CMCC contributes to the scientific programme of the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE) while announcing the Raymond J. Kopp Award for Outstanding Contributions to Climate Economics and Policy, honoring the legacy of one of Resources for the Future’s most influential economists and a key supporter of RFF-CMCC’s European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE).

From 29 June to 3 July 2026, CMCC is taking part in the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE), in Lisbon, Portugal. Held every four years, WCERE is the leading international conference for environmental and resource economists, bringing together researchers and policy experts to discuss the latest advances in climate, environmental and resource economics.

Throughout the Congress, CMCC researchers contribute to a broad scientific programme spanning climate policy, energy transition, financial risks, industrial decarbonization, adaptation, climate impacts, migration and food systems. CMCC scientists present their research, chair scientific sessions and contribute to discussions at the intersection of science and policy.

Among the Congress’s highlights is the Science–Policy–Business Session on “Climate-related financial risks and stability under uncertainties in macroeconomic impacts and their propagation”, chaired by Massimo Tavoni, Director of the European Institute on Economics and the Environment at CMCC. The session brings together leading experts from institutions and academics to discuss one of the most pressing challenges for financial systems and climate policy: understanding and managing climate-related financial risks under conditions of deep uncertainty.

Another key CMCC contribution includes the session on building more resilient food systems, co-chaired by CMCC scientist Shouro Dasgupta. Across the parallel and thematic sessions, CMCC researchers present new research on topics including European industrial decarbonization, climate policy under trade fragmentation, climate migration, firm productivity under extreme weather, heat impacts, labour markets, and integrated assessment modeling.

A major moment of this year’s Congress is the announcement of the Raymond J. Kopp Award for Outstanding Contributions to Climate Economics and Policy, a new international award established by CMCC and Resources for the Future (RFF) under the umbrella of the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE), which Kopp helped establish in 2018 and sustained thereafter.

The award honors the intellectual legacy of Raymond J. Kopp, a long-time Senior Fellow at RFF and a key figure in the creation of EIEE, by recognizing outstanding contributions to climate economics and policy, promoting rigorous research with real-world policy relevance, and fostering international collaboration across the global environmental economics community.

The announcement took place during the WCERE Plenary Session on 2 July, with the participation of Massimo Tavoni (CMCC), Karen Palmer (RFF) and Sheila Olmstead, President of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE). The first call for applications will be launched in autumn 2027, and the prize will be awarded every two years.

“Ray worked on many issues over the years, but he was particularly interested in international climate policy – he recognized that climate change was an international problem that required international solutions,” said Tavoni. “He played an essential role in the formation of EIEE in 2018; many of us at CMCC and RFF have benefited from his leadership and guidance. We hope to honor that spirit of collaboration with this award.”

Another highlight for CMCC at WCERE 2026 is the recognition received by Emanuele Campiglio, who has been selected as one of the recipients of the 2026 EAERE Award for ERC Grants Laureates in Environmental and Resource Economics.

Campiglio has been awarded for his ERC Consolidator Grant BELIEFS (Climate-related Beliefs and Low-Carbon Transition Dynamics), running from September 2025 to August 2030. The project investigates how climate-related beliefs shape investment decisions and the dynamics of the low-carbon transition. Combining surveys, experiments, empirical analysis and dynamic macroeconomic modeling, BELIEFS aims to better understand how expectations about the transition are formed, how they affect decarbonization pathways, and which policies can better align economic actors’ expectations with climate targets.