AXA Research Lab on Climate Change, Risk and Justice

In response to three research questions: How can the private and financial sectors contribute to a just transition to a net-zero economy? How can low-income communities be included in climate adaptation efforts? What are the distributional impacts of climate change, and how can insurance mitigate inequalities?

The key points will be:

• Justice Principles & Climate Risk Insurance – Investigating how climate risk insurance can be ethically and politically justified as a means of adaptation and just transition.

• Private-Public Interaction – Assessing the role of the private sector, financial institutions, and public policies in enabling equitable climate risk insurance solutions.

• Regulation & Governance – Developing policy principles to support inclusive, transparent, and fair climate risk insurance models.

 The main assumptions, claims and outcomes of the research will be the following:

• Climate risk insurance plays a dual role: it is impacted by climate risks and, at the same time, can drive mitigation and adaptation efforts.

• Ethical justification for climate risk insurance: Climate risk insurance should be framed as a public-utility-regulated industry, integrating corporate social responsibility (CSR), solidrity principles and economic feasibility considerations with climate justice goals.

• Regulatory Recommendations: Policies should promote fair insurance models, minimize protection gaps, ensure transparency to prevent greenwashing, and align with climate justice and solidarity principles.

• Public-Private Synergies: Insurance companies can act as enablers of climate action, supporting green investments and sustainable adaptation strategies.

The Lab’s research will contribute to academic discourse (publications), policy-making (recommendations for stakeholders), and practical implementation (engagement with insurers, regulatory bodies, policy-makers and the public at large). Findings will inform EU-level discussions on climate risk insurance frameworks and their potential application to global climate policy.

The lab's methodology will be fully integrated, combining economic, feasibility, and descriptive analysis with conceptual and normative theorizing. The aim is to provide suggestions to policy-makers and relevant stakeholders.

Gianfranco Pellegrino is the Principal Investigator of the Luiss-AXA Chair in Climate Change, Risk, and Justice at Luiss Guido Carli University. He graduated in Moral Philosophy from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" in 1997, completing a PhD in Philosophy of Law at the University of Padua in 2001. His research career includes positions at the Center for Studies and Research on Human Rights and the Center for Global Ethics and Politics at Luiss, where he has worked with Sebastiano Maffettone. Currently Full Professor of Political Philosophy in the Department of Political Science, he teaches courses in Political Philosophy, Business Ethics, and Environmental Ethics. Pellegrino has also studied abroad at notable institutions, including the Bentham Project in London and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests encompass the history of political philosophy, contemporary political philosophy with a focus on global justice and climate change and the Anthropocene.