The combined edition of 2009-2010 of the international and interdisciplinary Summer Academy proceedings sheds light on major challenges in the fi ld of energy and the environment: climate policy, renewable energy and grid related questions. The collection of articles begins with an overview of efforts in the field of international climate policy and development, such as the United Nations' CDM (Clean Development Mechanism). It goes on to study the regional particularities of climate and environmental policy-making, using case studies from Europe, China and Africa. Finally, the proceedings consider the important part that energy will play in curbing climate change. After all, this sector is the major contributor of CO2 emissions and therefore the major cause of global warming. Transitional energy sources like gas will be discussed, and the necessary adjustments to our current energy infrastructure will be analyzed in case studies on grids from South America and Europe.