Questions for Ribera — can we really compete our way to decarbonisation?

Teresa Ribera, a climate action and social justice veteran, is slated on Tuesday (12 November) to become the EU’s vice-president for a clean, just and competitive transition.

As Spain’s minister for ecological transition, Ribera led the country’s first comprehensive climate plan, took important steps to phase out coal and helped to integrate a robust social perspective into energy policy.

But will she succeed in bringing that same level of ambition and perspective to the commission?

Going from the Mission Letter, presented to her by Ursula von der Leyen, there is reason to worry that social and climate justice might get overshadowed by the competitiveness craze that has taken over Brussels.

The competitiveness-decarbonisation duo in her portfolio is a relationship fraught with pitfalls from the onset.

The climate urgency is such that subordinating decarbonisation to competitiveness spells out disaster for everyone: if our climate ambitions are driven by competitiveness, we will not achieve long-term planetary health.

Even if decarbonisation is acknowledged as the North Star, the emphasis on competitiveness risks confused aims and focus on initiatives of support, investment and lower costs to the business environment, through frameworks such as the Clean Industrial deal.

It diverts the focus from ambitious measures to avert the worst of climate change, whilst threatening to deliver an energy transition that favours industry profits over people’s welfare and social justice elements at the same time.

False solutions

It is destined to lead Europe down a treacherous path of false solutions such as fossil-based hydrogen, which have hurt people and the planet for too long.

Ribera’s written answers to parliament questions are not doing much to assuage concerns in the climate justice community.

This is evident, for example, when Ribera speaks of using “the principal levers that are at our disposal to drive the clean transition” but skips the most important one: a clear commitment to phase out gas with a date attached to it.

Something the EU Commission president is also hellbent on ignoring.

A solid deadline with a date is needed to send a clear message to the industry and provide a tangible path towards clean energy and true climate neutrality. It will sift out any false solutions that are pushed by the fossil fuel industries as an excuse to continue with business as usual, and an opportunity to shape a hopeful vision of a fossil free future, that protects people and offers a path to genuine energy security.

The commission in itself has taken a step in the right direction by including a commitment to phase out fossil fuels in their commissioner’s mission letters.

But the real-life potential of this initiative remains unclear since it’s cloaked in caveats and vagaries that leave us wondering about the final result and impact.

Conservative colleagues

Ribera is joining a politically and institutionally-complicated college with a couple of colleagues whose views and track records on the just transition and net-zero are far more conservative or controversial.

And while she might be in charge of keeping Europe on track with the Green Deal, she will not shape climate and energy policies by herself.

An energy policy divided over three to five portfolios is destined to create a delicate balancing act between commissioners, priorities and objectives. Cue political horse-trading and territorial disputes over power. 

Ribera is known to be a bridge builder who can find synergies in challenging circumstances.

That’s an important strength when the EU is simultaneously faced with widespread political upheaval and with one climate catastrophe after another. Yet a just green transition will not take place if climate action is solely placed in the service of competitiveness.

What Europe truly needs is an alignment between climate and societal needs, and Ribera could play a key role in fostering this shift. The new commission must do more than offer a band-aid on a broken arm, it needs vision, ambition and sign-off on tangible action that will deliver a carbon-neutral continent for every citizen. Setting a definitive end date for fossil gas in Europe is a prime example of such action.

Here is a chance to improve public health by removing toxic gases from our houses and streets; an opportunity to synchronise climate justice and global justice by putting an end to the EU’s fracking for gas around the globe, which pollutes air and water of local communities; and empower citizens to play a vital role in the energy transition if they choose to by supporting energy communities. 

Ribera’s written answers have yet to inspire confidence, but the commissioner hearing will reveal much about her vision and commitment. We’ll be watching closely.