Live professional course

Basic Climate Science

Understand how climate change, atmospheric physics and air-quality dynamics interact—and apply that understanding to environmental management, regulation and programme decisions.

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Course purpose

Connect foundational climate science with day-to-day air-quality practice.

The course is structured for professionals who need a scientifically credible but operationally useful understanding of climate forcing, atmospheric behaviour and pollutant interactions.

Understand the system

Differentiate climate drivers from conventional air pollutants across spatial and temporal scales.

Interpret interactions

Map feedbacks among radiative balance, aerosols, meteorology and ambient air pollution.

Apply the science

Use climate–air-quality concepts to interpret events, communicate risk and support environmental decisions.

Target audience

Built for environmental and air-quality professionals.

No advanced climate-science specialization is required. The course is designed for participants who work with environmental data, programmes, regulation or decision support.

Air-quality managers Air-quality analysts Environmental engineers Emissions inventory specialists Regulatory compliance officers Philanthropic and programme professionals Atmospheric and meteorological modellers
Curriculum

Four live modules with applied examples and demonstrations.

Live classes combine structured explanation with applied examples and demonstrations. Five additional hours are allocated to guided further reading.

Module 1 The Climate–Air Quality Nexus (Foundations)1 hour 15 minutes

Focus

Understanding how global warming and atmospheric physics fundamentally alter local air-pollution dynamics.

Learning objectives

  • Differentiate the spatial and temporal scales of climate-change drivers versus air pollution.
  • Map the bidirectional feedbacks between Earth’s radiative balance and ambient air pollutants.

Key topics

  • The greenhouse effect versus the air-pollution lens, comparing long-lived greenhouse gases with short-lived climate pollutants
  • Radiative forcing of aerosols: scattering aerosols such as sulfates versus absorbing aerosols such as black carbon
  • How climate change shifts meteorology: temperature inversions, stagnant air masses and changes in planetary boundary-layer height
Hands-on / case studyHow climate change is increasing air pollution through wildfire—example and demonstration.
Module 2 Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs) & Co-Pollutants1 hour 15 minutes

Focus

A deep dive into the chemical agents that act simultaneously as traditional air toxins and active climate-forcing agents.

Learning objectives

  • Quantify the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of air pollutants such as methane and black carbon.
  • Evaluate the chemical pathways of tropospheric ozone formation under rising global ambient temperatures.

Key topics

  • Black carbon: emission sources such as diesel and biomass burning, radiative properties and deposition on snow or ice (the albedo effect)
  • Methane: its dual role as a potent greenhouse gas and a major precursor to global background tropospheric ozone
  • Tropospheric ozone: the “climate-ozone penalty”—how hotter, sunnier days accelerate photochemical reactions and challenge historical baseline assumptions
  • Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs): replacement trends and the co-benefits of phasing them out
Hands-on / case studyCo-benefit calculator exercise: attendees work in breakout rooms using a spreadsheet tool to quantify how a targeted 15% reduction in local heavy-duty diesel emissions can meet municipal PM2.5 targets while reducing regional carbon-dioxide-equivalent footprints.
Module 3 Adapting Air Quality Modeling & Tools for a Changing Climate1 hour 15 minutes

Focus

Transitioning from static historical data to predictive, climate-informed air-quality tools.

Learning objectives

  • Understand how Global Climate Models (GCMs) work.
  • Learn to integrate future climate scenarios, such as the IPCC Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), into long-term clean-air planning.

Key topics

  • Introduction to coupled modelling frameworks: linking GCMs or Regional Climate Models (RCMs) with meteorological drivers such as WRF and air-quality models such as CMAQ or CAMx
  • Sourcing climate data through portals such as the Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS) and NASA NEX-GDDP
  • Accounting for deep uncertainty by running sensitivity analyses for emissions inventories against 2030 and 2050 climate projections
Practical component / case studyHands-on walkthrough of a downscaled climate dataset, including extraction of future temperature and wind-vector variables.
Module 4 Integrated Regulatory Frameworks & Co-Control Policies1 hour 15 minutes

Focus

Navigating the legal, economic and practical intersections of air-quality regulations and climate-mitigation mandates.

Learning objectives

  • Design policies that maximize “win-win” scenarios for both public health and decarbonization.
  • Identify and avoid “win-lose” traps in which local air-toxin reductions come with heavy energy or carbon penalties.

Key topics

  • Co-control strategies: energy efficiency, vehicle electrification and grid modernization as joint air-climate solutions
  • Environmental justice in the climate era: ensuring combined climate-air-quality strategies do not disproportionately burden disadvantaged communities
  • Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) multi-effects, including localized air-pollution footprints such as amine emissions and increased parasitic power load
  • Futureproofing State Implementation Plans (SIPs) by incorporating climate contingencies into legally binding compliance documents
Practical component / case studyPolicy design exercise in which participants review a municipal Climate Action Plan (CAP), evaluate its impacts on local criteria air pollutants and optimize it to eliminate competing goals.
Delivery and group learning

Live instruction with room for focused discussion.

The live format allows participants to connect course concepts to their own air-quality, environmental-engineering, regulatory or programme context.

  • Five hours of live teaching delivered across four classes
  • Five hours of guided further reading
  • Private organizational cohorts limited to five participants
  • Discounted group pricing available
Individual enrolment CAD 550

Per participant. Contact NeoCare to arrange course dates or request group pricing.

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Strengthen your climate and air-quality foundation.

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