Confronting the climate crisis

In 2021 we are launching a new, modular, online training curriculum: Confronting the Climate Crisis. This flexible training programme focuses on how we can build resilient, sustainable systems and societies in a post-pandemic world undergoing profound climatic transitions. The training is organised around three modules that address (i) climate science and global policy contexts, (ii) adapting to climate change, and (iii) decarbonisation and behaviour change. Participants can register for all three modules as a single integrated course, for individual modules, or even for individual sessions.

Who is this training for?

This new curriculum is intended for anyone who needs to address climate change in their day-to-day work, incuding local government staff, planners, development professionals, and other decision makers from the public, private and third sectors. It provides participants with an understanding of climate science, climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation issues. It is sufficiently general to be relevant to people from a wide range of professional backgrounds, while providing participants with specific skills that will enable them to design organisational responses to the climate crisis.

How is the training delivered?

The training will be delivered live, via Zoom, giving participants the opportunity for extensive interaction with the trainer. Each module contains a number of sessions, and some sessions are accompanied by practical exercises. One taught session will be delivered per week. Where a session is accompanied by a practical exercise, a feedback session will be arranged during the same week. Participants will have access to presentation material and references to assist them with exercises and learning outside of the live sessions.

Two hours will be allocated for each taught session. This will include approximately an hour of presentation followed by an hour for questions and discussion. One to two hours will be allocated for feedback on practical exercises, depending on the number of participants.

Participant numbers will be limited to 15 to ensure plenty of opportunity for interaction between trainer and participants. A minimum of five participants is required to run the course.

Who will deliver the course?

The course will be delivered by Garama’s Director, Dr Nick Brooks, who has extensive experience in designing and delivering professional training on climate change for a range of organisations. Dr Brooks has a background in climate science and over 20 years of experience working on adaptation, resilience and related issues in academic and consultancy contexts. Recently, his work has expanded to include issues around behaviour change and transitions to net-zero. Dr Brooks has been delivering Garama’s regular professional training courses since 2013, and has designed and delivered training for the University of East Anglia (UEA), the UK Department for International Development (DFID, now FCDO), the African Development Bank, the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation, the Government of Mozambique, ODI, ITAD, and a number private sector clients and government departments involved in delivering large overseas aid programmes. He has also delivered and partipated in numerous seminars, webinars and workshops, most recently on the topic of transformations for resilience and rapid decarbonisation for the Climate Investment Funds, IIED, UEA (as part of a public lecture), and North Norfolk District Council. Subject to demand, we may bring in additional trainers, for example to expand the mitigation content (see below).

What does it cost?

The table below lists prices per module, with a discounted price for anyone registering for all modules, and a price for individual sessions. See below for content of the modules. Prices reflect the number of sessions in a module (indicated in brackets in the table), with the adaptation module currently containing the most sessions. Prices are provided for this module including and excluding the exercises. While the exercises are optional, we recommend opting into them in order to get the most out of this module.

We can also tailor the content of modules and sessions to specific contexts, and bring in external trainers to cover additional topics. If you want to discuss tailored training for your organisation or discounts for large groups, please contact us to talk about possibilites and costs. We expect most participants to be from organisations, and that costs of participation will be covered by organisations. Given sufficient participants, we will also consider offering a limited number of discounted places for members of the public. Contact us if you are a member of the public interested in going on the waiting list for a discounted place.

We have complied a list of free climate change courses under the Resources tab. The Garama courses are intended to add value through intensive participant-trainer interaction, regular updating and a degree of tailoring to participants’ backgrounds, interests and needs. However, it is worth checking to see what free courses are available before deciding whether to pay for ours.

	Taught sessions	Taught sessions + exercises
Module 1: Global science & policy contexts (3)	£195	n/a
Module 2: Adapting to climate change (4)	£260	£350
Module 3: Decarbonisation & behaviour change (2)	£130	n/a
TOTAL	£585	£675
Discounted price for all modules	£525	£605
Cost per individual session (exercises excluded)	£ 75	n/a

When will the course run and how do I sign up?

We will update this page once we have confirmed dates for the training. We will also share updates via our Twitter account @Garama3CLtd. In the meantime, feel free to contact us for further information or to register an interest in the training. Once we have confirmed dates you can sign up by contacing us here and letting us know which modules/sessions you are interested in. We will then contact you by email and ask you to pay the fees via bank transfer.

What is in the modules?

MODULE 1: CLIMATE SCIENCE AND GLOBAL POLICY CONTEXTS

Session 1: Historical warming and its drivers

• Climate change & variability – some definitions
• Natural drivers of climate change and variation
• The greenhouse effect and greenhouse gases
• Evolution of CO₂ and CO₂ emissions
• The observational temperature record
• Human versus natural influences on the historical climate
• Geographical patterns of warming

Session 2: Future warming

• The Paris Agreement and the 1.5°C and 2°C temperature limits
• Warming under current trajectories – policies, pledges & NDCs
• Carbon budgets and emissions pathways for 1.5°C and 2°C – the Emissions Gap
• National responses in the Paris context
• Climate models, scenarios & RCPs
• Climate feedbacks
• Prospects for meeting & breaching the Paris thresholds

Session 3: Climate change impacts

• A long-term perspective – past analogues for current warming & the Anthropocene
• Overview and some examples of impacts at different levels of warming
• Heat extremes
• Climate change and water – droughts, floods and water scarcity
• Climate change and storms
• Sea-level rise
• Climate surprises
• Compound impacts from multiple causes – wildfires, heat & humidity, coasts
• Impacts on landscapes and ecosystems
• Wider social impacts – conflict, migration, socioeconomic, political, cultural

MODULE 2: ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Session 4: Understanding adaptation and resilience

• Adaptation, risk, vulnerability & resilience
• The adaptation deficit
• (Mal)adaptation and development
• Incremental adaptation
• Transformational adaptation
• Resilience lessons from the pandemic
• Enhancing adaptation ambition for a 1.5°-2°C world post-2030

Session 5: Identifying climate change risks

• Mainstreaming adaptation in policy, planning & programming – needs & risks
• Screening activities for risks & opportunities
• Different types of climate change risk
• Climate risk & vulnerability assessments
  • This module will be accompanied by a practical climate risk screening exercise

Session 6: Using climate information

• Historical trends and baselines
• Climate projections and scenarios
• Characterising climate hazards
• Decision-making under uncertainty
• Use of online data tools
  • This module will be acommpanied by a practical exercise around the use of climate information for risk assessment

Session 7: Adaptation planning and programming

• Principles for good adaptation
• The development-adaptation continuum
• Top-down, bottom-up and co-production
• Bridging the short & longer term
• Sustainability, transformational adaptation, and avoiding maladaptation
• Assessing adaptation effectiveness
  • This module will be acommpanied by a practical exercise involving the identificaiton of potential adaptation options and development of a framework for assessing their effectiveness
  • Note: previously we have offered short courses on adaptation and resilience monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL), and we can offer expanded content on this topic if there is sufficient demand.

DECARBONISATION AND BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

Session 8: Addressing the net-zero challenge

• The global science & policy context
• The landscape of net-zero pledges
• Wedges and drawdown
• Rapid decarbonisation in the energy sector
• Difficult sectors – transport, aviation, buildings and agriculture
• Examples of net-zero plans & practice
• Less net, more zero – delivering real change
• Lessons from the pandemic & bulding back better

Session 9: Norms, values and behaviour change

• The challenge of rapid societal transitions
• Structural barriers to change
• Norms & values for climate (in)action
• Worldviews, ideologies & political polarisation
• Shifting norms & values for behaviour change
• Communications & change agents
• Linking individual & systemic change
• Envisaging & reverse-engineering desirable futures
  • Note: this module is also relevant to the changes in norms, values and behaviour that are necessary for effective adaptation and sustained resilience.