Environmental Policy and Planning

How do we shift our energy mix from fossil fuels to renewable sources? How much protection should we provide to public lands, rare species, and valuable natural areas? How do we ensure the safety of water supplies? Answers to questions like these can change the course of our future. In the EPP specialization, you will acquire the tools, frameworks, and scientific knowledge to promote environmental stewardship and advance sustainable societies.

The Environmental Policy and Planning specialization focuses on building the professional skills to design and implement effective policies and plans while considering the human and institutional behaviors that underlie environmental problems.

Why Environmental Policy and Planning?

• Join a community of scholars whose depth and breadth in social science is unparalleled in any comparable program.
• Develop expertise in natural sciences and deep knowledge of specific environmental problems.  
• Take advantage of opportunities to enhance your professional marketability, like dual degree and certificate programs.
• Apply what you learn in the classroom to fix real word problems.  
• Join the world’s largest, strongest community of alumni practitioners in environmental policy and planning.

CURRICULUM

Working with an adviser, you will tailor your Environmental Policy and Planning coursework to your specific career goals. A typical curriculum includes classes in institutions, politics, law, policy analysis, and planning. You will also learn negotiation and dispute resolution, and develop expertise in a specific issue you choose, such as water, climate change and energy, public lands, biodiversity and ecosystem management, environmental justice, and sustainable land use.

The Environmental Policy and Planning curriculum provides a solid foundation for dual-degree programs in public policy, urban planning, law, or business.