On Tuesday 17^th September, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen named her team, selecting Spain’s Teresa Ribera as her second-in-command. As Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just, and Competitive Transition, Ribera will oversee a vast portfolio including climate and competition policy.

The EU Commission is the European Union’s most powerful institution, in charge of proposing new European legislation and implementing decisions of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.

Von der Leyen emphasised that the new Commission will focus on climate change, security and competitiveness, aiming to balance environmental targets with industrial growth. It was also reiterated that climate change will remain the “major backdrop” for the design of new EU initiatives. However, given the increasing urgency of geopolitical conflict, triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, security had a larger impact on the composition of the Commission.

Teresa Ribera will guide the commission to ensure that Europe remains on track with their Green Deal. Ribera has also been tasked to help small EU businesses in the renewable energy sector to scale up. As former minister of the ecological transition in Spain, Ribera focused on environmental change, overseeing the closure of Spain’s coal industry and the phase out of nuclear power by 2035. She also served twice as Spain’s environment minister.

Wopke Hoekstra was also named as new climate chief, tasked with developing a “clean industrial deal” to promote green energy. Hoekstra’s role will primarily involve bringing forth the EU’s 90% emissions reduction target for 2040, as well as investing in sustainable infrastructure.

In Irish news:

• Eamon Ryan, minister for the environment, climate and communications, warns that technology companies will have to “work within the climate limits” as Ireland tries to cope with the increase of energy-intensive data centres.
• In the first Irish climate lawsuit that tackles fundamental rights, three individual claimants and the Community Law & Meditation centre filed a lawsuit against the Irish government for failing to cut national emissions fast enough.
• Irish dairy farmers, including milk producer Lakeland Dairies, have called for increased funding, warning that climate change will remain out of reach if not.

In other world news:

• Azerbaijan, host country for the upcoming UN COP29, have skipped over the transition from fossil fuels in their “action agenda” in favour of energy storage, waste methane and war.
• According to the latest analysis by MSCI Inc., only 5% of more than 4,000 global carbon-credit markets are considered high quality.
• The World Bank reported a record $42.6 billion in climate finance during the 2024 fiscal year, still coming short of the trillions of dollars needed to finance the climate transition in emerging markets and developing countries.