Global warming and pollution of water and air are among of the most important challenges of our time, both globally and locally. At the same time, about 10 percent of the world population remain below the poverty line (about $1.90 per day). For these reasons, firms and governments allocate large amounts of resources to environmental protection and foreign aid: the total amount of environmental taxes in Norway is currently above two percent of national income, and Norway spends about one percent of its income on foreign aid. But, do these policies work, or is a massive amount of resources wasted? And, how can the policies be improved?

Importantly, environmental and development problems cannot be seen as independent of each other. For example, carbon emissions from agricultural and industrial production causes climate change, but at the same time climate change may harm production and cause poverty. This course seeks to equip students – business consultants and political advisors of the future – with state-of-the-art techniques that can be used two evaluate the causal impact of environmental and development policies. The acquired techniques can be used to answer questions such as: How should firms and industries act to avoid causing significant harm to the environment? What can firms do to promote local sustainable development?  Students will learn through lectures, group work, presentations, and readings of book chapters and scientific articles.