Overview

Objectives

  • Train decision-makers and other stakeholders who can implement climate and environmental policies at local, national and regional decision-making levels
  • Promote dialogue between disciplines on barriers to climate action in order to strengthen it

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of the micro-credential, individuals will be able to:

  • Analyse complex issues related to climate change in order to promote and support climate action among a variety of audiences — whether it be influencing decision-makers, raising public awareness, or encouraging individual and collective engagement
  • Design concrete climate actions at different scales (local, national, regional), in particular nature-based solutions, using a structured approach from diagnosis to adjustment
  • Demonstrate strategic thinking by identifying levers to overcome trade-offs and obstacles encountered when implementing climate action

Programme

Topics covered/Methods:

  • Complex dynamics of climate action
  • Challenges and tensions related to the implementation of climate action
  • Climate responses in terms of mitigation and adaptation
  • Synergies between mitigation and adaptation
  • Linkages between geophysical, ecological, socio-economic and governance dimensions
  • Obstacles, barriers and deadlocks in climate action
  • Nature-based solutions
  • Redistributive effects of climate action
  • Issues of justice related to climate action
  • Action in a rapidly changing environment marked by increasing overshoot and impacts

Registration

Registration deadline

10 March 2026

Fees:

  • CHF 300.- (for 3 ECTS) for UNIGE students
  • CHF 450.- (for 3 ECTS) for Triangle Azur (UNIL, UNINE) and 4EU+ students
  • CHF 900.- (for 3 ECTS) for external students

Admission criteria

Applicants must demonstrate proficiency in English equivalent to level B2.

Curriculum

Period

16 February 2026 - 26 June 2026

Teaching hours

26 teaching hours

Microcertification

3 ECTS credits
EQF-level: 7

Schedule

The micro-credential is offered in the spring semester. Classes are held in person on Tuesdays from 10:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

In a context marked by uncertainty and the growing impacts of climate change, effective and coordinated action is essential. Public institutions, businesses, and civil society must be able to rely on people with solid climate expertise who can propose effective solutions and overcome the common obstacles to climate action.
The micro-credential “Climate Action in Practice: Nature-Based Solutions, Mitigation, and Adaptation” provides training on the complexity of climate change, its consequences, and the actions needed to address it. It offers people working or wishing to work in the fight against climate change a theoretical and methodological framework, as well as practical tools and concrete perspectives that are directly applicable to their (future) daily work. In particular, it aims to strengthen operational skills in the areas of mitigation and adaptation, enabling concrete climate action to be taken at the local, national, and regional levels by overcoming trade-offs and obstacles.

Open to students from UNIGE, partner universities (Triangle Azur, Alliance 4EU+) and professionals, this micro-credential is the ideal complement for learning how to design and implement effective strategies to address climate challenges, both locally and nationally.

Pedagogical method

Teaching is based on a multi-level and interdisciplinary approach, combining different conceptual frameworks, empirical analyses and strategic scenarios in order to link theory and practice. The final assessment consists of group work (written report and oral presentation).

Director(s)

Prof. Géraldine PFLIEGER, Institut des sciences de l’environnement, Université de Genève

Coordinator(s)

Dre Elodie CHARIÈRE, Université de Genève

FAQ