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Politics of Climate Change (MA)

Find out more about our Politics of Climate Change taught Master's degree at Warwick

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P-M1PD

MA

1 year full-time
2 years part-time

28 September 2026

Politics and International Studies

University of Warwick

Warwick’s Politics of Climate Change MA equips students with a deep, critical, and actionable understanding of climate change and its political dimensions. It explores and explains opportunities for, and obstacles to, addressing climate change, and its effects, at the global, regional and national levels.

The PaIS Masters in the Politics of Climate Change is unique in its ability to place climate change policy within embedded political, economic, and social contexts. It equips students to be able to ask, and find answers to, some of the big, complex questions that sit behind our ability to meet net zero ambitions and targets. Understanding the complexities of climate politics can inform more lasting and just policy design.

Key thematic areas explored include: just transitions; fossil fuel phase out and incumbency; decolonial perspectives; green growth & de-growth; loss & damage; geopolitics of sustainable transitions; power & democracy; and climate denial and obstruction.

Alongside regular modules, students will be offered unique learning and networking opportunities: including negotiation and advocacy training (Café Diplomatico); and engagement with the PaIS Environmental Cluster and the university-wide Sustainability Spotlight group – both of which organise regular research and networking events.

This MA includes three core components: two climate-specific modules and a dissertation, leaving students to choose from a wide range of other climate change, public policy, development, international security, political theory, and international political economy modules. This MA is taught by world leading researchers in their fields, including: Professor Simon Caney; Dr Marit Hammond; Professor Caroline Kuzemko; and Dr Mitya Pearson.

Key transferable skills that you will gain:

• Ability to critically engage with the systemic politics of addressing one of the greatest-ever challenges to the world
• Understanding of how climate policies are shaped by, and help to re-shape, political, economic, and social contexts
• Insights into key opportunities for, and obstacles to, climate action, and into how to design more sustainable and feasible policies
• Ability to critically evaluate climate policy options and strategies
• Exposure to public policy; international political economy; and political theory approaches to climate change

Modules are taught via one 2-hour seminar per week. Seminars give you the opportunity to interact with leading scholars as well as with your peers to explore a set topic each week. Every seminar will be based on extensive guided reading you will do each week, but there is no strict pattern to how sessions are run. This may include mini-lectures followed by discussion, Q&A sessions, organised debates, peer presentations, policy briefs, small group work, case studies, simulations, and other projects.

You can also choose to study part-time with us. Find out more about part-time study on our PAIS web pagesLink opens in a new window.

Normally a maximum of 18 per seminar group in PAIS delivered modules.

6 hours of Seminars per week for 9 weeks in Terms One and Two plus advice and feedback hours when requested and Dissertation supervision in Terms Two and Three.

Part-time students attend an average of 3 hours per week for 9 weeks in terms 1 and 2, plus advice and feedback hours. Dissertation supervision takes place in terms two and three of year 2. Teaching hours are spread over the two years as evenly as possible , and considering personal extra-academic constraints.

Assessment methods include research essays and other (written) assignments throughout the year, culminating in a 10,000 word dissertation at the end.

Reading Lists

If you would like to view reading lists for current or previous cohorts of students, most departments have reading lists available through Warwick Library on the Talis Aspire platform.

You can search for reading lists by module title, code or convenor. Please see the modules tab of this page or the module catalogue.

Please note that some reading lists may have restricted access or be unavailable at certain times of year due to not yet being published. If you cannot access the reading list for a particular module, please check again later or contact the module’s host department.

Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you are registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you and you will be able to choose your optional modules in a module pre-registration process about which you will receive information at the beginning of September.

2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a related subject.

Visit our PAIS web pages for department-specific advice on applying to ensure your application has the best chance for success.

Postgraduate FAQs (PAIS specific)

Postgraduate FAQs (General)

• Band B
• IELTS overall score of 7.0, minimum component scores of two at 6.0/6.5 and the rest at 7.0 or above.

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.

The optional module listsLink opens in a new window are updated regularly.

You may select up to 40 CATS (normally two modules) from a list of specialist modules for this course, and a further 40-80 CATS from our extensive range of optional modules for a total of 120 CATS of taught modules.

We have revised the information on this page since publication. See the edits we have made and content history.

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