Economics and Climate Change

Economics and climate change brings together one of the most important analytical disciplines of the social sciences with the most urgent challenge facing human civilisation. Economics provides rigorous tools for understanding incentives, market failures, policy design and the behaviour of consumers, firms and governments. Climate change introduces the question of how those tools can be deployed to understand and address the greatest market failure of all time: the fact that fossil fuel use imposes costs on society that are not reflected in market prices, and that correcting this requires understanding both the economics and the political economy of intervention.

At Aberystwyth University this programme prepares you to understand how economic incentives shape behaviour in relation to environmental choices, how governments might intervene through carbon pricing, regulation and subsidy to deliver climate-friendly outcomes, and what the evidence tells us about which policies work. You will develop rigorous analytical and quantitative skills alongside the specific knowledge of climate science and policy that the specialism requires. The programme runs over three years full time.

Graduates are well placed for careers in government departments, international organisations, think tanks, environmental consultancies, financial institutions and the growing green economy, in roles that require the ability to analyse environmental policy, understand carbon markets and evaluate the economic dimensions of climate action. The combination of economic rigour and climate knowledge is genuinely valued in a world where climate-related decision-making is reshaping every sector. Postgraduate study in environmental economics, climate policy, sustainability or public policy is a natural further route for those seeking specialist or research-focused careers.