Over the past decade the Institute has held educational, awareness raising and collaborative programs in the area of climate-smart inclusive economic development (CIED). During the pandemic the interest in a more formal educational offering became apparent and a first of its kind interdisciplinary graduate course was launched in 2020 focusing on CIED, as part of SMU’s Sustainability & Development Program (SDP).
Through in-depth investigation of the interconnected social and environmental challenges facing our society, best practices from around the world for tackling them and tested approaches for designing and implementing solutions, the course empowers students to be problem solvers and contributors in this critically important new field. Students also learn to apply technological and financial innovations to create market-based solutions that can achieve scale and economic viability.
