The European Central Bank executive board is facing a reshuffle in the next few years, with most of its members being replaced. While experts don’t expect the central bank to reverse its approach to climate, the opaque nomination process makes it hard to predict who could lead the ECB next and how they might approach climate risk.
Six of the eight positions on the executive board are up for replacement by 2031, with four being replaced over the next two years, including the roles of president and chief economist.
“Even if the board in itself is not full of very pro-climate individuals and we don’t have a second Christine [Lagarde], we don’t have another Frank Elderson, that doesn’t mean the central bank will completely stop working on climate at all,” said Clarisse Murphy, central banks campaigner at Reclaim Finance.
“Central banks in Europe and even across the world have come to the conclusion that climate change is important, that nature degradation is important for their mandate. And I think going back on that will be very difficult,” she added.
Still, not all EU governors agree on the best approach to climate change risk or its importance in central bank governance. A new ECB board could shift the current balance of power from one that mostly agrees on the importance of integrating climate and nature into its activities to one that takes a more hands-off approach.
Why the ECB board matters for climate
The ECB is composed of various decision-making bodies that include the executive board and the governors of national central banks. But it’s the executive board that handles the day-to-day running of the ECB, setting the bar for member central banks.
Under Christine Lagarde’s leadership, the ECB has become a leader on climate change issues, even becoming the first central bank to fine a financial institution for not adequately accounting for climate risk.
“In theory, the next ECB Board could stop or sideline climate change,” said Stanislas Jourdan, an associate researcher at the Sustainable Finance Lab.
“But even in the worst scenario I don’t expect a massive U-turn, given how much progress has been achieved. However there is a clear risk that the ECB will be less audacious in the future, for example when discussing the greening of its next operational framework which was announced in 2024.”
The leadership of central banks can quickly shape how it approaches climate and nature. The Bank of England shifted its focus away from climate and nature risk when Andrew Bailey took over as governor, while Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh has strongly criticised the bank’s foray into climate change risk.
Change in leadership
One of the ECB replacements has already been chosen – Croatia’s Boris Vujcic, who was nominated to become the next vice president of the ECB.
A hawkish central banker, he sees climate change as a risk that the financial system needs to be aware of but that governments should take the lead on climate change policy, not central banks because “if faced with a conflict between maintaining price stability and/or financial stability, and fighting climate change, central banks would and have the obligation, to give priority to price stability and financial stability as their primary mandates”.
Vujcic is still seen as a strong central banker, and his nomination is a win for eastern Europe, despite the limited role of vice president. It also opens up the door for the EU’s big four member states of Germany, France, Spain and Italy to put forward nominations.
Meanwhile, France will also face its own nomination process after Banque de France (BdF) governor François Villeroy de Galhau announced he is leaving 18 months before his term ends. While he did not state why he was leaving, there is speculation that it allows French president Emmanuel Macron to nominate the next governor ahead of a potential far-right turnout during France’s 2027 election.
The BdF has become a de facto leader on climate and nature issues, receiving the top score on the Green Central Banking Scorecard several years in a row.
How the ECB board nomination process works
The appointment process for the ECB board is, like many things in the EU bloc, complex. Nominations are made by finance members of the Eurozone working group. The appointments are confirmed by the European Council after a hearing and vote in the EU parliament.
In general, four of the seats are given to Germany, France, Spain and Italy, and there are no two members from the same country on the board for an extended time. At least one woman needs to sit on the board – the ECB has predominantly been led by men from western Europe, with the majority of national bank central members that sit on the ECB’s governing council also men.
Although the European Parliament can filibuster appointments, which it has done in the past over concerns about gender imbalance, it generally has very little say in who is nominated.
However, for the vice president nomination, the Eurogroup proposed a different process – closed-door hearings by the European Parliament’s Econ committee, which submitted two recommended replacements.
Ultimately, finance ministers ignored the list, choosing Vujcic instead.
It’s unclear if this new process will be considered in the future.
“I think it would not be surprising if some MEPs are quite upset about the situation, because they were asked for their opinion and completely disregarded,” said Murphy.
While the ECB is politically independent, the nomination process is political, said Jourdan.
“You can build the most robust, independent central bank in the world, but you can’t depoliticise the fact that politicians are the ones making the appointments.”
This page was last updated February 12, 2026
Written by
Moriah Costa is the Editor-in-Chief of Green Central Banking and has over a decade of experience writing about banking and finance. She is an award-winning American journalist based in Paris and has written for major international publications, including Reuters, The Guardian, and S&P Global. Having grown up in water-stressed Arizona, she has always had a strong interest in bringing awareness to climate and environmental issues.
