CLIMAR2026 – CLIMAte Risk and Asset Pricing: models, methods and results Internazional Workshop – February 10 and 11, 2026, Università Mediterranea Reggio Calabria
The Department of Law, Economics and Human Sciences (Di.Gi.ES) of the Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria is pleased to host the international workshop CLIMAR2026 – CLIMAte Risk and Asset Pricing: models, methods and results, which will be held on February 10 and 11, 2026, in the Department Council Hall (3rd floor, Di.Gi.ES Complex, University Campus, Via dell'Università 25, Reggio Calabria).
The workshop represents the final event of the PRIN project "Climate risk and uncertainty: environmental sustainability and asset pricing" (project code P20225MJW8, CUP: E53D23016470001), funded by the MUR (Ministry of Education, University and Research) under the PNRR – Mission 4 "Education and Research", Component C2, Investment 1.1 "Fund for the National Research Programme and Projects of Relevant National Interest (PRIN)".
Workshop Topics:
The event aims to foster an in-depth discussion of the latest advances in the study of the interaction between climate risk and asset pricing. Topics at the center of the discussion include: machine learning approaches for asset pricing, theoretical models of greenium, critical issues related to ESG data—including greenwashing and limited information availability—, innovative frameworks for analyzing climate risk premiums, and implications for portfolio diversification and the predictability of equity returns. The aim is to help guide investors and decision makers towards more informed and sustainable financial choices, in line with international climate objectives.
Program Tuesday, February 10, 2026 (4:00 PM – 6:00 PM)
4:00 PM – 4:30 PM** — Opening session and institutional greetings
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM** — Session I: Climate Risk and Asset Pricing Modeling and AI Approaches*
Chair: Massimiliano Ferrara (Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria)
- "Aggregating ESG scores: a Wasserstein-distance-based method"— Arianna Agosto, Antonio Balzanella, Paola Cerchiello
- "Activation Functions for Optimizing Decision-Making in Neural Networks: Mathematical Analysis and Empirical Validation"— Massimiliano Ferrara, Celeste Ciccia
- "Explainable Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis for Supply Chain Risk Management: An Integrated FRAM-AHP-XAI Framework with Theoretical Foundations"— Massimiliano Ferrara, Valeria Isgrò
- "Climate Risk and Uncertainty: Environmental Sustainability and Asset Pricing through Explainable AI and Game-Theoretical Frameworks"* — Massimiliano Ferrara
5.30 pm – 6.00 pm — Keynote lecture
"ESG rating and ambiguity: an informative and distorted signal-based approach"
Keynote Speaker: Silvia Romagnoli | Chair: Silvia Muzzioli
Wednesday 11 February 2026 (10:00 – 13:00)
10:00 – 11:00 — Session II:Climate Risk and Uncertainty: Markets Dynamics
Chair: Silvia Muzzioli (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
- "The Greenium in the European Equity Market: Evidence from Portfolio Sorting Techniques" — Silvia Muzzioli, Lorenzo Vitale
- "Climate-Default risk nexus" — Andrea Cipollini, Fabio Parla, Silvia Muzzioli, Alessio Capriotti
- "Greenwashing, ESG and carbon emission" — Silvia Muzzioli, Farhana Raheem
- "Green and Brown Portfolios: A Spillover Analysis in the European Stock Market" — Alessio Capriotti, Andrea Cipollini, Silvia Muzzioli
11:00 – 11:30 — Coffee break
11:30 – 12:00 — Session III: XAI, Ensemble Modeling and Quantitative Modeling*
Chair: Andrea Cipollini (University of Palermo)
- "Measuring environmental performance and its impact on systemic risk" — Arianna Agosto, Antonio Bitetto, Paola Cerchiello, Alessandra Tanda
- "Machine Learning and ESG Integration in Portfolio Optimization: Theory and Evidence" — David Barilla, Giuseppe Caristi, Michael Morabito, Massimiliano Ferrara
12:00 – 12:30 — Keynote lecture
"Safe Artificial Intelligence"
Keynote Speaker: Paolo Giudici | Chair: Marco Li Calzi
12:30 – 13:00 — Closing ceremony and awarding of the **"International Anassilaos Prize" to Marco Li Calzi
Scientific Committee
Arianna Agosto (University of Pavia), Andrea Cipollini (University of Palermo), Massimiliano Ferrara (Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria), Silvia Muzzioli (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia), Alessandra Tanda (University of Pavia)
Organizing Committee
Celeste Ciccia, Massimiliano Ferrara, Valeria Isgrò, Bruno Antonio Pansera, Osamu Takahashi
Registration
Participation is free but mandatory registration is required by February 6, 2026 by sending an email to: [email protected]