Environmental Policy

In the Environmental Policy concentration, you will integrate knowledge gained from many disciplines and learn practices that balance environmental results, public interests and the economy. Government officials, business leaders, advocacy groups and academics all benefit from the ability to develop and implement workable environmental policies.

This concentration provides you with the knowledge needed to understand what factors are considered in the development of environmental policies, and offers real-life insights into the challenges of implementing these policies. The courses are taught by instructors with years of experience in environmental policy development and implementation.

Graduates with the Environmental Policy concentration are employed in government, business, non-governmental organizations and academia.

Student research

Your capstone project is a culmination of your classroom, research and internship experiences in the MES program. Your methods and results are unique to your professional and academic goals. Take a look at abstracts by recent MES students with a concentration in Environmental Policy to understand the breadth of capstone topics and formats.

Every student in the Master of Environmental Studies (MES) program creates a research poster designed to showcase their capstone project. The selection of posters listed below is representative of the range of research projects undertaken by recent students in the Environmental Policy concentration.

Sample Environmental Policy concentration courses

In the Environmental Policy concentration, you will choose from a wide variety of courses, from departments and graduate schools across the University. The following list provides some examples of courses that the program has approved for students to take as part of this concentration.

School/Department Courses
Department of Earth and Environmental Science (MES Home)
  • Developing Environmental Policy
  • Risk Assessment: Science & Policy Challenges
  • Environmental Enforcement
  • US Environmental Policy-An Analysis of NEPA
  • Issues in Food and Agricultural Policy
  • The US Water Industry in the 21st Century
  • Environmental Regulation, Politics and Policy
  • Environmental Law for Environmental Professionals
Wharton School of Business
  • Risk Analysis and Environmental Management
  • Risk Management
  • Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
  • Environmental Management, Law & Policy
School of Engineering and Applied Science
  • Energy & Its Impacts
  • Renewable Energy and its Impacts
  • Energy Systems & Policy
  • Climate Policy and Technology
School of Design
  • Negotiation & Conflict Resolution
  • Policy and Design
Fels Institute of Government
  • Policy Development
Penn Law
  • Public International Law
  • Environmental Lawyering
  • International Environmental Law

Master of Environmental Studies Virtual Café

Join us on the first Tuesday of every month for an online chat, hosted live from noon - 1 p.m.

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Building bridges to reach people where they are

MES in the Community

As an MES instructor, freshwater ecologist and graduate program alum Lauren McGrath (MES ’16) teaches the importance of connecting with people in protecting the land.