Teresa Ribera

Teresa Ribera Rodríguez (born 19 May 1969) is a Spanish jurist, university professor, and politician who has served as the Minister for the Ecological Transition of Spain since 2018, after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez coming into power following the successful no-confidence motion against Mariano Rajoy. In 2020, she was appointed Fourth Deputy Prime Minister.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Ribera and the second or maternal family name is Rodríguez.
The Most Excellent

Teresa Ribera
Fourth Deputy Prime Minister of Spain
Assumed office
13 January 2020
MonarchFelipe VI
Prime MinisterPedro Sánchez
Preceded byOffice established
Minister for the Ecological Transition
and the Demographic Challenge
Assumed office
13 January 2020
Prime MinisterPedro Sánchez
Preceded byHerself
Minister for the Ecological Transition
In office
7 June 2018 – 13 January 2020
Prime MinisterPedro Sánchez
Preceded byIsabel García Tejerina
Álvaro Nadal
Succeeded byHerself
Member of the Congress of Deputies
Assumed office
21 May 2019
ConstituencyMadrid
Personal details
Born
Teresa Ribera Rodríguez

(1969-05-19) May 19, 1969
Madrid, Spain
Political partySpanish Socialist Worker's Party
Alma materComplutense University of Madrid
OccupationJurist, lawyer, and politician

Between 2008 and 2011 she held the position of Secretary of State for Climate Change in the second administration of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Between 2014 and 2018, she was director of the Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations, based in Paris.

Early years and education

Ribera graduated from the Complutense University of Madrid with a degree in legal studies, with further studies at the Center for Constitutional Studies attaining her another degree in constitutional law and political science.[1] She 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 an associate professor of the Department of Public Law and Philosophy of Law at the Autonomous University of Madrid.[1]

She has held various technical positions in public administration, such as the position of Chief of Coordination of the Ministry 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 the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment) during the government of president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.[2]

International work

Ribera is also a member of several advisory councils, including the Global Leadership Council of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN),[3] the global climate change advisory council of the World Economic Forum,[4] and the Momentum For Change initiative of United 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] and Fundación 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 of biodiversity, 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 of seismic activity. Environmental prevaricación 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 the environmental impact assessment by which the project was authorized.[10][11] In 2015, 18 people were charged from the Geological 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 joined Pedro Sánchez's expert panel to prepare the Socialist Party's electoral program.[13]

Political career

Ecological Transition Minister

In June 2018, it was announced that she would be the Minister for the Ecological Transition of the Sánchez government,[14] following the motion of censure that the PSOE presented against the previous government of Mariano Rajoy (PP) and that was approved by the Congress of Deputies. On 1 June 2018, Sánchez appointed her as Minister in new Spanish government. Felipe VI sanctioned by royal decree of June her appointment as holder of the portfolio of Minister for the Ecological Transition.[15] On 7 June she took office as Minister before the King at Palace of Zarzuela.[16]

The first measures that she 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 end coal pollution and to transform the power production of Spain, Ribera reached an agreement with unions to close most of the coal mines that still survived in the north of the country by making an investment of €250 million to avoid a fall in the miners’ standard of living and to restore the environmental balance of the area.[19] In October 2018, she was awarded the Climate Reality Project Award in the category of 'Public Personality' granted by the Climate Reality Project.[20][21]

Fourth Deputy Prime Minister

On 13 January 2020, Ribera assumed the office of Fourth Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge before the King in Zarzuela Palace in the Sánchez second cabinet.[22][23] It was the first time in the history of Spain that a government would have four vice-presidencies.[24]

In April 2020, the Prime Minister commissioned her to carry out the plan to ease the lockdown, that is, the way in which the country would exit the State of Alarm activated due to the COVID-19 viral pandemic.[25] For this objective, Ribera organized a group of experts in all areas, from economics to epidemiologists.[26] In statements to EFE news agency in April, Ribera said that the recovery should be done with "green" and "solidary" measures.[27] She then called for a "Green New Deal" for Spain to both further environmentalism and help the country get out of the national lockdown.[28] She stated in May that tourism, which accounts for 12% of Spanish GDP, was of "particular concern" when it came to the impending economic recession in Spain due to the coronavirus.[29][30]

On 15 December 2020, Ribera was one of the first european ministers to declare that if it was not possible to make the Energy Charter Treaty compatible with the Paris Agreement, there would be no choice but to withdraw from it.[31]

See also

References
  1. CV Teresa Ribera (in Spanish)
  2. REAL DECRETO 573/2008, de 21 de abril, por el que se nombra Secretaria de Estado de Cambio Climático a doña Teresa Ribera Rodríguez (in Spanish)
  3. "Leaders from Global Sustainability Network Unite to Call for G20 Action on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Ahead of the G20 Antalya Summit". unsdsn.org. 2015-11-10. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  4. "Spain begins a 'new normal' as children are allowed to play outside for the first time in six weeks". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  5. "Teresa Ribera is an advisor to the WLA - Club de Madrid". World Leadership Alliance - Club de Madrid (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  6. Retina, EL PAÍS (2019-10-22). "Teresa Ribera". EL PAÍS RETINA (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  7. "Teresa Ribera". www.psoe.es. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  8. "La Fundación Alternativas del PSOE recibe 100.000 euros anuales del Banco Santander". La Celosía. 2019-10-30. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  9. Instituto de Desarrollo Sostenible y Relaciones Internacionales (in Spanish)
  10. La fiscalía denunciará el proyecto Castor por prevaricación ambiental (in Spanish)
  11. La “chica con glamour” de ZP, investigada por prevaricación en la Plataforma Castor (in Spanish)
  12. Efecto Castor: los técnicos apenas firman ya declaraciones de impacto ambiental (in Spanish)
  13. Pedro Sánchez también ficha a Victoria Camps y Teresa Ribera (in Spanish)
  14. Teresa Ribera acepta ser ministra de Transición Energética y Medio Ambiente (in Spanish)
  15. Real Decreto 357/2018, de 6 de junio, por el que se nombran Ministros del Gobierno (in Spanish)
  16. Los 17 del "Consejo de Ministras y Ministros" de Sánchez prometen ante el Rey (in Spanish)
  17. "Spain Abolishes the 'Tax on the Sun'". Retrieved 2018-10-27.
  18. Binnie, Isla. "Spain scraps 'sun tax' in measures to cool electricity prices". U.S. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
  19. Neslen, Arthur (2018-10-26). "Spain to close most coalmines in €250m transition deal". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
  20. "Ribera calls on UN members to reinforce climate action - Energía16". www.energia16.com. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
  21. iAgua, redaccion (2018-10-24). "Teresa Ribera, premiada por su lucha contra el cambio climático". iAgua (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-10-27.
  22. "Real Decreto 7/2020, de 12 de enero, por el que se nombra Vicepresidenta Cuarta del Gobierno a doña Teresa Ribera Rodríguez". Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). 12 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  23. "Real Decreto 8/2020, de 12 de enero, por el que se nombran Ministros del Gobierno". Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). 12 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  24. "Por primera vez en España, el Gobierno tendrá cuatro Vicepresidencias". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 2020-01-09. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  25. "Sánchez encarga a Teresa Ribera el plan para la desescalada del confinamiento". El Español (in Spanish). 2020-04-14. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  26. elEconomista.es. "Teresa Ribera coordinará el proceso de desescalada de las medidas de confinamiento - elEconomista.es". www.eleconomista.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  27. "Teresa Ribera: la recuperación verde y solidaria es "la única opción"". www.efeverde.com. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  28. "European Green Deal must be central to a resilient recovery after Covid-19". Climate Home News. 2020-04-09. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  29. Inc, Midwest Communications. "'Air on your face': Spanish children get outside for first time in six weeks". WKZO. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  30. Cué, Carlos E. (2020-04-28). "Sánchez incorpora al comité técnico del coronavirus al núcleo duro de La Moncloa". EL PAÍS (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  31. "The obscure energy pact that threatens the EU's Green Deal". POLITICO. 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
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