Postgraduate Course: Emission Reduction Project Development (CMSE11139)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 15 |
ECTS Credits | 7.5 |
| Summary | This course aims to provide students with practical experience in developing an emission reduction project. They will work through the project development cycle in groups, working with real-life data for either compliance or voluntary carbon market projects. Lectures will be followed by group work and feedback at each stage of the project cycle. Students will come away from the course with an understanding of the process as well as of key risks and risk mitigation options in emission reduction project development.
The course will also explore the wider applicability of 'baseline-and-credit' methods, e.g. for policy appraisal and evaluation, and for results-based payments beyond the project-level. |
| Course description |
This course is intended to provide students with relevant knowledge and skills in the generation of carbon credits or offsets from projects that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
Until now, the largest market for emission reduction offset credits has been the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which credits emission reductions in developing countries. While the CDM continues to exist, demand for its credits has declined due to the lack of a sufficiently challenging and binding international climate change policy framework. However, various standards for crediting emission reductions in the voluntary carbon markets, and under various new compliance offsetting mechanisms, follow similar principles to the CDM. In addition, the 'new mechanism' envisaged within Article 6 of the Paris Agreement is also expected to utilise many features from the CDM. Therefore this course is based on the CDM, but with a view to learning the principles of emission reduction project development which will be more broadly applicable in the future. Essentially, any intervention to reduce emissions will raise questions of how effective it has been, and what would have happened otherwise. The CDM has evolved a considerable body of knowledge in methodologies and procedures to answer such questions systematically.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | For Business School PG students only, or by special permission of the School. Please contact the course secretary. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2016/17, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
150
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
117 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Group presentations and report to class 30%;
Group Project Design Documents 40%;
Individual Essay of up to 2,000 words 30%.
Validation Presentation: grading is based on an evaluation of both content of a written report and its oral presentation. Marks for content are based on the group demonstrating a clear and coherent understanding of the relevant issues. Excellent content would be factually correct, comprehensive in coverage of relevant issues yet also focused, critical, well-written, well-structured and appropriately referenced. Marks for the presentation include both the visual appearance of slides, hand-outs and other material and the effectiveness of the audio-visual presentation, including effective participation by all team members.
Project Design Documents: graded primarily on content, although marks may be lost for poor presentation or not following the required format.
Essays: assessed using the University's Postgraduate Common Marking Scheme, as detailed in the Code of Practice for Taught Postgraduate Programmes. |
| Feedback |
Students will be given formative feedback during the workshops from week 2 onwards, where the typical format will involve a short group presentation on an issue related to their group project. This is also a forum for 'feed-forward', as it will help with preparing the group PDD. In addition, each group will benefit from the feedback given by their peers as part of the group presentation (as it involves a validation audit of another group's project), again in time to respond to this feedback in preparing the final group PDD.
Feedback deadlines
Feedback on formative assessed work will be provided within 15 working days of submission, or in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course, whichever is sooner. Summative marks will be returned on a published timetable, which has been made clear to students at the start of the academic year.
Feedback will comprise in-class discussions and presentations (peer and lecturer feedback), group presentations of PDD validations (lecturer feedback), lecturer feedback on group PDDs and lecturer feedback on essays. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Recognise and describe a generic emission reduction project development cycle;
- Critically discuss the drivers and objectives of different actors in the project development process;
- Critically compare the differences in rules and procedures between the major carbon offsetting schemes or standards;
- Critically assess the risks involved in creating and commercialising carbon credits, and describe how these risks may be mitigated.
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Reading List
| A full weekly reading list is posted on Learn via an online resource list. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Knowledge and Understanding
After completing this course, students should have:
* Detailed knowledge and understanding of the key stages in the development of an emission reduction project.
* Detailed knowledge of the key concepts and terms associated with emission reduction projects.
* An understanding of the broader applicability of baseline-and-credit methods.
Practice: Applied Knowledge, Skills and Understanding
After completing this course, students should be able to:
* Prepare the necessary documentation for an emission reduction project and be able to take it through the key stages of the project cycle.
* Undertake the validation of a PDD.
* Quantify the change in emissions caused by an emission reduction project.
* Assess the additionality of an emissions reduction project.
Cognitive Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
* Critically evaluate the project design documents.
* Make informed judgements based on the application of a procedure or methodology
* Offer creative solutions and insights to complex issues.
Communication, ICT, and Numeracy Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
* Communicate technical, conceptual and critical information clearly and concisely.
* Develop emission factors and apply them to activity data to calculate greenhouse gas emissions.
* Co-operate with others from different professional, educational and cultural backgrounds to produce group analysis and present the results of group work.
* Understand, speak and write the language of carbon offsetting and carbon credits. |
| Keywords | ERDP |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Matthew Brander
Tel: (0131 6)51 5547
Email: Matthew.Brander@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Ashley Harper
Tel: (0131 6)51 5671
Email: Ashley.Harper@ed.ac.uk |
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