This curriculum focuses on analysis of the complex relationships between the phenomenon of climate change and the socio-economic system, defined based on market relationships and/or other types of interactions among economic actors (public and / or private companies, financial markets, international markets) and other stakeholders (institutions, civil society, workers, communities, consumers, etc.) that characterize these systems. The curriculum is oriented to:

(i) predicting future scenarios regarding the relationship between climate change and socio-economic systems, with reference also to the development of environmental, quantitative (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions, flood scenarios) and qualitative (e.g., ESG rating) impact models;

(ii) analysing and assessing the risks of climate change and energy transition on socio-economic systems and their actors, with reference also to distributional and social equity issues;

(iii) investigating the socio-economic causes of the current climate crisis.

Through this research agenda, the curriculum aims to provide economic policy and managerial practice recommendations to prevent and enable mitigation of environmental and climate risks on territories and an orderly transition towards a fair, circular and low-carbon economy, in line with the UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development Goals.

The curriculum aims, also, to promote more responsible and sustainable production and consumption models in terms of: resources use (e.g., through the promotion of advanced circular economy models or green innovation); business strategy (e.g., through the adoption of corporate social responsibility principles in production processes, operations and stakeholder management); organization of the financial system (e.g., green fintech, investor activism in the ESG field); technological advances (e.g., favouring the development of sustainable artificial intelligence applications) and  in terms of consumption patterns (e.g., energy communities, purchasing groups, cooperatives, collaborative consumption).

Methodologically, the curriculum is characterized by use of mainly quantitative measurement and evaluation methods, although it does not exclude use of qualitative approaches. Finally, the research should be conducted at different levels of analysis -  micro and/or macro - to be defined in line with the research project objective(s).