--- title: Environmental Policy description: Environmental policy examines the laws, regulations, and economic incentives used to manage human impact on the environment. Learners will understand how environmental standards are developed, analyzed, and implemented at local, national, and international levels. category: sciences subcategory: climate-action-and-advocacy difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/environmental-policy --- # Environmental Policy Environmental policy examines the laws, regulations, and economic incentives used to manage human impact on the environment. Learners will understand how environmental standards are developed, analyzed, and implemented at local, national, and international levels. ## Available Resources 1 Books • 3 Courses • 5 Websites ## Websites ### 1. Climate Action Tracker Independent scientific analysis by Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute that rates national climate targets and policies against the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C goal. Country profiles show how to judge whether a government's pledges and actual policies are ambitious enough. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://climateactiontracker.org/ **Tags:** climate-policy, paris-agreement, emissions-targets, national-climate-pledges, policy-tracking ### 2. epa.gov EPA.gov is the official website of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, providing policy guidance, regulations, and data on environmental issues. It covers air and water quality, climate, pollution prevention, enforcement, grants, and educational resources for researchers, policymakers, and the public. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://epa.gov **Tags:** websites, science-research, climate-action ### 3. un.org/en/climatechange The UN Climate Change portal is the official United Nations hub for global climate policy, science, and action. It provides news, reports, data, and guidance on the Paris Agreement, UNFCCC negotiations, and climate initiatives worldwide. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://un.org/en/climatechange **Tags:** websites, science-research, climate-action ### 4. wri.org World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global environmental policy research organization that offers data-driven analysis, reports, and interactive tools on climate, energy, forests, water, and sustainable development to inform policy and business decisions. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://wri.org **Tags:** websites, science-research, climate-action ### 5. ipcc.ch Official site of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, publishing authoritative climate science assessments and policy-relevant summaries. It hosts Assessment Reports and Working Group contributions, Summaries for Policymakers, methodological guidance, data resources, and news. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://ipcc.ch **Tags:** websites, science-research, climate-action ## Courses ### 1. Climate Change Mitigation in Developing Countries University of Cape Town course on how developing countries pursue economic growth while cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Using cases from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and South Africa, it covers facilitated research-policy processes, energy modeling, scenario building and climate policy design. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/climate-change-mitigation **Tags:** climate-policy, climate-mitigation, low-carbon-development, energy-modeling, developing-countries ### 2. Global Environmental Management **Author:** Henrik Bregnhøj, Steffen Foss Hansen Technical University of Denmark course on global environmental trends and how environments are managed, with cases from Greenland, China and Denmark. Covers water supply, wastewater and solid waste, stormwater, soil management, groundwater protection and integrated water resources management, comparing management approaches. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/global-environmental-management **Tags:** environmental-management, water-resources, waste-management, groundwater-protection, sustainable-development ### 3. Environmental Policy and Climate Change EDHEC Business School course taught by Lionel Martellini and Riccardo Rebonato covering the social discount rate, the DICE integrated assessment model, mitigation versus adaptation, carbon taxes, and cap-and-trade markets. Prepares learners to evaluate the economic trade-offs behind climate policy choices. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/economics-and-policies-of-climate-change **Tags:** courses, science-research, climate-action ## Podcasts ### 1. Volts **Author:** David Roberts An interview podcast by energy journalist David Roberts on decarbonization, covering clean electricity, grid and transmission policy, electric vehicles, heat pumps and climate politics with analysts and policymakers. Listeners follow how the energy transition is actually unfolding and which policies and technologies matter. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** en | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.volts.wtf/podcast **Tags:** clean-energy, climate-policy, decarbonization, energy-transition, electricity-grid ### 2. This Week in Carbon **Author:** Edward Smith Weekly interview podcast hosted by Edward Smith on carbon markets, covering compliance and voluntary market news, carbon removal purchasing, project finance and regional policy developments, helping listeners follow how carbon pricing and regulation evolve in practice. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** en | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://thisweekincarbon.com **Tags:** carbon-markets, carbon-pricing, climate-policy, carbon-removal, emissions-trading ## Books ### 1. How to Avoid a Climate Disaster **Author:** Bill Gates Bill Gates's book laying out a plan to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, sector by sector across electricity, manufacturing, agriculture, transport and buildings, with cost comparisons that help readers judge which existing technologies, breakthroughs and policies cut emissions most. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0241448301?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** decarbonization, net-zero, clean-energy, climate-policy, emissions-reduction --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/environmental-policy