Climate & Sustainability

Carbon, life cycles and impact assessment. Climate science and GHG accounting, life-cycle assessment and the circular economy, and environmental impact assessment.

• Climate Change, GHG Accounting & Carbon Footprints — Engineering for a changing climate. Learn the greenhouse effect and radiative forcing, the main greenhouse gases and global warming potentials, carbon budgets and net zero, GHG accounting (GHG Protocol scopes 1–3, emission factors), carbon footprints of products and organisations, mitigation options (efficiency, renewables, electrification, CCS, nature-based), adaptation, and carbon markets — with Python calculating a factory's footprint.
• Life-Cycle Assessment & the Circular Economy — Judging products by their whole life. Learn life-cycle thinking, ISO 14040/44 phases (goal and scope, inventory, impact assessment, interpretation), functional units and system boundaries (cradle-to-gate/grave/cradle), allocation, impact categories (climate, acidification, eutrophication, water, toxicity), break-even analysis, the waste hierarchy and circular-economy strategies (reduce, reuse, repair, remanufacture, recycle), EPR and design for environment — with Python comparing reusable and single-use bottles.
• Environmental Impact — Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) predicts and manages a project's effects before it's built. Learn the EIA process (screening, scoping, baseline, prediction, mitigation, EMP, public consultation, monitoring), impact matrices, noise assessment, and sustainability metrics like carbon footprint.