Call for Interest – Climpact Rapporteurs Panel: Building a Global Network for Climate Litigation Impact Research

Climpact (Charting the Landscape of Climate Litigation Impacts: An Interdisciplinary Framework and Open Access Database) is a four-year research project funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research through a Starting Grant under the Italian Science Fund (FIS 3 Call). Led by Giuseppe Naglieri at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, Climpact is the first large-scale, global, empirical research effort to systematically measure and evaluate how climate litigation transforms legal frameworks, public policies, corporate practices, social narratives, public discourse, and market dynamics across jurisdictions. The project analyses a dataset of 500 cases — approximately 20% of global climate litigation — through the integration of legal, sociological, and economic methods, culminating in process tracing to establish causal mechanisms.

Climpact is now seeking expressions of interest from scholars and practitioners worldwide to join the Climpact Rapporteurs Panel (CRP), a network of regional experts organised into five geographic panels.

The Role

The Climpact Rapporteurs Panel is a distributed network of experts with deep knowledge of climate litigation in their respective regions. Rapporteurs are the project's eyes on the ground — specialists who can contextualise cases within their domestic and regional legal, political, and social landscapes, providing the kind of granular insight that no amount of desk research can replace. The strength of the Panel depends on the diversity of its composition: Climpact is committed to building a network that reflects the plurality of voices, experiences, and professional trajectories that shape climate litigation worldwide.

Rapporteurs serve a primarily consultative function. Their core activities include providing contextual intelligence on cases within the Climpact dataset that fall within their area of expertise, identifying new cases and significant developments in ongoing litigation within their region, verifying and enriching the project's documentary analysis with local knowledge that cannot be captured through desk research alone, and offering informed assessments of litigation dynamics — such as the role of specific courts, the strategies of key actors, or the broader institutional context in which cases unfold.

Beyond this consultative baseline, Rapporteurs who wish to engage more deeply with the project's research agenda are welcome to contribute to the Climpact Monitor Series — the project's publication programme for analytical briefs, case notes, working papers, and research reports. Such contributions are voluntary and will be co-authored in accordance with the project's authorship guidelines.

The position is not remunerated. However, Rapporteurs receive formal affiliation to the project (with the title of Climpact Rapporteur and a dedicated profile on the Climpact website), invitations to participate in the project's conferences, workshops, and events — with travel and accommodation expenses covered by the project — co-authorship on any publications to which they contribute substantively, and early access to the project's research outputs, methodological working papers, and the open-access database during its development phase.

Appointments are for the duration of the project (48 months), subject to periodic review.

The Panels

The CRP is organised into five regional panels. Each panel will include up to ten members, selected to ensure broad geographic, thematic, and jurisdictional coverage within the region. Applicants should indicate the panel for which they wish to be considered.

Europe Panel

Covering climate litigation across the European continent, including cases before domestic courts in EU and non-EU jurisdictions, as well as proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and other European regional bodies. The panel seeks expertise spanning Western, Northern, Central, Eastern, and Southern European legal systems.

Latin America Panel

Covering climate litigation in Central and South America and the Caribbean, including cases before domestic courts and proceedings before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The panel is particularly interested in expertise on constitutional climate litigation, rights-based approaches, and the growing body of cases in jurisdictions such as Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Argentina.

Australasia Panel

Covering climate litigation in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Island States, as well as relevant proceedings in South and Southeast Asian jurisdictions. The panel seeks expertise across common law and civil law traditions in the region, including cases relating to fossil fuel projects, adaptation, loss and damage, and the particular vulnerabilities of small island developing states.

Africa Panel

Covering climate litigation across the African continent, including cases before domestic courts and regional bodies such as the East African Court of Justice and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. The panel seeks expertise on the emerging landscape of climate litigation in Africa, including cases related to extractive industries, environmental impact assessments, human rights, and climate adaptation. Applicants with knowledge of both anglophone and francophone African legal systems are particularly encouraged to apply.

North America Panel

Covering climate litigation in the United States and Canada, including federal and state/provincial proceedings, regulatory challenges, constitutional claims, tort litigation, and corporate accountability cases. Given the volume and variety of North American climate litigation, the panel seeks specialists with focused expertise in specific areas of the case law — such as fossil fuel liability suits, regulatory challenges, investor and securities-related claims, or Indigenous rights litigation — rather than generalists.

Who Should Apply

The call is open to scholars, legal practitioners, policy professionals, and doctoral candidates with demonstrated expertise in climate litigation within any of the five regions covered by the panels. There is no restriction as to nationality, institutional affiliation, or career stage.

Climpact recognises that understanding the full reach of climate litigation requires a plurality of perspectives shaped by different legal traditions, professional trajectories, lived experiences, geographic contexts, and personal identities. The project is committed to diversity and inclusion in all dimensions and actively seeks to constitute panels that bring together academics and practitioners, researchers at the beginning of their careers and established experts, voices from the Global South and from jurisdictions where climate litigation is only beginning to take shape. Applications are particularly encouraged from candidates whose backgrounds and experiences are underrepresented in international climate law research, and from those whose engagement with climate litigation — whether through scholarship, legal practice, policy work, or civil society advocacy — brings a distinctive vantage point to the Panel's collective expertise.

How to Apply

Applications should be submitted through the Climpact Application Hub and must include the following:

1. A brief professional biography (max. 300 words) describing the applicant's background, institutional affiliation (if any), and areas of expertise relevant to the CRP.

2. A statement of interest (max. 500 words) explaining the applicant's knowledge of climate litigation in their region, how their expertise relates to the work of CLIMPACT, and — if applicable — any specific thematic or jurisdictional areas they would be particularly well-placed to cover.

Applicants must indicate the regional panel for which they wish to be considered. Applications to more than one panel are accepted where the candidate's expertise genuinely spans more than one region, but applicants should explain the basis for a dual application in their statement. Applications may be submitted in any language.

Selection Criteria

Applications will be evaluated by the Principal Investigator on the basis of demonstrated expertise in climate litigation within the relevant region, the extent to which the applicant's profile complements the existing composition of the panel in terms of geographic, thematic, and jurisdictional coverage, the quality and relevance of the statement of interest, and the applicant's ability to contribute contextual and analytical insight that enriches the project's empirical work.

The selection process aims to constitute panels that are collectively diverse and representative of the breadth of climate litigation within each region — across jurisdictions, thematic areas, professional backgrounds, career stages, and personal identities — rather than to rank individual applicants in the abstract.

Timeline

Application deadline: 3th May 2026

Results will be communicated individually to all applicants within two weeks of the deadline.

Contact

For enquiries about the CLIMPACT Rapporteurs Panel, please write to climpact.stg@uniba.it.