Dr Francesco Sindico
Professor
Law
Personal statement
Francesco is a Professor of International Environmental Law at the University of Strathclyde Law School. He is the Director of the Climate Change Legal Initiative (C2LI), the Co-Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law Climate Change Specialist Group (where he leads the Islands, Nature and Renewable Energy Project (INREP) and the Co-Chair of the I International Water Resources Association (IWRA) Islands Water Congress. From September 2021 to April 2024 he was seconded to the Scottish Government where he led the Carbon Neutral Islands project. Francesco thrives in multidisciplinary and multipartner projects and environments. He brings passion and competence to his work on International Environmental Law and is always keen to learn more and develop new partnerships. Francesco is an academic who believes universities need to work with non-academic partners and share results from their research also in ways that will deliver real impact on the ground.
Area of Expertise
Francesco has worked closely with international organisations, non-governmental organisations and governments in a number of consultancies and projects. He feels comfortable providing training on complex international legal matters to non-legal audiences in an accessible and engaging fashion. He has experience in either leading or contributing projects requiring a quick turn around and immediate results. He has developed over the past years experience in providing legal advice to governments in interstate disputes before international courts, hence honing his legal skills with the necessary strategic litigation skills required to provide tailored and effective advice to his clients.
Prize And Awards
- IUCN WCEL Nicholas Robinson Award for Excellence in Environmental Law and Policy
- Recipient
- 2025
- CISDL Annual International Legal Specialist Award (2022)
- Recipient
- 2022
- Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographic Society
- Recipient
- 2022
Qualifications
Francesco Sindico is a Professor in International Law at the University of Strathclyde Law School in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He is a member and founder of the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance and the Founder and Co-Director of the Climate Change Litigation Initiative (C2LI).
Previous posts include Lecturer in International Law at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy of the University of Dundee (where he is currently an Honorary Lecturer in International Law) and Lecturer in Law at the School of Law of the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK, where he also served as Deputy Director of the Environmental Regulatory Research Group. Francesco was a Visiting Professor at the Brunel University Institute for the Environment, at the Tilburg Institute for Law and Technology and will be a Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore in January 2022.
Francesco Sindico holds a PhD in Law from the Universitat Jaume I in Castellon de la Plana, Spain, an LLM in International Law and International Relations from the Autonoma University in Madrid, Spain and an LLB in Law from the University of Turin, Italy.
Publications
- What Can International Disaster Law Learn from Global Health Responses? : Workshop Report and Briefing Document
- O'Donnell Therese, Switzer Stephanie, Sadowski Mirosław M, Mitchell Lynsey, Lines Katie, Cubie Dug, Devaney James, Brown Rebecca, Harrington John, Wenton Anthony, Perrie Yvonne, Robertson Chris, MacDougall Audrey, Hill Conor, Shucksmith-Wesley Christy, Strobeyko Adam, Breau Susan, Carolei Domenico, Kaur Kirndeep, Sindico Francesco, Grez Hidalgo Pablo
- (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.17868/strath.00095041
- Climate Change and the Peripheries of International Law
- Sindico Francesco
- (2025)
- Examining Litigation Aspects of Nationally Determined Contributions
- Burnette Amelia Yvonne, McKenzie Kate, Sindico Francesco
- Routledge Handbook of Climate Law and Governance Courage, Contributions and Compliance (2025) (2025)
- Not going under(water) without a (legal) fight : SIDS and the advisory opinion on climate change before the International Court of Justice
- Sindico Francesco
- (2024)
- The Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS) vision for the energy transition : A legal analysis
- Sindico Francesco, Hall Catherine, Wegener Lennart, Wilkinson Emily
- (2024)
- Research Handbook on Climate Change Litigation
- Sindico Francesco, McKenzie Kate, Medici-Colombo Gaston, Wegener Lennart
- (2024)
Teaching
Francesco has been teaching for over ten years in three different UK higher education institutions (University of Strathclyde, University of Dundee and University of Surrey) and as a visiting lecturer in several UK and oversea universities. He is confortable teaching at both post graduate and undergraduate level and has a strong experience in teaching law to students from other schools.
Post graduate teaching experience:
- International Environmental Law
- Climate Change and International Law
- Climate Change and Litigation
- International Trade Law
- Global Water Policy (for students in Engineering)
Undergraduate teaching experience
- Environmental Law
- Public International Law
- Public Law (tutorials)
- Property Law (tutorials)
Research Interests
Francesco's main areas of work include International Climate Change Law, International Water Law, Island studies, Sustainable Development and International Trade Law.
In 2020 he published a monograph on Transboundary Aquifers and International Law, which brings together over 10 years of research and professional experience in this field. He has collaborated extensively with international organisations and advised governments before international courts in the field of International Water Law in this period.
From a water law perspective Francesco is expanding his work exploring the land/sea interface and how to coordinate transboundary water governance and law of the sea in order to mitigate ocean pollution. He is undertaking this area of research in the context of the One Ocean Hub project. Another emerging area of work for Francesco is a critical analysis of youth movements and how they can become meaninful actors in promoting sustainability policies. Again, he is undertaking this strand of research in the context of the One Ocean Hub.
Francesco is also the founder and Co-Director of the Climate Change Litigation Initative (C2LI) together with the University of Geneva and the National University of Singapore. C2LI builds on the efforts that led to the book "Comparative Climate Change Litigation: Beyond the Usual Suspects" published in 2021. C2LI is a policy oriented web based platform that explores climate change litigation in countries with little or no litigation using a scenario based methodology.
Francesco has been one of the leading organisers of the 2018 IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Colloqium and is now co-editing the book sytemming from the event titled "The Transformation of Environmental Law and Governance: Innovation, Risk and Resilience".
Professional Activities
- World Water Day 2025
- Speaker
- 24/3/2025
- Reflections on the water rights dimension of the climate change advisory opinion before the International Court of Justice
- Speaker
- 24/3/2025
- Island Policy: What does it mean and how to do it well?
- Speaker
- 26/2/2025
- Universidad de Vigo (External organisation)
- Advisor
- 10/2/2025
- FWO Scientific Research Network “Climate Change Law in Europe
- Participant
- 26/8/2024
- Engage
- Participant
- 29/4/2024
Projects
- Secretariat of the European Island Policy Network
- Sindico, Francesco (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2026
- Secretariat of the “European Islands Policy Network
- Sindico, Francesco (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2026
- Carbon Neutral Islands Project
- Sindico, Francesco (Principal Investigator)
- Secondment to the Scottish Government Islands Team to lead on the Carbon Neutral Islands project
- 01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2024
- Biodiversity, Climate and Global Public Health: Interactions and Challenges for International Law
- Sindico, Francesco (Principal Investigator)
- Project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; 35.695,00 € (co-investigator)
This research project aims at identifying the challenges and opportunities that the COVID-19 crisis has created in relation to the international and European legal frameworks applicable to the protection of biodiversity and to the fight against climate change. In turn, it aims to provide possible responses that will strengthen synergies that help the post-COVID-19 recovery process. - 01-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2024
- Electric Islands: Public reaction to changes in transport systems
- Sindico, Francesco (Principal Investigator) Corbett, Hannah (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2023
- Smart, Sustainable Islands: Public reaction to changes in transport systems and mobility world
- Sindico, Francesco (Principal Investigator)
- Project funded by Volkswagen Group - £ 33,707.45
This project, led by the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance (SCELG) in partnership with the University of the Aegean, the Strathclyde Centre for Energy Policy (CEP) and Island Innovation (II), aims to better understand how the island community of Astypalea, Greece, responds overtime to the changes in their transport systems and mobility world. In other words, the project will explore the social consensus around the island’s smart, sustainable mobility project and the key levers/barriers for its implementation. The project will also share the process leading to up to and including implementation as widely as possible with other policy makers and stakeholders and stakeholders in Greece and beyond. - 01-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2023