The Politics of Sustainability
Leader
Mr Dunne & Mrs Romero
Cohort
Max 15 Students
Timing
Tuesday 6pm
Course Overview
This 12-week academic extension course explores sustainability as a political challenge rather than simply an environmental concern. Using the Action for Climate Empowerment framework developed by Wellington and UN Sustainable Development Goals as a starting point, students examine power, sovereignty, legitimacy, justice, development, global governance and collective action. The course builds towards a professional COP-style policy recommendation and presentation, requiring students to design a credible, evidence-based sustainability proposal for policymakers.
Key Benefits
- Develops political literacy around sustainability, climate change and global governance.
- Introduces students to key theories and thinkers including Rawls, Ostrom, Keohane, Sen, Raworth and Meadows.
- Builds skills in policy analysis, negotiation, stakeholder mapping and evidence-based argument.
- Encourages ethical reasoning around climate justice, responsibility and intergenerational fairness.
- Supports public communication through presentations, debate and a final COP-style recommendation.
- Provides strong preparation for students interested in politics, international relations, geography, economics, law, development studies or environmental policy.
Course Structure
Indicative Session Outline
Week 1: What is Sustainability? Students explore sustainability as a political concept involving competing ideas of growth, progress, responsibility and ecological limits.
Week 2: Power, Sovereignty and Environmental Governance Students examine how state power, sovereignty, realism, liberalism and global governance shape environmental decision-making.
Week 3: The SDGs as Political Projects Students investigate the Sustainable Development Goals as negotiated political priorities and begin developing a stakeholder infographic.
Week 4: Climate Politics and COP Conferences Students learn how COP negotiations work and why collective action, finance, emissions targets and adaptation are politically contested.
Week 5: Climate Justice and Ethical Responsibility Students consider who should pay for climate action, using ideas such as distributive justice, historical responsibility and the veil of ignorance.
Week 6: States, Corporations and Sustainability Students analyse corporate power, greenwashing, lobbying, markets, regulation and the role of private actors in sustainability.
Week 7: Energy Politics and the Green Transition Students examine the trade-offs between energy security, affordability, sustainability, jobs, growth and geopolitical dependency.
Week 8: Global Inequality and Sustainable Development Students compare development challenges across countries and evaluate whether sustainability requires different responsibilities from different states.