Major overview
The Strategic Decarbonisation major equips you to design, evaluate, and implement advanced emission-reduction strategies across diverse industries and jurisdictions. You'll integrate climate science, carbon management, market mechanisms, and emerging decarbonisation technologies, preparing you to lead large-scale mitigation initiatives aligned with global and national net-zero goals.
You'll gain practical expertise in carbon markets and offsets and in the decarbonisation of heavy industry, including the application of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) within broader industrial transition pathways. You'll learn to develop marginal abatement cost curves, assess carbon offset integrity, and integrate policy, technological, and economic levers into strategic decarbonisation roadmaps.
As one of the two majors you'll complete in the Master of Decarbonisation, Energy and Sustainability Management, Strategic Decarbonisation can be paired with Renewable and Sustainable Energy, Sustainable Cities and Infrastructure, or Corporate Sustainability Management, letting you build a cross-disciplinary skill set suited to your career goals.
3 reasons to study strategic decarbonisation at Murdoch University
- Build the skills to lead a net-zero strategy, learning to design decarbonisation roadmaps, assess carbon offset integrity, and apply CCUS within real industrial transition pathways.
- Pair Strategic Decarbonisation with a second major to develop the complementary, cross-disciplinary expertise today's fast-evolving workplace demands.
- 5-star rated and #1 in Western Australia for learning resources, learner engagement, teaching quality and skills development at postgraduate level in Engineering and Technology by Good Universities Guide 2026.
What you’ll learn
- Pinpoint where emissions come from and weigh up decarbonisation strategies across carbon markets, offsets, and industry-wide mitigation.
- Compare CCUS technologies on readiness, cost, and policy fit.
- Develop a decarbonisation roadmap for a heavy-industry sector, using marginal abatement cost curves and enabling infrastructure.
- Assess whether carbon offsets genuinely stack up, analysing additionality, permanence, leakage, and baselines.
- Design scalable emission-reduction solutions and pitch them in a clear policy brief or executive presentation.
Your future career
This major prepares you to lead emission-reduction strategy across government, industry, and consultancy, in roles spanning government agencies, carbon-market regulators, industrial and energy sectors, sustainability consultancies, and international organisations driving the low-carbon transition. Roles could include:
- Decarbonisation program manager
- Carbon market analyst
- Net Zero strategy advisor
- Industrial sustainability consultant
- Climate and policy analyst
To study this major, apply for the Master of Decarbonisation, Energy and Sustainability Management or the Master of Decarbonisation, Energy and Sustainability Management (Advanced).
For more details about our Strategic Decarbonisation major, download our information pack.
Start dates
| Starting period | Location | Face to Face | Online | Mixed mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trimester 3, 2026 | Murdoch | Yes | Yes | No |
| Trimester 1, 2027 | Murdoch | Yes | Yes | No |
| Trimester 3, 2027 | Murdoch | Yes | Yes | No |
View the dates for our teaching periods or find out more about attendance modes.
Start dates (Transnational)
| Starting period | Location | Face to Face | Online | Mixed mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trimester 1, 2027 | Kaplan Higher Education Academy Pte. Ltd | No | Yes | No |
| Trimester 3, 2027 | Kaplan Higher Education Academy Pte. Ltd | No | Yes | No |
| Trimester 3, 2027 | Murdoch University Dubai, UAE | No | Yes | No |
View the dates for our teaching periods or find out more about attendance modes.
Major Structure
Visit the Course Handbook - Get detailed information on units, prerequisites, and pathways.
To help plan the structure of your course, search for our suggested course plans.
| Unit code | Unit name | Credit points |
|---|
How to Apply
Majors are part of a degree and can't be applied on their own. Apply for a related degree first, then choose your major once enrolled.
Master of Decarbonisation, Energy and Sustainability Management
Build in-demand energy and decarbonisation skills in our Master of Decarbonisation, Energy and Sustainability Management degree.
Master of Decarbonisation, Energy and Sustainability Management (Advanced)
Build in-demand energy and decarbonisation skills in our Master of Decarbonisation, Energy and Sustainability Management (Advanced) degree.