Master in Climate Change

Master in Climate Change is one of 8 English-taught Agriculture & Environment programmes at Master's Degree level in the register, offered by 4 institutions. 8 of them list an annual fee for students from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland, from EUR 2,400 to EUR 15,000; this programme lists EUR 8,700 a year. 6 are recorded as free for EU, EEA and Swiss students.

The MSc in Climate Change at the University of Copenhagen mixes natural science and social science approaches to climate change. You pick one of two specialisations when you enrol, and the programme is taught in English.

What you study

Everyone starts with the same compulsory course, Climate Change: An Interdisciplinary Challenge, which gives an overview of both the natural and social science sides of the field. After that, the compulsory courses depend on your specialisation.

In Impacts, Mitigation and Adaption you take Climate and Society. The specialisation is interdisciplinary and lets you combine courses with project work, collaboration with external partners, innovation and hands-on activities.

In The Physical Climate System you take Earth and Climate Physics and Climate Models and Observations. The focus here is the physical climate system and climate modelling, and you can steer your electives towards data science, computational climate science or IPCC related climate modelling.

Restricted elective courses include Climate Change and Biodiversity, Climate Change and Biogeochemical Cycles, Climate Change and Land Use, Climate Change and the Law, Climate Change and Water Resources, Climate Change Mechanisms and Tipping Points, Climate Solutions, Paleo-Climatology, Energy Systems and Climate Mitigation, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Environmental Justice, Ethics, Environment and Society, Geoengineering, Geopolitics of Climate Change, Global Environmental Governance, Human Adaptation to Climate Change and Variability, Introduction to Data Science, Science and Technology Communication and The Economics of Climate Change.

How the programme is organised

The degree takes two years. Teaching comes in blocks of nine weeks worth 15 ECTS each. You meet web-based learning, lectures, exercises, seminars, excursions and group or project work, and your teachers are researchers in a range of disciplines. Danish and foreign students and lecturers mix on the programme.

You can spend some of your electives on a project in practice in Denmark or abroad, for example with a company or an institution. You need a supervisor to approve the host and guide you, and the project ends with a written report and an oral examination. You can also study abroad for one or two semesters, or a shorter period such as a summer school, and transfer the credits. The Faculty of Science has around 100 Erasmus+ agreements plus more than 100 university-wide agreements outside Europe.

The thesis takes the last two blocks (30 ECTS) or three blocks (45 ECTS). It can cover climate impacts, mitigation, adaptation, biodiversity, economics, sustainability, education or ethical aspects of climate change, and can be done with an external partner such as a company, an NGO or a municipality.

Who it suits

This suits you if you want to work on climate change from more than one angle and are willing to build your own profile from a large pool of electives. The two specialisations pull in different directions: one towards society, policy and impacts, the other towards physics and modelling. If you already know which side you lean towards, the choice is straightforward. If you want both, the elective space lets you keep a foot in each.

Admission, language and next steps

You apply through the application portal. Certain Copenhagen bachelor's degrees meet the academic requirements automatically, among them Natural Resources, Food Science, Landscape Architecture, Biotechnology, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography and Geoinformatics, and Geology-Geoscience, provided you also meet the English B language requirement. Other Danish or international degrees qualify if your curriculum is strongly directed towards climate change topics, with at least 60 ECTS in climate change related study elements, and you meet English B.

Applicants from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland apply by 15 January and hear back by 13 March. Danish applicants and applicants from the EU, EEA and Switzerland apply by 1 March and hear back by 15 May. Students from the EU, EEA and Switzerland study free of charge; other students pay a fee set by the institution and an application deposit. If qualified applicants outnumber places, priority goes first to total ECTS in climate change related courses, then to grade point average. The university does not pre-assess your background, so compare your courses with the requirements yourself before applying.

Master’s applications go straight to University of Copenhagen, not through optagelse.dk, and the institution sets its own deadline. The register shows 15 January 2027 as the next deadline for this programme. Intake, as the register states it: Starts 1 September 2027 (apply by 15 January 2027). Entry requirements and language tests are set by the institution, so start from the official programme page. Our guides cover tuition fees, residence permits and housing.