We report on new ruthenium complexes as catalysts for the efficient transformation of CO2 into formic acid employing basic ionic liquids as buffering media. Remarkably, these complexes catalyze the hydrogenation of CO2 selectively and without employing strong bases, which improves the sustainability of the process when compared to common base-mediated technologies. The molecular catalyst design relies on donor-flexible and synthetically versatile pyridylidene amide (PYA) ligands which allows the ligand architecture to be varied in a controlled manner to gain valuable insights for the improvement of catalyst performance. Modification of the ligand properties directly influence the catalytic process by shifting the turnover limiting step, the reaction mechanism and the stability upon the acidification of the reaction media and provide access to high-performance systems reaching turnover numbers of several thousands and turnover frequencies up to 350 h(-1). (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.