Teresa Ribera | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| First Executive Vice-President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition | |
| Assumed office 1 December 2024 | |
| President | Ursula von der Leyen |
| Preceded by | Maroš Šefčovič |
| European Commissioner for Competitiveness | |
| Assumed office 1 December 2024 | |
| President | Ursula von der Leyen |
| Preceded by | Margrethe Vestager |
| Third Deputy Prime Minister of Spain | |
| In office 12 July 2021 – 25 November 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Pedro Sánchez |
| Preceded by | Yolanda Díaz |
| Succeeded by | Sara Aagesen |
| Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge | |
| In office 7 June 2018 – 25 November 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Pedro Sánchez |
| Preceded by | Isabel García Tejerina(environment) Álvaro Nadal(energy) |
| Succeeded by | Sara Aagesen |
| Fourth Deputy Prime Minister of Spain | |
| In office 13 January 2020 – 12 July 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Pedro Sánchez |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | María Jesús Montero |
| Member of theCongress of Deputies | |
| In office 17 August 2023 – 1 December 2023 | |
| Constituency | Madrid |
| In office 21 May 2019 – 21 February 2020 | |
| Constituency | Madrid |
| Secretary of State for Climate Change | |
| In office 22 April 2008 – 30 December 2011 | |
| Prime Minister | José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Director of the Spanish Office of Climate Change | |
| In office 11 February 2005 – 22 April 2008 | |
| Prime Minister | José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Teresa Ribera Rodríguez (1969-05-19)May 19, 1969 (age 55) Madrid,Spain |
| Political party | Spanish Socialist Worker's Party (2011–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Independent (until 2011) |
| Spouse | Mariano Bacigalupo |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Complutense University of Madrid |
| Occupation | Jurist •Lawyer •Professor •Politician |
Teresa Ribera Rodríguez (pronounced[teˈɾesariˈβeɾa]; born 19 May 1969) is a Spanish jurist, academic, and politician who is the First ExecutiveVice-President of the European Commission for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition andCommissioner for Competitiveness under thesecond Von der Leyen Commission. She previously served as theminister for the Ecological Transition of Spain since 2018, after Prime MinisterPedro Sánchez came into power following the successfulno-confidence motion againstMariano Rajoy. In 2020, she was appointed asfourth deputy prime minister and in 2021 she was promoted tothird deputy prime minister.
Between 2008 and 2011 Ribera held the position of Secretary of State for Climate Change in thesecond administration ofPrime MinisterJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Between 2014 and 2018, she was director of the Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations, based in Paris.
Ribera graduated from theComplutense University of Madrid with a degree in legal studies, with further studies at theCenter for Constitutional Studies attaining her another degree in constitutional law and political science.[1]
Ribera belongs to the Superior Body of Civil Administrators of the State of which she has been a surplus official since 2012.[1] Ribera has been anadjunct professor of the Department of Public Law and Philosophy of Law at theAutonomous University of Madrid.[1]
Ribera has held various technical positions in public administration, such as the position of Chief of Coordination of theMinistry of Development and of Technical Adviser in the Cabinet of the Assistant Secretary for the Environment and Head of the Compliance and Development area. Between 2004 and 2008 she was general director of the Office of Climate Change and between 2008 and 2011 she assumed the Secretary of State for Climate Change (in theMinistry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment) during the government of president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.[2]
Ribera is also a member of several advisory councils, including the Global Leadership Council of theUnited Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN),[3] the global climate change advisory council of theWorld Economic Forum,[4] and the Momentum For Change initiative ofUnited Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC);[5] belongs to the international council of the BC3, to the advisory council of the Institut pour la Recherche du Développement (IRD)[6] and to the patronages of Fundipax[7] andFundación Alternativas.[8] In September 2013, she began to collaborate with the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), based in Paris, and in June 2014 she assumed its direction. The organization is dedicated to the analysis of strategic issues related to sustainable development, climate change, protection ofbiodiversity, food security and management of the urbanization process.[9]
In May 2014, the prosecutor's office denounced the development of a gas storage site, called Project Castor, which was halted because ofseismic activity. Environmentalprevaricación was alleged, and one of the accusations was directed against Teresa Ribera because when the project was approved by the Government in 2008, she occupied the State Secretariat of Climate Change and was the person who signed theenvironmental impact assessment by which the project was authorized.[10][11] In 2015, 18 people were charged from theGeological and Mining Institute of Spain and the General Directorate of Quality and Environmental Evaluation. However, they held posts of a technical nature and no politicians were charged, including Ribera.[12] In 2015, she joinedPedro Sánchez's expert panel to prepare the Socialist Party's electoral program.[13]
In June 2018, it was announced that Ribera would be theMinister for the Ecological Transition of theSánchez government,[14] following themotion of censure that thePSOE presented against the previous government ofMariano Rajoy (PP) and that was approved by theCongress of Deputies. On 1 June 2018, Sánchez appointed her as Minister in the newSpanish government.Felipe VI sanctioned byroyal decree of June her appointment as holder of the portfolio ofMinister for the Ecological Transition.[15] On 7 June she took office as Minister before the King atPalace of Zarzuela.[16]
The first measures that Ribera carried out as minister was to end the so-called "sun tax" to allow the free production of power in an effort to increase ecological power and to reduce the price of electricity.[17][18] In an effort to endcoal pollution and to transform the power production ofSpain, Ribera reached an agreement with unions to close most of the coal mines that still survived in the north of the country by investing€250 million to avoid a fall in the miners’ standard of living and to restore the environmental balance of the area.[19]
In a letter sent to their counterparts in theEuropean Commission –Miguel Arias Cañete andPierre Moscovici – in May 2019, Ribera and Budget MinisterMaría Jesús Montero called on the European Union to assess a potentialcarbon tax on power imports to protect the bloc’s interests and help it to pursue its environmental targets amid growing public concern over climate change.[20]
Under Ribera's leadership, the Spanish government stepped in to host the2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference afterriots over inequality prompted Chile to withdraw with just one month’s notice.[21][22]
On 13 January 2020, Ribera assumed the office ofFourth Deputy Prime Minister andMinister for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge before the King in Zarzuela Palace in theSánchez second cabinet.[23][24] It was the first time in thehistory of Spain that a government would have four vice-presidencies.[25]
In April 2020, the Prime Minister commissioned Ribera to carry out the plan to ease the lockdown, that is, the way in which the country would exit theState of Alarm activated due to theCOVID-19 viral pandemic.[26] For this objective, Ribera organized a group of experts in all areas, from economics to epidemiologists.[27] In statements toEFE news agency in April, Ribera said that the recovery should be done with "green" and "solidary" measures.[28] She then called for a "Green New Deal" for Spain to both further environmentalism and help the country get out of the national lockdown.[29] She stated in May that tourism, which accounts for12% of Spanish GDP, was of "particular concern" when it came to the impendingeconomic recession in Spain due to the coronavirus.[30][31]
On 15 December 2020, Ribera was one of the first European ministers to declare that if it was not possible to make theEnergy Charter Treaty compatible with theParis Agreement, there would be no choice but to withdraw from it.[32]
In July 2021, after the resignation of Second DPMPablo Iglesias, Ribera's post was suppressed and she was appointedThird Deputy Prime Minister.[33]
In May 2021, the Spanish parliament passed theClimate Change and Energy Transition Act.
In late 2021, the cabinet approved Ribera’s 16.3 billion euro energy plan, which is to allocate 6.9 billion euros ($7.8 billion) to renewables,green hydrogen and energy storage over two years and to attract another 9.45 billion euros in private funding under its COVID-19 recovery plan.[34]
Ribera, along withShauna Aminath, led the working group at the2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference that facilitated consultations onmitigation.[35]
On 17 September 2024, the president of the European Commission,Ursula von der Leyen, announced the composition of theCollege of Commissioners for the period 2024–2029. In the case of Teresa Ribera, who had been proposed by the Government of Spain as commissioner,[36] she was chosen to occupy theCompetition portfolio, one of the most relevant of the Commission, as well as an executive vice presidency in charge ofenvironmental affairs,energy transition andcompetition.[37][38]
During her hearings for her commissioner’s role, theEuropean People's Party questioned Ribera over the management of the disastrousflash floods of October in Valencia, accusing her of ignoring the needs to update, drain and improve theRambla del Poyo as the head of theMinistry of Environment.[39] Despite this initial opposition, her appointment was approved by Parliament on 27 November 2024,[40] assuming the office on December 1st.
Ribera expressed support for theEuropean Green Deal and thegreen transition.[41] She said in an interview withEl Pais: "Ursula Von der Leyen has given me a vice presidency: It's a signal that [the green agenda] remains a priority. Environmental transition is one of the great engines of the approaching economic and industrial transformation."[42] In December 2024, Ribera warned that the Commission would not postpone theban on the sale of combustion engine cars in the EU after 2035.[43]
Media related toTeresa Ribera at Wikimedia Commons
 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
