The Columbia Climate Center convened a workshop, “Carbon Management Education and Practice” at Columbia University on November 3-4, 2011. Over 30 participants from academia, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and government met to discuss the emergence and contours of carbon management as a new educational and professional field.
Two days of panels and presentations provided insight into the challenges of managing carbon, and the role of education in addressing these challenges. Participants from across disciplines and sectors agreed on the need for a workforce trained precisely at the intersection of economics, finance, natural science, engineering and governance. This new workforce must be equipped to create and implement the multi-faceted solutions to the carbon problem, with an understanding of the complexity of the relationships between its elements.
The workshop opened what we hope will be an ongoing discussion with practitioners and experts about the design and implementation of educational programs to give students the skills needed to effectively manage carbon. A full summary of the workshop will be posted here in the coming weeks, and we have started work on a white paper to further explore the topic of education for carbon management.
