The challenges for stabilizing global climate and coping with the impact of climate change are enormous and require new and innovative solutions for technology, infrastructure, lifestyle, and investment. Carbon market and carbon finance has emerged within and parallel to the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) debates and deliberation in the last decades to limit emissions of greenhouse gases and to shoulder the costs of mitigation and adaptation more effectively and efficiently. As a result, several carbon markets and financing mechanisms have been set up and are functioning at global, regional and national levels. These markets and finances are special- meaning; they are different from other conventional markets and finances substantially with their one context, operating environment, principle and modus operandi. These markets and finances are only going to grow in the future as nation states move towards more collective actions to address the climate change. Thus, this is a very important area for AIT students aiming to get degree in energy, climate change, management and other related disciplines to acquire knowledge. This course will prepare students to handle such areas in governments, private sector and consulting companies, public and private financial institutions, and the UN, bilateral and multilateral organization.
The objective of this course is to provide solid foundation on carbon market and carbon finance to students from multiple perspectives. Specifically to
- Provide knowledge to appreciate distinctive nature of carbon market and financing as compared to conventional market and finance
- Provide detail knowledge on their emergence and evolution vis-à-vis intentional climate change discourse, the extent it can play role in climate stabilization, and the factors that are necessary for it to support global climate change mitigation substantially and effectively
- Provide a deeper understanding of various types of carbon markets and carbon trading (including voluntary carbon markets, Kyoto Protocol related market, EU-ETS, other markets in USA, Australia and Japan, bilateral markets, climate exchanges etc.) at global, regional and local levels, with their deeper knowledge on issues such as origin, basic principles, regulatory environment, market volume, dynamics, market players, operating rules and procedure, price and price drivers, institutional arrangements, risk factors and mitigation instruments, measure of effectiveness, key emerging issue, and others.
- Develop a complete understanding on the carbon finance architecture and various elements of the carbon finance and their role and implications in carbon market. These include political dimensions, scientific assessments of investment needs, risk characterization and mitigation tools, financial mechanisms and their scales, key investors, inter-mediators and end users at global, regional and national levels, institutional and regulatory issues, the emerging issues, effectiveness and uncertainties and others.
- Provide knowledge on the practical cases and analyses of carbon market and carbon finance
- Teacher: Prof. Shobhakar Dhakal