Fundamentals of Climate Change & Global Impact
A foundational overview of climate science, drivers, and the global and local impacts of climate change.
Course Category
Climate Change & Environmental Awareness
Lecturer
Samantha
Yates
Enrolled Learners
0 learners
Last Updated
22-12-2025
Level
All Levels
Available Language(s)
English
What you'll learn
- Explain the basic science of climate change and the evidence for ongoing global warming.
- Identify major drivers and sectors affected, including energy, transportation, industry, and land use.
- Assess regional vulnerabilities and potential impacts on communities and operations.
- Describe mitigation and adaptation strategies and policy instruments used worldwide.
- Understand how international agreements and national policies influence organizational decisions.
Requirements
No formal prerequisites. A curiosity about sustainability and science is helpful. Access to an internet-enabled device for online learning is recommended.
Description
This course provides a solid grounding in the science of climate change, including the greenhouse effect, energy balance, and key feedback mechanisms. You will explore observed and projected global trends, regional vulnerabilities, and the wide-ranging impacts on health, ecosystems, economies, infrastructure, and communities. The module also introduces core mitigation and adaptation concepts and how policy frameworks shape action at local, national, and international levels.
Format focuses on self-paced, interactive content with real-world scenarios to reinforce learning and application in the workplace.
Climate change refers to long-term changes in average weather patterns driven mainly by increases in greenhouse gas concentrations. Evidence includes rising global temperatures, melting ice sheets, sea level rise, warming oceans, shifting precipitation patterns, and more frequent or intense extreme weather events.
The sun heats the Earth and the planet emits infrared radiation back to space. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trap some of this heat, keeping the surface warmer than it would be otherwise. The energy balance is the equilibrium between incoming solar energy and outgoing heat; human emissions are altering this balance by increasing greenhouse gas concentrations.
The major drivers are greenhouse gas emissions from energy production, transportation, industry, agriculture, and land-use changes. Sectors most affected include energy, transport, manufacturing, buildings, agriculture, and infrastructure, with regional differences in vulnerability.
Feedback mechanisms amplify or dampen climate change. Examples include water vapor feedback, cloud feedback, and ice-albedo effects. They influence how strongly the climate system responds to initial forcings and can accelerate or moderate warming.
Regional vulnerabilities vary by geography and climate exposures, such as sea-level rise for coastal areas, drought in arid regions, or heat and flood risks in urban areas. These vulnerabilities can affect supply chains, infrastructure, labor productivity, and community resilience.
Mitigation aims to reduce or prevent climate change by lowering emissions and enhancing sinks (e.g., transitioning to renewable energy, improving energy efficiency). Adaptation involves adjusting systems to reduce harm from climate impacts (e.g., flood defenses, water management, resilient infrastructure).
Common instruments include carbon pricing or taxes, emissions standards, subsidies or incentives for clean energy, energy efficiency regulations, and planning policies that promote resilience. Transparency, reporting, and governance requirements also support action.
Global agreements set ambitious targets and timelines, which nations translate into national policies. These policies shape organizational requirements, risk management, reporting, disclosure, and investment decisions that guide strategy and operations.
Climate change can increase heat-related illnesses, alter disease patterns, impact food and water security, stress ecosystems and biodiversity, damage infrastructure from extreme events, and raise costs for adaptation and disaster response, affecting economies and communities.
Integrate climate risk assessment into strategy, governance, capital planning, and performance measurement; align with disclosure and reporting; engage stakeholders; and incorporate climate-related opportunities and risks into project evaluation and budgeting.
Resilience is the capacity to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and recover from climate-related shocks. Build resilience through robust risk assessments, adaptable processes, diverse supply chains, emergency planning, and ongoing monitoring and improvement.
The course uses interactive scenarios to apply concepts to practical situations, such as evaluating a project under climate risk, prioritizing mitigation actions, and testing adaptation options in a realistic business context.
No formal prerequisites; experience in compliance or auditing is helpful but not required.
The course is self-paced and interactive, designed to reinforce learning through real-world scenarios and practical application in the workplace.
Start by mapping climate-related risks and opportunities to your operations, embed climate considerations into planning and decision-making, track relevant metrics, and communicate findings to stakeholders to drive action.
Success can be measured by emission reductions, energy intensity improvements, resilience gains, data quality for reporting, alignment with policy changes, and progress toward target milestones.
The course draws on climate science fundamentals, public assessments, and standard reporting frameworks. You will learn to interpret data and map it to organizational processes and decision-making.
Common misconceptions include believing climate change is not real or not human-caused, confusing weather with climate, assuming individual actions cannot matter, or thinking that climate action necessarily harms the economy. The course clarifies evidence-based understanding and the value of proactive measures.
This quiz tests understanding of climate change science, drivers, global impacts, mitigation and adaptation strategies, policy instruments, and governance. It aligns with the Fundamentals of Climate Change & Global Impact course.
Quiz Detail
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This Course Include
1 hours
1 quizzes
38 lessons
Full lifetime access
