Climate, Environmental and Urban Policy (Taught)

The MSt in Climate, Environmental, and Urban Policy is a two-year, part-time master’s programme designed for senior, mid-career, and high-potential early-career professionals. It is delivered through a blend of online distance learning, e-learning through a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), and attendance at five residential blocks of intensive in-person study in Cambridge (eight weeks over two academic years). This format allows participants to continue in full-time work alongside their studies.

The programme offers a unique, interdisciplinary perspective on climate change, environmental challenges, and urban transformations. It aims to prepare leaders who can navigate and influence the profound societal shifts required for a sustainable future, enabling them to create informed, impactful strategies within governments, businesses, and civil society.

Drawing on concepts and expertise from multiple disciplines, the programme is designed to equip participants with a 360° strategic view of sustainability transitions, integrating scientific, regulatory, and economic dimensions. The course explores critical themes including climate change and energy, biodiversity and ecosystems, and sustainable transformations of urban systems, equipping students to analyse and address the complex, interconnected processes driving global change.

CEUP1: Understanding sustainability transformations
CEUP2: Economics and public policy of sustainability
CEUP3: Law and governance of sustainability
CEUP4: Climate change and the energy transformation
CEUP5: Ecosystems and biodiversity
CEUP6: Cities and the future of urbanisation
CEUP7: Methods and methodologies

An indicative summary of modules topics is included on our course page (link below). We reserve the right to revise the distribution and coverage of the modules to accommodate refinements to the material and/or shifting priorities in the sustainability transitions agenda.

The MSt in Climate, Environmental, and Urban Policy programme has a modular design. There are three core assessed modules (CEUP1 to CEUP3), an assessed methods and methodologies module (CEUP7), and three applied modules (CEUP4 to CEUP6), out of which students select one for assessment as their specialisation stream. Assessments will be through a range of formats which may include coursework, written and oral examinations, posters, presentations, and projects. Another key component of the course is a 12,000-word research dissertation, which participants complete over the two years with support and guidance from faculty.