B2121 - CLIMATE POLICY AND COMMODITY MARKETS

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The module will offer students an interdisciplinary perspective on climate-related economic and financial risks and on the appropriate societal responses to mitigate them. At the end of the course students will have developed a solid knowledge of the academic literature and policy debate on how climate change and the decarbonization process might affect economic activity, and vice versa.

Contenuti

The course is the second module of the integrated course ‘Climate-related risks and commodity markets’, which will take place in the second semester (period P). Please see here for information on the first module.

The module will provide an overview on interactions between commodity and energy markets and climate policy, with an interdisciplinary but primarily economic perspective. Markets covered will include some / all of: fossil resources (coal, oil, gas); electricity; emission permit markets (time permitting).

In particular, the module will cover the following topics:

• Fossil fuels and other commodities.
• The economics of natural gas and oil: scarcity and geology, market power, politics.
• Models of commodity pricing, with a special focus on oil prices.
• Electricity markets.
  
• The green transition and commodity markets, including critical minerals.
  
• Climate policy and climate politics, in relation to all of the above.
  

The course will focus heavily on mathematical modelling. Students are expected to have a working knowledge and understanding of:

• Basic algebra and solving equations
• Differentiation
• Basic optimisation methods
  

The module will start with a review of constrained optimisation methods.

Testi/Bibliografia

There is no specific, single textbook for this module. Lecture notes will be provided. Additional readings will be in the form of academic articles, to be posted on Virtuale during the course.

Metodi didattici

The course will be a combination of frontal lectures and in-class exercises.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Assessment will be based on the final written exam (60%) and a take-home essay (40%).

The exam will last 90 minutes and will include a written question (short essay or short answers) on commodity market facts, and a mathematical problem. Students can decide to reject the grade obtained at the exam only once.

Grading is as follows:

• <18 fail
• 18-23 pass
• 24-27 good
• 28-30 very good
• 30L excellent

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

All the course material (slides, readings etc.) will be made available on Virtuale.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Niko Samuli Jaakkola