Seminar
27-29 April 2026 | Menaggio – Villa Vigoni, Lake Como, Italy
The CMCC Foundation is hosting a three-day, high-level interdisciplinary seminar on “Forging the Causal Chain: Science, Law and Corporate Climate Responsibility” on 27-29 April, 2026 at Villa Vigoni, Lake Como, Italy.
Establishing causal links between greenhouse gas emissions, climate impacts and legal responsibility is one of the most challenging issues of climate governance. Currently, there is a significant gap between scientific evidence and judicial standards of proof for causation, with no structured process for translating attribution science into legally relevant thresholds.
Against this background, the seminar, conceived as a closed research laboratory, will bring together leading climate scientists, legal scholars, judges, and litigation practitioners. Discussions will be structured around concrete research questions and selected climate litigation case studies, with the aim of translating advanced climate science into forms of evidence that can be meaningfully assessed within judicial contexts.
The opening day will focus on understanding attribution and scientific causality across disciplines, with the aim of establishing a shared analytical foundation between climate science and law.
On the second day, participants will explore how scientific modelling and legal reasoning can be used together to construct multi-step causal chains that link emissions to climate impacts, damage and corporate contribution.
On the final day, participants will examine how advanced climate science can be operationalised within existing legal standards of proof drawing on comparative judicial practice.
Key outcomes of the seminar will include recommendations for identifying unresolved interdisciplinary questions and defining priority research areas in this field. The seminar will also present the CMCC Model for Climate Causation, which advances the integration of climate attribution science into legal evidentiary frameworks.
The seminar is organised by the Advanced Training and Education Center (ATEC) of the CMCC Foundation as part of its role as a knowledge incubator for new research topics at the intersection of diverse scientific disciplines.
Climate Law is one of ATEC’s knowledge incubators, which aim to foster cutting-edge research and interdisciplinary collaboration to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and legal practice. This emerging initiative seeks to equip legal practitioners, policymakers, and researchers with the critical expertise needed to navigate the evolving legal landscape of climate change, grounded in the best available science and addressing legal and governance challenges through a science-based approach.
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