International Relations, Economics & Politics Challenge
What is the International Relations, Economics & Politics Challenge about?
The challenge: To come up with an original proposal that aims to help solve a climate-change-related issue in your city or town. More specifically, to understand the current effects of climate change in the city you choose and define a political or economic position that you would take at a hypothetical supranational world meeting that had the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
The context
Data from 1963 to 2016 show the effects of climate change on GDP per capita, employment, and labor productivity. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, increasing magnitudes of warming increase the likelihood of severe, pervasive, and irreversible impacts. The average global temperature in 2021 was about 1.11 (± 0.13) °C above the pre-industrial level (World Meteorological Organization, 2022).
In the face of this evidence – which illustrates a real, shared, and growing risk for every country – we clearly need to identify, analyze and solve problems related to climate-change.
In the Esade International Relations, Economics & Politics Challenge, we ask you to find new ways to do this by applying all your skills, knowledge and critical thinking.
What will you have to do?
You will be asked to choose a city (or town) and, according to the different sources of data available, analyze the following points:
- Climate vulnerability: State the impacts of climate change that are already being seen in the city and that are likely to reappear in the future. Since the future cannot be fully predicted, be aware of the relevance of assigning probabilities.
- The city’s current contribution to global emissions. Has this improved in recent years? What measures or policies have the different stakeholders adopted?
- As you know, Esade’s International Relations programs give you the opportunity to become an expert by specializing in either Global Politics or Global Economics.
Now imagine that you have been appointed to join a panel of other experts at a hypothetical Global Climate Summit COP or at the Davos World Economic Forum. The primary aim is to discuss a plan to bring the world’s global emissions to net zero by 2050.
a. Discuss if the city of your preference would be in favor of such a plan.
b. What primary concerns and points would like to include?
c. Would you like to propose a complete or a partial push-back?
What are we looking for?
You will be rewarded for coming up with the most convincing, impactful and robust analysis (you won’t make your project more competitive just by compiling more data!). Specifically, we want you to show us your capability to:
- Understand how climate change is impacting your chosen city.
- Identify potential needs or situations where action needs to be taken.
- Define an original and coherent position regarding the 2050 zero net emissions plan.
- Show how to measure the impact of your actions.
- Come up with and present a proposal that is understandable, relevant, convincing, robust, well grounded, impactful, creative, credible, and consistent.
Presentation guidelines
- A 3-slide presentation explaining the current situation in your city and how it is evolving, as well as the position that you would adopt as the city’s appointed representative at one of the hypothetical meetings.
- A 4-minute-long video presenting the speech that you would give as the city’s representative. Your audience will be the other international representatives at either the Global Climate Summit COP or the World Economic Forum who could potentially help you become part of a future generation of leaders.
- All documents and videos should be submitted in English.
- The slide presentation must contain the project/problem title and your personal information: name(s) and surname(s), nationality, country of residence, school name, e-mail and contact telephone number.
Structure of the competition
Stage 1
Proposal & video submission by 2 May 2025. Any proposals or documents received at a later date than the deadline stipulated in the rules of this challenge will not be accepted.
Stage 2
Winners & Runners-up will be announced on 12 May 2025 by the Esade International Relations, Economics & Politics Challenge Committee.
Eligibility criteria
The challenge is open to high school students graduating in 2025 and 2026 interested in the Bachelor in Global Governance, Economics & Legal Order or the Double Degree in Law + Global Governance, Economics & Legal Order.
Prizes
Winner
- 100% rebate on the tuition fee for the first year of the Bachelor in Global Governance, Economics & Legal Order plus free Esade Admissions Test.
- 100% rebate on the tuition fee for the first year of the Double Degree in Law + Global Governance, Economics & Legal Order plus free Esade Admissions Test.
Runner-up
- 50% rebate on the tuition fee for the first year of the Bachelor in Global Governance, Economics & Legal Order plus free Esade Admissions Test.
- 50% rebate on the tuition fee for the first year of the Double Degree in Law + Global Governance, Economics & Legal Order plus free Esade Admissions Test.