costs and unlock financing for sustainable development and climate investment.
- F 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Andrew A Bernstein
Info - 1.5 points
Applied Climate II
This course is a core course for all Climate School students in the MA in Climate and Society and MS in Climate .5 credits in the fall and 5. credits in the spring. It is a practicum-style course focused on the application of classroom learnings in a range of professional and real-world situations.
At the beginning of the fall semesters, students will be grouped in teams and assigned a previous years’ Capstone project (a summer project that former CS students have produced in partnership with an external partner). Students will use this previous capstone project to practice skills including: stakeholder engagement strategies, communication and presentation skills, systems thinking, and project planning.
The fall will be focused on grounding in the topic and challenge of the capstone project, stakeholder discovery and mock engagement, and evaluating its application to the New York City context. The spring will be focused on evaluation of problem definition of the client, work planning and project planning, learning from the client and/or alumni about the outcomes and contemporary challenges/applications of the project, and producing a final project as a team. By the end, students will be prepared to fully engage with their own capstone projects in future semesters, will have honed critical skills to support successful professional applications of their Climate School courses, and will have a ‘mission and values statement’ to guide their future practice as professionals.
- F 10:10 a.m.-noon
- 0.5 points
Applied Climate II
This course is a core course for all Climate School students in the MA in Climate and Society and MS in Climate .5 credits in the fall and 5. credits in the spring. It is a practicum-style course focused on the application of classroom learnings in a range of professional and real-world situations.
At the beginning of the fall semesters, students will be grouped in teams and assigned a previous years’ Capstone project (a summer project that former CS students have produced in partnership with an external partner). Students will use this previous capstone project to practice skills including: stakeholder engagement strategies, communication and presentation skills, systems thinking, and project planning.
The fall will be focused on grounding in the topic and challenge of the capstone project, stakeholder discovery and mock engagement, and evaluating its application to the New York City context. The spring will be focused on evaluation of problem definition of the client, work planning and project planning, learning from the client and/or alumni about the outcomes and contemporary challenges/applications of the project, and producing a final project as a team. By the end, students will be prepared to fully engage with their own capstone projects in future semesters, will have honed critical skills to support successful professional applications of their Climate School courses, and will have a ‘mission and values statement’ to guide their future practice as professionals.
- F 10:10 a.m.-noon
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Instructor:
Sandra Goldmark
CULPA: 4
Info
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Instructor:
Andrew J Kruczkiewicz
Info -
Instructor:
Radley M Horton
Info - 0.5 points
Global Institutions and the Architecture
Global Inst. & Climate Fi
This course explores the role of international institutions—including the IMF, World Bank, UN agencies, Multilateral Environmental Agreements, regional development banks, and national development banks—in shaping the global response to climate change. We will analyze how mandates, governance structures, financial instruments, and geopolitical dynamics shape the capacity of these institutions to mobilize and allocate climate finance.
The course emphasizes how current institutions emerged from historical conditions (e.g., the Bretton Woods system, the dollar’s role as anchor currency, and mechanisms to prevent financial instability), and how those legacies both enable and constrain climate finance today. Students will examine reform debates and the rise of new institutions (e.g., AIIB, BRICS’ New Development Bank) as potential complements or alternatives to the prevailing institutions.
Site visits to the IMF and World Bank in Washington, D.C. and the United Nations Headquarters in New York will provide first-hand exposure to the workings of these institutions. The class will also have live video interactions with other global institutions.
- F 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Jeffrey D Sachs
CULPA: 15
Wikipedia
Info
- 1.5 points
Water Governance
Water is widely recognized as the most essential natural resource for both society and Earth’s ecosystems. Yet the relationship between society and water is complex. While water is critical for livelihoods, it is also frequently a hazard. Floods, droughts, and contaminated water are formidable threats to human well-being. To deal with this dual nature of water, people have long modified the water cycle through engineering schemes like dams, reservoirs, irrigation systems, and interbasin transfer systems as well as through land use and land-cover change.
We need more than just technical solutions. Society needs a clear and robust plan to manage and govern water given its intertwined relationship with this critical resource. In Water Governance, we will explore the political, social, economic, and administrative systems that affect the use, development, and management of water resources. You will be introduced to current themes that influence water governance including sustainable development, integrated water resource management, water rights and pricing, corruption, and equity for marginal groups. These themes will be explored at the local, national, and international levels to provide you with a broad understanding of water governance issues.
- W 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Michael J Puma
h-index: 23 Info - 3 points
Water Governance
Water is widely recognized as the most essential natural resource for both society and Earth’s ecosystems. Yet the relationship between society and water is complex. While water is critical for livelihoods, it is also frequently a hazard. Floods, droughts, and contaminated water are formidable threats to human well-being. To deal with this dual nature of water, people have long modified the water cycle through engineering schemes like dams, reservoirs, irrigation systems, and interbasin transfer systems as well as through land use and land-cover change.
We need more than just technical solutions. Society needs a clear and robust plan to manage and govern water given its intertwined relationship with this critical resource. In Water Governance, we will explore the political, social, economic, and administrative systems that affect the use, development, and management of water resources. You will be introduced to current themes that influence water governance including sustainable development, integrated water resource management, water rights and pricing, corruption, and equity for marginal groups. These themes will be explored at the local, national, and international levels to provide you with a broad understanding of water governance issues.
- W 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Michael J Puma
h-index: 23 Info - 3 points
Water Governance
Water is widely recognized as the most essential natural resource for both society and Earth’s ecosystems. Yet the relationship between society and water is complex. While water is critical for livelihoods, it is also frequently a hazard. Floods, droughts, and contaminated water are formidable threats to human well-being. To deal with this dual nature of water, people have long modified the water cycle through engineering schemes like dams, reservoirs, irrigation systems, and interbasin transfer systems as well as through land use and land-cover change.
We need more than just technical solutions. Society needs a clear and robust plan to manage and govern water given its intertwined relationship with this critical resource. In Water Governance, we will explore the political, social, economic, and administrative systems that affect the use, development, and management of water resources. You will be introduced to current themes that influence water governance including sustainable development, integrated water resource management, water rights and pricing, corruption, and equity for marginal groups. These themes will be explored at the local, national, and international levels to provide you with a broad understanding of water governance issues.
- W 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Michael J Puma
h-index: 23 Info - 3 points
Insurance for Climate Change in the Glob
Climate change is overwhelming the world’s capacity to manage climate risk. Index insurance and other financial risk transfer tools, such as derivatives, cat-bonds, and humanitarian disaster funds are being increasingly looked to as solutions to address year to year climate risk to support climate adaptation. However, success is mixed, with experiences of inadequate performance, opaqueness, exploitation, incentivization of mal-adaptation, and approaches that undermine sovereignty and governance. Co-generation and governance tools are not yet developed enough to assure that those who the financing is intended to benefit have an adequate voice in design, or understand critical limitations. There are no easy solutions, with many difficult trade-offs, unsolved problems, and justice challenges.
In the class, students work to understand the relationship between academic research and project level challenges. The course will be an insider view of practical real world case studies. Students will use real world project materials, data, and software tools to work through the evolution of thought over time, exploring issues such as incentivization of adaptation through community driven strategies, avoiding potential pitfalls, and responsibly implementing financial solutions for large numbers of low-income people. Students will use interactive software tools, quantitative games, and project workflows to analyze case studies and cumulatively develop their own real world case study, guided by academic debates and their own insights to build their own interactive tools and finance solutions.
- W 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
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Instructor:
Daniel Osgood
h-index: 23 Info - 3 points
Energy Technologies and Subsurface Resou
Energy & Subsurface Resou
Key scientific concepts related to sustainable fuels, energy carriers, emissions management technologies, and the role of subsurface resources in meeting our energy needs in a sustainable manner are discussed. Students will apply the fundamentals of material and energy conversions and recovery to better establish the technological basis of harnessing natural resources in a responsible manner. Students will also evaluate the impacts of existing and emerging energy technologies on the environment.
- T 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
- 3 points
Quantitative Methods - LAB
Lab section corresponding to CLMT 5002 Quantitative Methods for Climate Applications
- W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
- W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
- R 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
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Instructor:
Abby Meola
Info - 0 points
Applied Integrative Seminar for Duals II
The Applied Integrative Experience for Duals (1 credit) is a year-long, pass/fail program requirement that supports the integrative learning goals of students pursuing dual degrees between the MS in Climate and either the MS in Carbon Management (SEAS) or the MS in Architecture and Urban Design (GSAPP). Students engage in cross-school experiences and guided written reflections to deepen their understanding of how their dual programs intersect and support their professional aspirations.
Students are expected to work closely with their respective faculty advisors throughout the year to identify appropriate events and ensure that their integrative experiences and reflections align with their academic and professional goals. Advisor consultation is essential for shaping meaningful engagement during your time at the Climate School.
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Instructor:
Alix Schroder
Info - 0.5 points