Key information
- Duration:
- 3 years full time
- UCAS code:
- L900
- Start date:
- September 2026
- 1st in the world for Development Studies (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024)
- 8th in the UK for Sustainability (QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2024)
- 9th in the UK for Social Sciences (The Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject 2024)
Climate change affects every aspect of our everyday lives. From our homes to our health, rising temperatures and extreme weather are having a devastating impact across the globe.
This course is designed for students who are concerned about the impacts of climate change and how we respond to it, but are more drawn to questions of politics, activism and human rights than natural science.
Climate justice focuses on the social equity, historical responsibility and economic transformations involved in climate change. It is of critical importance to policymakers, NGOs, activists and corporations alike.
The course draws on Sussex's world-leading expertise in development, sustainability and social justice. By studying at Sussex, you’ll:
- learn about the colonial roots of environmental justice conflicts
- explore the proposed responses to the climate crisis
- work with other students who are passionate about understanding climate change, to discuss, design and propose approaches to address it
- explore creative approaches to communicating climate change, such as podcasting, blogging and campaign design
- be inspired by meeting diverse organisations and changemakers from beyond the university who are involved in climate change action.
Our BA is interactive and solutions-focused. You’ll learn both inside and outside of the classroom. You’ll have field trip opportunities, visit local rewilding projects and attend lessons in our campus Forest Food Garden.
Studying this course will allow you to take action around climate change, rather than just study it, and you’ll graduate ready to change the world.
We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision. We’ll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities described in this prospectus. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to government or regulatory requirements, or unanticipated staff changes, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.
Understanding our warming world has never been more important. A degree in Climate Justice, Sustainability and Development provides you with the tools for investigating what is happening and why, but will also help you to drive change in the world” Paul Gilbert
Reader in Development, Justice and Inequality and Course Convenor
Course content
This is a single-honours course, allowing you to focus in depth on your core subject.
Find out about our types of undergraduate degrees, their structure, modules and credits
Your degree
In your first year, you’ll be introduced to the core ideas underpinning climate justice and what a call to ‘decarbonise and decolonise’ might mean. You’ll investigate the existing frameworks for understanding climate change and sustainable development, as well as develop your own critiques and alternatives. Practical and study skills will be included within and alongside your core modules, encouraging you to engage with movements and ideas for addressing the climate and environmental crises.
Teaching
Teaching methods typically include lectures, seminars and workshops.
42%: Lecture
36%: Seminar
22%: Practical
Practical skills and applied learning
You’ll have the opportunity to take part in:
- creative workshops to apply your learning to designing campaigns and local solutions
- guest talks by practitioners and activists, as well as visits from alumni to learn from their work
- field trips to explore environmental projects in the local area.
Assessment
Assessment methods typically include coursework with a wide range of creative and authentic assessments.
33%: Coursework
67%: Written assessment
This year of study includes approximately 1,200 hours of work. This breaks down into about 176 hours of contact time and about 1,024 hours of independent study.
Engage and actively participate throughout your studies to get the most out of your course.
Your modules
Core modules
Core modules are taken by all students on the course. They give you a solid grounding in your chosen subject and prepare you to explore the topics that interest you most.
Autumn teaching
- Climate Change: An Introduction
- Development Policies and Politics
- Colonialism and its Afterlives
Spring teaching
- Introduction to Climate Justice
- Environmental Management and Sustainable Development
- Global Challenges and Innovations
Explore modules from other subjects as part of your course
At Sussex, you can choose to customise your course to build the sort of degree that will give you the knowledge, skills and experience that could take you in any direction you choose.
As part of this degree, you explore subjects that are different to your course through electives that complement your main subject. Exploring different disciplines in four electives across Years 1 and 2 helps enrich your learning experience.
We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2026/27. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.
We’ll do our best to provide as much optional choice as we can, but timetabling constraints mean it may not be possible to take some module combinations. The structure of a small number of courses means that the order of modules or the streams you choose may determine whether modules are core or optional. This means that your core modules or options may differ from what’s shown here.
Check back in January 2026 for more module details.
Your degree
In your second year you’ll gain a deeper understanding of justice struggles across the world and how they challenge ideas around our relationship to the natural world – and each other. You’ll have the opportunity to analyse policy positions and challenge them from the perspective of economic and social justice, while engaging with transnational movements and developing critical practitioner and activist skills. Year 2 is also where you’ll start to decide on your own areas of interest, tailoring your modules to the topics that you care about most.
Teaching
Teaching methods typically include lectures and seminars, with practical options available amongst the electives.
52%: Lecture
48%: Seminar
Assessment
Assessment methods typically include coursework with a wide range of creative and authentic assessments.
20%: Coursework
20%: Group work
60%: Written assessment
This year of study includes approximately 1,200 hours of work. This breaks down into about 176 hours of contact time and about 1,024 hours of independent study.
Engage and actively participate throughout your studies to get the most out of your course.
Your modules
Core modules
Core modules are taken by all students on the course. They give you a solid grounding in your chosen subject and prepare you to explore the topics that interest you most.
Autumn teaching
- Global Climate Change
- Social Justice and Development
- Critical Approaches to Development Economics
Spring teaching
- Climate Justice: Policy and Activism
- Environmental Perspectives on Development
Options
Alongside your core modules, you can choose options to broaden your horizons and tailor your course to your interests. This list gives you a flavour of our options, which are kept under review and may change, for example in response to student feedback or the latest research.
While it’s our aim for students to take their preferred combinations of options, this can’t be guaranteed and will be subject to timetabling. Options may be grouped and if so, students will be able to choose a set number of options from the selection available in any particular group.
Spring teaching
- Development and the State
- Gender, Race and Sexuality
- Southeast England Field Class
- Health, Poverty and Inequality
- International Education and Development
Explore modules from other subjects as part of your course
At Sussex, you can choose to customise your course to build the sort of degree that will give you the knowledge, skills and experience that could take you in any direction you choose.
As part of this degree, you explore subjects that are different to your course through electives that complement your main subject. Exploring different disciplines in four electives across Years 1 and 2 helps enrich your learning experience.
We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2026/27. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.
We’ll do our best to provide as much optional choice as we can, but timetabling constraints mean it may not be possible to take some module combinations. The structure of a small number of courses means that the order of modules or the streams you choose may determine whether modules are core or optional. This means that your core modules or options may differ from what’s shown here.
Check back in January 2026 for more module details.
Study abroad (optional)
Apply to study abroad – you’ll develop an international perspective and gain an edge when it comes to your career. Find out where your course could take you
If your application to study abroad is successful, you’ll have to meet the academic requirements at Sussex and also at the partner university. Find out more about studying abroad as a Sussex student
Please note that courses with a study abroad year are not eligible for USA federal Direct Loan funds. Find out more about American Student Loans and Federal Student Aid
Your degree
In your third year you will define your own research interests and areas of expertise. All students will study modules on sustainability policy and the fight for environmental justice, but alongside this decide on the areas of the climate debate that they will specialise in, whether policing and protest or practical skills and project design. This might be achieved through independent research with a thesis, specialist modules taught by University of Sussex experts or work experience.
Teaching
Teaching methods typically include seminars, workshops and masterclasses.
100%: Seminar
Practical skills and applied learning
In addition to your lectures and seminars, you’ll have the opportunity to take part in:
- tailored careers advice to prepare your for the world of work
- discussion groups to reflect on your studies and co-design the course for future years
- talks from global experts in climate justice.
Assessment
Assessment methods typically include independent research projects, policy assessments, podcasts, blogs and essays..
25%: Coursework
75%: Written assessment
This year of study includes approximately 1,200 hours of work. This breaks down into about 132 hours of contact time and about 1,068 hours of independent study.
Engage and actively participate throughout your studies to get the most out of your course.
Your modules
Core modules
Core modules are taken by all students on the course. They give you a solid grounding in your chosen subject and prepare you to explore the topics that interest you most.
Autumn teaching
- Advanced Sustainable Development: Sustainability in Policy and Practice
Spring teaching
- Political Ecology and Environmental Justice
Options
You choose options to broaden your horizons and tailor your course to your interests. This list gives you a flavour of our options, which are kept under review and may change, for example in response to student feedback or the latest research.
While it’s our aim for students to take their preferred combinations of options, this can’t be guaranteed and will be subject to timetabling. Options may be grouped and if so, students will be able to choose a set number of options from the selection available in any particular group.
Autumn and Spring teaching
- Climate Justice Dissertation
Autumn teaching
- Environmental Politics in the Anthropocene
- Advanced Sustainable Development: Sustainability in Policy and Practice
- Writing the Environment
- Environment and Development in World Politics
- Environmental Protest: Past and Present
- Disasters, Environment and Development
- Development, Business and Corporate Social Responsibility
- Hope for Health: Disease, Development and Society
- Building Peace after War
- Global Work Experience
Spring teaching
- Environmental Anthropology
- Political Ecology and Environmental Justice
- Global Politics of Food
- Decolonial Movements
- Designing Alternatives for Development
- Development Tools and Skills
- Education, Justice and Liberation
- Mobilities and Global Inequalities
- Wealth, Inequality and Development
We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2026/27. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.
We’ll do our best to provide as much optional choice as we can, but timetabling constraints mean it may not be possible to take some module combinations. The structure of a small number of courses means that the order of modules or the streams you choose may determine whether modules are core or optional. This means that your core modules or options may differ from what’s shown here.
Check back in January 2026 for more module details.
Silver
The student experience and student outcomes are typically very high quality.
This rating was awarded in 2023, for four years.
(Teaching Excellence Framework 2023)
Find out more about our approach to teaching and supporting you to thrive
Our staff
Our Climate Justice, Sustainability and Development degree draws on our world-leading expertise from across the University, as well as introducing you to change makers in Brighton and beyond.” Professor Anne-Meike Fechter
Head of International Development
Dr David Armstrong McKay
Lecturer in Geography, Climate Change an
Prof Anne-Meike Fechter
Professor of Anthropology and International Development
Dr William Lock
Assistant Professor in Anthropology and International Development
Prof David Ockwell
Professor of Sustainability and International development
Dr Dinah Rajak
Associate Professor in Anthropology and International Development
Careers
This course will prepare you for careers that engage with the complex realities of climate change – and that make a real difference in the world.
You’ll gain the skills and knowledge to enter a wide range of sectors and emerging green careers. Whether in policy making, campaigning, sustainable business strategy or investigative journalism, expertise in the social dimensions of the climate crisis is of increasing demand.
By the end of your degree, you'll be able to interrogate the policy frameworks and technical approaches that have been used to respond to climate change globally and locally. You'll also understand the tools used in the private sector, such as carbon accounting and climate insurance and learn to work with growing uncertainty.
Example career paths for graduates include:
- corporate organisations concerned with the climate impact, CSR and sustainability strategy roles at a range of organisations
- NGOs or the charity sector
- policy, civil service and think tanks
- local/community organisations
- climate finance, climate insurance and philanthropy
- climate journalism, marketing and sustainability communications.
Working while you study
Our Careers and Entrepreneurship team can help you find part-time work while you study. Find out more about career development and part-time work
Design your future at Sussex
Taking the next step in your career can feel daunting, but we’ll help you to explore, connect and flourish throughout your studies and beyond.
As a Sussex student, you’ll learn how to tackle real-world challenges and have access to tailored programmes of careers support:
- our Career Lab helps you to explore your options, build key skills and connect with employers. Take part in internships, community consultancy projects and insight visits, where you can learn about life at organisations including Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, Gatwick Airport and the Knepp Rewilding Project
- one-to-one coaching with your Faculty Careers Consultant can enable you to identify your career goals, write an effective CV and prepare for future interviews
- entrepreneurship initiatives like StartUp Sussex and Ideas Lab can empower you to turn your concepts into reality.
Explore how our Careers and Entrepreneurship team can support you
Winner
Entrepreneurship Catalyst Award
National Enterprise Educator Awards 2024
Winner
Supporting Student and Graduate Employability Award
AGCAS Awards for Excellence 2024
Top 50
Best Universities for Work Experience in the UK
2025 RateMyPlacement Awards