CARE Fall Courses 2025

Welcome to the CARE Fall Course Application

This page lists all the Fall courses offered through the CARE program for the Fall 2025 semester. If you are interested in taking courses outside your home institution, you can apply here to up to two courses. Please note that applications for courses offered by your own institution should be submitted through your usual internal process.

Applications to the CARE Global Course and PSIA’s two collaborative courses will reopen for students from Canadian CARE Partner Institutions until August 24

Applications will be assessed based on eligibility and on the relevance of the course to students’ academic and professional interests. If two applications are equally compelling, priority will be given to the application received earlier.

Before applying, ensure that the courses you choose do not have calendar conflicts and that you can attend scheduled classes. If you have any questions, please contact: celine.cantat@sciencespo.fr.

1. CARE Global Course: Global Climate Action: Policies & Practices (not open to PSIA students via this process, features in the Environment & Sustainability concentration)

The CARE Global Course is a collaborative course designed and delivered jointly by faculty and universities across the CARE consortium. It equips students with the knowledge, tools, and frameworks needed to understand, analyze, and engage with climate action in a rapidly evolving global landscape. While international agreements like the Paris Agreement remain critical reference points, the course also recognizes that today’s climate action increasingly depends on the leadership of cities, regions, Indigenous communities, private actors, and citizen movements. Students will explore both top-down global policy frameworks and the growing ecosystem of bottom-up initiatives driving change on the ground — even as multilateral systems face profound challenges. The course emphasizes practical insights into policy design, implementation, financing mechanisms, and innovative practices, preparing students to navigate complex, multi-actor environments. It is aimed at graduate students from CARE partner universities interested in environmental and sustainability issues.  

Learning Objectives: 

• Understand global climate policy frameworks, including major international agreements and evolving governance dynamics.  
• Analyze real-world case studies of climate action led by states, cities, Indigenous communities, private actors, and civil society groups.  
• Apply key concepts and tools for strategic planning, policy implementation, and stakeholder engagement across different scales.  
• Examine how Indigenous knowledge and local practices contribute to effective, context-sensitive climate action.  
• Evaluate financial mechanisms, innovation pathways, and new models of climate governance emerging in response to systemic challenges.  

Dates: 17 September to 12 November 2025 (break on 29 October)
Time: Wednesdays 5 to 7PM Paris / 11AM-1PM Ontario / 8-10 BC

2. F1IS4270: Climate Change and Security: A Geopolitical and Multiscale Perspective (Sciences Po – PSIA)  

This course investigates the multiscale effects climate change has on security dimensions. From international security to national responses or local perspectives it explores how climate change has become a global risk but is framed as a controversial security issue. The course will take a geopolitical perspective on the diverse aspects of this securitization process and how it affects mitigation and adaptation strategies, from a political analysis of the adverse positioning of States on the topic, down to the tactical level where military and civilian answers are shaping new patterns of climate risk management.  

Learning objectives:   
1. Climate risk assessment and analysis  
2. Geopolitical methods of multiscale analysis  
3. Contemporary climate security actors and their reasoning  
4. Diplomatic controversies on climate securitization process  

Instructor: Dr. Angélique Palle holds a PhD in geography from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, where she worked during her thesis on energy supply and transition issues, as well as on the dynamics of regional integration. Since October 2017, she has been a researcher at IRSEM (French Institute for Research on Armaments and Defense Economics). Her work addresses issues of energy and strategic materials supply, energy transition, and the effects of environmental changes on armed forces. She is a civilian auditor in the 137th class of the École de Guerre-Terre (Land Warfare School) in 2022 and participates in the work of the “Covid and Armed Forces” cross-disciplinary research project, which led to the ANR Army program (2020-2022), as well as the “Adaptation and Climate Security” research project.  

Dates: 2 September to 25 November 2025 
Time: Tuesdays 7:15-9:15PM Paris / 1:15-3:15PM Ontario / 10:15-12:15 BC

3. OADD2345: The Role of International Organizations in Clean Energy Transitions and Environmental Protection (Sciences Po – PSIA)

The premise of this course is that the role of International Organizations (IOs) in global policymaking is unique. Unlike states and other actors, IOs play many different parts at once: facilitator, financier, thought-leader, monitor, mediator, and lawmaker. Modelled on the predominant teaching style in American law schools, this course uses a case study approach to examine how IOs influence international and domestic policymaking on environment protection and energy transitions, primarily through a legal lens. This includes examining how the functions and modalities of IOs are shaped by their specific legal setting. Specific topics include climate change (UNSC, UNFCCC), energy (G7/G20), pollution reduction (Global Plastics Treaty), species protection (IUCN), and international trade (WTO).  

Learning objectives
1. Understand the nature and structure of international organizations (IOs) and what distinguishes them from other types of international actors,   
2. Identify and discuss the different role that IOs play in international and domestic policy making   
3. Evaluate how individual IOs have shaped the direction of policy on specific energy and environment topics,   
4. Explain how IO influence policy discussions using legal and institutional analysis tools,   
5. Analyze primary source material from international organizations, including treaties, committee reports, and other documents.   

K.C. Michaels is a lawyer in the International Energy Agency’s Office of Legal Counsel. In this role, he is responsible for policy and regulatory analysis on fossil fuel methane emissions and critical minerals, including authoring publications and facilitating policy dialogue among governments. K.C. also provides legal support for IEA activities related to technology and innovation and advises on issues related to public international law, international institutions, and governance. Prior to joining the IEA, he worked as a lawyer for the U.S. Department of Energy. K.C. holds a law degree (J.D.) from New York University, the top-ranked American law school for the study of international law, and a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and policy from the University of Maryland.  

Dates: 3 September to 26 November 2025 
Time: Wednesdays 7:15-9:15PM CET / 1:15-3:15PM Ontario / 10:15-12:15 BC

4. PPG2013H: Topics in Public Policy: Canadian Energy Policy and the Transition to Net-Zero (University of Toronto)  

In June 2021, Parliament enacted the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act, which establishes a framework for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reduction initiatives; in March 2020, Canada announced its targets to reduce GHG emissions to 40-50% of 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050. None of Canada’s previous emission reduction targets has been achieved. Instead, apart from COVID-driven 2020 production reductions, Canada’s GHG emissions have continued to increase. So success is not guaranteed.  Energy produces more than half of Canada’s GHG emissions and energy regulation will be central to achieving those targets. It is also an important part of the national economy employing close to 700,000 people, and producing 11.8% of Canada’s GDP and 33% of the value of total goods exported.  

There are several specific GHG policy proposals that are aimed at achieving GHG reduction targets through transitioning the energy sectors. The two key areas of focus of these policies are:  

• Reducing emissions from fossil fuel production, and  
• Transforming provincial electricity systems to:  
• replace electricity generated by coal, oil and gas with electricity generated by emissions free fuel, largely renewable and nuclear power; and  
• increasing not-emitting electricity supply to replace fossil fuels used in transportation, heating, and heavy industry.  

Both of these transitions represent fundamental and challenging changes to current energy policy.  

Learning objective:  
The learning objective of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the fundamentals of international and domestic energy regulation and how achieving Canada’s GHG reduction goals will require dramatic change to federal and provincial energy policies. This involves evaluating the likelihood of success of current policy proposals and considering whether there are alternative policy approaches that may be more successful .

George Vegh is a leading expert in energy regulation and governance. He is Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs, teaches at the University of Toronto Law School, and directs the Master’s Program in Energy and Infrastructure Law at Osgoode Hall Law School. As Chair of the Canada Energy Regulator (CER), Vegh provides strategic leadership, drawing on his previous role as General Counsel of the Ontario Energy Board (OEB). A member of the Ontario and Alberta bars, he is widely recognized for his expertise by top legal directories. Vegh has held key leadership positions in the energy sector and has contributed to policy and regulatory reforms both in Canada and internationally.

Dates: 8 September to 1 December 2025  
Time: Wednesdays 10AM- 12:30PM Ontario / 4-6:30PM Paris / 7-9:30AM BC)  

5. PPGA 591I: Maritime Policy and Ocean Sustainability (University of British Columbia)  

The course explores ocean sustainability and maritime policy issues. Topics include maritime spaces and conflicts, the Law of the Sea and major treaties, marine protected areas and ecotourism, Blue Economy and coastal livelihoods, deep-sea mining and oil & gas, fisheries management, and ocean-related climate change issues. Students analyze and discuss related policy initiatives and give a presentation on a specific topic.  

Dr. Philippe Le Billon is a Professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on the intersection of environment, development, and security, covering topics such as climate change, ocean governance, extractive industries, and conflicts. He has held fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and UC Berkeley. Le Billon is the author and editor of several books on resource conflicts and environmental issues and regularly contributes to academic journals and media outlets. Before academia, he worked as a humanitarian and UN peacekeeper and remains active in peacebuilding and environmental governance organizations.  

Length:  8 September to 1 December 2025   
Time: Mondays 9:30AM – 12:30PM BC / 12:30-3:30PM Ontario / 6:30-9:30PM Paris