Master Green Economy - Máster en Economía Verde

This distance learning course provides the scientific and interdisciplinary insight into the challenges a transition to a green economy represents and how to address them. The development of a green economy is a political and socio-economic imperative.

A Bachelors Honours degree, 2:2 or equivalent in a required subject area and/or relevant comprehensive professional experience. Applicants without a required subject will be considered.

International entry requirements:
If English is not your first language you´ll need IELTS 6.5 (Academic) with a minimum of 5.5 in each component of writing, speaking, listening and reading.

Enjoy the flexibility of a distance learning course, which allows you to undertake a work-based project instead of a research project to support your dissertation
You will develop your knowledge of ecology, geography, social science, psychology and technology in this multidimensional course
Understand the challenges of reducing carbon emissions, overexploitation of resources and widespread environmental degradation, which pose a danger to human wellbeing
Acquire the scientific understanding on which the transition to a green economy can be based, including the principles of environmental sustainability and the societal responses required to implement these in practice
Profit from our expert academics and their knowledge of sustainability and tools that inform environmental practice and policy implementation.

Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services: Examine the scientific principles for ecosystem services, how they link with ecosystem function and their relationships with biodiversity. Key ecosystem services that will be considered include food and water, regulating flood and disease control, cultural services such as spiritual, recreational, and cultural benefits, and nutrient cycling. You´ll explore how ecosystem services production can be measured and mapped, the distribution of beneficiaries, different approaches to valuation and potential links with the green economy. Key emerging issues include potential trade-offs between ecosystem services and between ecosystem services and biodiversity.

Carbon Management: Increasing concern about the potential impacts of global climate change, attributable primarily to human activities, has placed the issue of carbon management at the top of the international policy agenda. You´ll examine the science underpinning the process of climate change and how this might be addressed through adaptation and mitigation measures, based on an understanding of the global carbon cycle.

Environmental Law & Social Justice: Justice in a complex world, environmental policy and law decisions have implications for the environment and the people that live in and rely on it. In this unit we´ll explore the legal and policy dynamics and the factors that influence environmental social justice outcomes in environmental policy debates, and identify how social justice considerations can be incorporated more effectively into environmental policy.

Frontiers of Sustainability Science: Sustainability science has emerged in recent years as a new scientific discipline, at the interface between environmental science and sustainable development. Key objectives include understanding of the dynamics of human-environment systems, easing the design, execution and evaluation of practical interventions that promote sustainability in particular places and contexts, and improving links between research, innovation, policy and management. You´ll develop a detailed knowledge of sustainability science and advanced literature-based research, evaluation and reporting skills. You´ll also learn to use your knowledge to solve problems.

Green technology & Renewable Energy: In the context of global climate change and the consequent need to phase out using fossil fuels, developing renewable energy sources has become one of the main drivers of the green economy. Green technology developments can also improve efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while reducing the ecological footprint of human activities. However, such technologies can also have negative environmental impacts and become the focus of social concern. This unit examines environmental and social impacts of different technologies; to critically evaluate which approaches might truly be considered ‘green’. It will consider the main environmental, political and socio-economic drivers for the development of green technology, and examine how these challenges are being met through scientific and technological innovation.

Sustainable Development in Practice: Understand how the scientific principles for sustainable development can be executed in practice. You´ll consider the international policy for sustainable development, and evaluate the extent to which policy targets and goals have been achieved to identify any lessons that might be learned. This will include considering how sustainability can be measured, for example through using indicators. The practical execution of sustainable development´s principles will then be explored through a series of real-world case studies, relating to a variety of different locations and focusing on different economic sectors.

As a Green Economy graduate, you will be prepared to undertake roles such as:

Green Economy Adviser
Carbon Management Adviser
Ecotourism Operations Adviser
Academic Researcher.