NIFK25004U Introduction to European Environmental Economics and Policy

Volume 2025/2026
Education

Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters in European Environmental Economics and Policy (M3EP)

Content

Introduction to European Environmental Economics and Policy is a compulsory and foundational course in the Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters programme in European Environmental Economics and Policy (M3EP). The course will serve as an introductory and identity-building course for M3EP students, and it will be taught jointly by all five university partners involved in the M3EP.

Besides introducing students to the M3EP program, the course will provide students with a foundational understanding of the history and the institutional organization of the EU. Against this backdrop, the course will discuss how the institutions influence the processes through which EU’s environmental policies are shaped, decided, and implemented. With a particular interdisciplinary focus, students will be introduced to tools and methods from economics and political science that can be used in the development and evaluation of environmental policies.

The course will introduce students to a range of relevant thematic environmental issues. These will vary from year to year, as the course is tailored to focus on the most pressing environmental challenges of particular contemporary relevance for the EU and its member states, as indicated mainly through the State of the Union speech given by the President of the European Commission each year in September.

Learning Outcome

Having successfully completed the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge:

  • Account for the history, institutions, and organisational structure of the EU.
  • Discuss contemporary environmental policy issues in the EU.
  • Explain basic environmental economic theories and methods of relevance for environmental police.
  • Explain basic public policy theories and methods.

 

Skills:

  • Systematically collect scientific evidence in relation to a specific environmental challenge.
  • Condense the collected scientific evidence to extract important knowledge of particular relevance to development and implementation of environmental policy.

 

Competences:

  • See connections across different environmental challenges and related policy solutions and understand the key differences between them from both economics and political science perspectives.
  • Work effectively in interdisciplinary and problem-oriented teams, showing initiative and personal responsibility as required.

See Absalon for an up-to-date list of course literature.

Academic qualifications equivalent to a minimum of 60 ECTS in either economics, political science or a combination of the two fields is recommended.
Teaching is composed of lectures and exercises, theoretical as well as practical. Lectures present the essential elements of the curriculum. In the exercises the participants will have the opportunity to apply the methodologies and techniques introduced and to apply these to contemporary environmental policy problems. Students are expected to participate actively, e.g. in class discussions, groupwork and exercises.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 42
  • Preparation
  • 126
  • Exercises
  • 36
  • Exam
  • 2
  • Total
  • 206
Oral
Collective
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Peer feedback (Students give each other feedback)
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
On-site written exam, 2 hours under invigilation
Type of assessment details
The exam is a 2 hours on-site written assignment. The exam takes place during the exam week.
Aid
All aids allowed except Generative AI and internet access
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
One internal examiner.
Re-exam

The same as the ordinary. 

Criteria for exam assesment

The assessment will be based on the student's ability to show in the written exam that the learning outcomes described above have been acheived.