IE SPEGA x RAIA Summer Research Program 2025
This page highlights six climate leaders that students from IE University’s School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs have researched. Using RAIA’s unique methodology, the students examined each leader’s background, motivations, policies, and impact leading up to COP30. The goal is to better understand how individual decision-makers shape climate action on a global scale. This marks the fourth consecutive year of the program thanks to the generous support and full financing of IE University.
Each profile is divided into introduction, their Stake, their defining moment, their solutions, their impact and conclusion. “Their stake” analyses the key environmental challenges and issues a leader faces, “their defining moment” highlights the key moments that are pivotal to a leader becoming a climate leader, “their solutions” examines the policies and initiatives a leader provides and “their impact” analyses how effective a leader implements the proposed solutions and how impactful they are. In the end, the students answer the questions whether the leaders qualify as a climate leader and if so, into what category of climate leadership they fall.
Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first female president, brings a rare mix of scientific expertise and political experience. Trained as a climate scientist, she was influenced by her academic parents and her grandparents, Jewish exiles from Lithuania whose political activism shaped her sense of justice.
After studying physics at UNAM, she specialized in energy engineering, earning a PhD on energy efficiency in Mexico compared to OECD countries. She went on to publish widely on energy and sustainability, becoming a recognized expert. Her political career began as Secretary of Environment in Mexico City under Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with whom she co-founded the Morena party in 2014.
As mayor of Mexico City, she pursued ambitious climate reforms, including expanding green spaces, cleaning water supplies, and cutting emissions, though her tenure also faced criticism, notably over the Metro Line 12 collapse.
Read Josip Biondić & Manuela Altés Alcaraz‘s report here:
Mexico faces intertwined environmental and political stakes. With severe air pollution, water scarcity, fossil fuel dependence, and biodiversity loss, climate vulnerability worsens inequality. Politically, Sheinbaum must balance domestic reform, MORENA’s Fourth Transformation, and Mexico’s international commitments while navigating U.S. pressure, energy sovereignty, and economic uncertainty.
Claudia Sheinbaum’s defining moment was her contribution to the 2007 IPCC report on climate change mitigation, for which the organisation won a Nobel Prize. Though only a contributing author, this role marked her shift from domestic environmental work to international recognition, building global connections and cementing her scientific and political credibility as well as legitimacy as a climate leader on the global stage.
Claudia Sheinbaum’s environmental policies emphasised transforming Mexico City’s public transport, expanding electric buses, cable cars, and cycling infrastructure to cut emissions and improve accessibility. As president, she launched the National Water Plan to address scarcity and equity, and energy reforms boosting solar and geothermal, while reinforcing state-led sovereignty through PEMEX and CFE.
Claudia Sheinbaum’s climate solutions in action include ambitious reforms in Mexico City’s transport, cycling, and mobility systems, yielding significant CO₂ reductions and expanded accessibility. Her National Water Plan targets pollution, efficiency, and concessions, while her energy policy promotes renewables and sovereignty, balancing sustainability goals with state-led oversight and economic considerations.
As the first woman to serve as Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo has built her career on linking climate action with social justice. With cities responsible for more than 70% of global emissions, her leadership demonstrates how local governments can drive ambitious responses to climate change while reshaping urban life.
Born in Cádiz, Spain, and raised in France in a modest household, Hidalgo’s personal story of social mobility continues to inform her political outlook. After a career as a labour inspector and advisor to Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, she rose through the Socialist Party ranks, ultimately winning the 2014 municipal election to become the first female Mayor of Paris.
Her mayoral agenda has centred on bold environmental reforms. From removing cars from central Paris and vastly expanding cycling lanes, to pioneering the idea of the “15-minute city,” Hidalgo has sought to transform Paris into a more resilient, sustainable, and equitable capital. Internationally, she has positioned herself as a climate advocate, most notably by convening over 1,000 mayors during COP21 to strengthen global cooperation at the local level.
Read Alice Girotto & Bryan Thorne‘s report here:
Paris confronts rising temperatures, extreme weather, air pollution, flooding, and water scarcity, threats that disproportionately harm its most vulnerable residents. This section examines how Anne Hidalgo frames climate risk as a matter of social justice, deploys health, resilience, and fairness policies in her Paris Climate Action Plan, and elevates the voices too often ignored.
Hidalgo’s defining moment came during COP21, when Paris became more than host city, it became global exemplar. She co-organised the Climate Summit for Local Leaders, bringing over 1,000 mayors together. This moment shifted her agenda towards local leadership, bringing climate policy into urban planning, social justice, and citizen participation.
Anne Hidalgo is reshaping Paris through bold climate policies: low-emission zones, bioclimatic urban planning, and energy-efficient renovations in private housing. This section explores how she combines regulation, financial incentives, and urban design to reduce pollution, improve health outcomes, and ensure social equity for vulnerable populations in the city of Paris.
The city of Paris is facing rising temperatures, extreme weather, and air pollution. In this section, we examine why Hidalgo sees environmental urgency as inseparable from equity: protecting vulnerable groups, managing water scarcity, and responding to health risks. Her policy lens centers fairness as climate pressures hit poorer neighbourhoods harder than others.