VVZ API is not affiliated with ETH Zurich. Data might be outdated or incorrect. Please view the official ETHZ Vorlesungsverzeichnis for binding information.
Environmental Governance
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 16:15:59
Abstract
The course addresses environmental policies, focusing on new steering approaches, which are generally summarized as environmental governance. The course also provides students with tools to analyze environmental policy processes and assesses the key features of environmental governance by examining various practical environmental policy examples.
Objective
To understand how an environmental problem may (not) become a policy and explain political processes, using basic concepts and techniques from political science. To analyze the evolution as well as the key elements of environmental governance. To be able to identify the main challenges and opportunities for environmental governance and to critically discuss them with reference to various practical policy examples.
Content
Improvements in environmental quality and sustainable management of natural resources cannot be achieved through technical solutions alone. The quality of the environment and the achievement of sustainable development strongly depend on human behavior and specifically the human uses of nature. To influence human behavior, we rely on public policies and other societal rules, which aim to steer the way humans use natural resources and their effects on the environment. Such steering can take place through government intervention alone. However, this often also involves governance, which includes the interplay between governmental and non-governmental actors, the use of diverse tools such as emission standards or financial incentives to steer actors' behavior and can occur at the local, regional, national or international level. In this course, we will address both the practical aspects of as well as the scientific debate on environmental governance. The course gives future environmental experts a strong basis to position themselves in the governance debate, which does not preclude government but rather involves a spectrum from government to governance. Key questions that this course seeks to answer: What are the core characteristics of environmental challenges from a policy perspective? What are key elements of 'environmental governance' and how legitimate and effective are these approaches in addressing persistent environmental challenges? Furthermore, we encourage the development of soft skills by engaging students in activities such as moderating discussions in class, presenting own proposals, giving regular peer feedback, as well as critically reflecting on various relevant publications in the environmental governance domain.
Resources
Lecture Notes
Lecture slides, a script and additional course material will be provided on Moodle.
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- MSC , SHE , DR
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- ungraded semester performance
Registration & Places
- Max Places
- 35
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise | Environmental Governance |
|
3 h weekly |
Offered In
-
-
-
-
-
Biology Teaching Diploma (Detailed information on the programme at: )
-
Compulsory Elective Courses (Further course offerings from the category Educational Science are listed under "Programme: Educational Science for Teaching Diploma and TC".)
-
-
Doctorate Environmental Sciences (More Information at: )
-