IE SPEGA x IE SciTech x RAIA Summer Research Program 2026
This page highlights six climate leaders that students from IE University’s School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs and IE School of Science and Technology have researched. Using RAIA’s unique methodology, the students examined each leader’s background, motivations, policies, and impact leading up to COP31. 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.
Ursula von der Leyen, the first woman to lead the European Commission, was born a European before she knew she was German. Born in Brussels in 1958 to Ernst Albrecht, one of the first senior civil servants of the new European Commission and later Minister President of Lower Saxony, she grew up multilingual at the European School of Brussels.
After studying economics at Göttingen, Münster and the London School of Economics without graduating, she turned to medicine, earning her doctorate in 1991. She joined the CDU in 1990 after her father’s electoral defeat and served in every Merkel cabinet, becoming Germany’s first female Minister of Defence in 2013.
As Commission President since 2019, she launched the European Green Deal within ten days of taking office.
Read Daria Holtea, Bianca Albu & Ariadna Alvarenga’s report here:
Europe is the fastest-warming continent, and its climate stakes are intertwined. Deadly heat, which caused an estimated 62,700 excess deaths in summer 2024, compounds floods, droughts, wildfires and the collapse of ecosystems and biodiversity. Politically, von der Leyen must balance climate ambition with competitiveness, defence spending, farmer protests, a sceptical EPP and a rising far right.
Ursula von der Leyen’s defining moment was her candidate speech to the European Parliament on 16 July 2019, where she introduced the European Green Deal. Chosen outside the Spitzenkandidaten process after Green gains and the Fridays for Future protests, she was elected by just nine votes. That narrow mandate made climate action the foundation of her legitimacy as Commission President.
Ursula von der Leyen’s climate policies centre on the Fit for 55 package, which aims to cut emissions by 55% by 2030 through an expanded Emissions Trading System, a carbon border tax and the Social Climate Fund. Her EU Adaptation Strategy prepares member states for unavoidable climate impacts, while the European Union Nature Restoration Law requires restoring 20% of EU land and sea by 2030.
Ursula von der Leyen’s climate solutions in action include a rise in renewable electricity from 34% in 2019 to 47% in 2024 and €38.8 billion in emissions trading revenue in 2024 alone. Yet her second-term shift towards competitiveness diluted the combustion engine ban, delayed ETS2 to 2028 and weakened the European Union Nature Restoration Law amid farmer protests and political pressure.