Climate change is a major threat to human well-being and a challenge to social, legal and institutional structures. The Future Earth Research School “Law, Finance and Litigation: addressing climate change risks in Europe” aims to provide an overview of the legal instruments and financial mechanisms aimed at regulating climate change, its risks and consequences in Europe. Deadline for application is June 28, 2024.

The CMCC Foundation has launched the next edition of the Future Earth Research School (FERS), an international school entirely focused on environmental sustainability and climate change.

Legal frameworks and socio-political arrangements have addressed the adverse effects of climate change through norms, financial mechanisms, and litigation. Against this background, this course will provide an overview of the legal instruments and financial mechanisms aimed at regulating climate change, its risks and future consequences in Europe.

Regarding climate law, participants will explore the international and European climate legal framework and the role of national and regional adjudicatory bodies in advancing climate action. The course will also focus on financial arrangements and related obligations both at the international level and within the European Union, exploring how these mechanisms can affect decision-making processes.

Finally, the training will provide a broad overview of the climate litigation scene in Europe and how it may push for accountability of public and private decision-makers, identifying the main litigation actors, enforcement mechanisms and the potential risks it may pose in the future for both the public and private sectors.

The course will cover the following topics:

• International and European climate legal framework, instruments and mechanisms,
• Human rights and climate change: challenges, obligations and violations,
• Climate finance EU Policy Framework and climate finance landscape,
• Climate finance and the legal obligations within the European Union,
• Climate change impacts on the financial sector,
• The profile of climate litigation in Europe,
• The role of science in climate litigation cases,
• Enforcement mechanisms and legal remedies of climate litigation,
• The role of domestic and regional courts,
• Climate litigation as a risk to public authorities and private actors,
• Due diligence law and corporate climate accountability.

The Autumn School is mainly geared towards Ph.D. students, postdocs and young professionals in the field of Climate finance & Climate law studies with a strong interest in the dynamics of climate litigation cases.

The course “Law, Finance and Litigation: addressing climate change risks in Europe” will take place in Bertinoro (Italy) from 7th to 18th October 2024.

Participants will have a comprehensive understanding of climate law at the international and regional levels, the EU policy framework related to climate finance and an overview of the dynamics of climate litigation.

They will therefore be able to identify the main legal norms in force and currently shaping the climate scene, as well as their main potentials and shortcomings. Participants will enhance their understanding of the impacts of climate change on the financial sector with a comprehensive knowledge of climate litigation cases in Europe, and the enforcement mechanisms.

Deadline for application is June 28, 2024.

For more information about the course, and to apply, please visit the FERS school website.