European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera urged this Tuesday a “massive effort” to confront climate change, declaring that there are “millions of reasons to keep working.”
Speaking in Paris at the opening of the first Climate and Nature Week, hosted by Sciences Po, the Spanish commissioner defended the EU’s green strategy as “a combination of solidarity, sustainability, and opportunity.”
“Delaying climate action is nonsense,” Ribera said, warning that any attempt to soften the EU’s environmental goals would be “a step backward.” She cited global development gaps —“3.4 billion people still lack adequate sanitation, 750 million live without electricity”— as arguments to “invest differently” in an economy “fit for the climate challenge.”
Ribera told the audience of European policymakers, business executives, and environmental advocates that “Europe faces a crucial moment —for its leadership, for democracy, and for peace,” adding that the continent “must show that transformation is possible without losing competitiveness.”
But her remarks come amid growing concern in several EU capitals over the costs of that transformation. Rising energy prices, deindustrialization in Germany, and farmers’ protests in France and the Netherlands have underscored the tension between ecological ambition and economic reality. Even within Brussels, some officials privately question whether the Green Deal timetable remains viable as global competitors, especially the United States and China, pursue more flexible climate frameworks.
Asked about these challenges, Ribera insisted that “we need clarity, not rigidity.” She argued that the path to full decarbonization “requires cooperation across all regions of Europe” and that “the private sector has to be part of the solution.”
Her intervention in Paris marks the beginning of a new phase of climate diplomacy ahead of COP30, scheduled for November 2025 in Belém, Brazil. European negotiators see the summit as an opportunity to reaffirm the EU’s role as a global climate leader —though that leadership may come at the price of competitiveness. As one participant at the event put it, “Europe’s credibility will depend not only on its promises but on whether it can afford to keep them.”
