A series of multicomponent oxide catalysts (CuO/ZnO/Me_mO_n/ZrO₂/SiO₂, with Me = Mg, Ce, or La) was synthesized through a one-pot soft-template approach and used for CO₂hydrogenation to methanol. In the case of the La-containing catalysts, additional samples were prepared with CuO contents in the range 40–60 wt%. The influence of the catalyst composition on the physicochemical properties as well as the effect on the catalytic performance were investigated. The fresh catalysts were characterized in terms of composition, structure, textural properties, dispersion of the oxidic phases, and reducibility. On the reduced samples, structural and acid–base properties were also investigated, as well as specific metal surface area and dispersion of Cu⁰. After in situ H₂-treatment at 250 °C, the catalysts activity was tested in a bench scale plant at 250 °C and 3.0 MPa, using a gas hourly space velocity of 24,000 Ncm³ h⁻¹ g_cat⁻¹ and a H₂/CO₂ molar ratio equal to 3. It was found that the production of methanol is particularly favored by the introduction of La₂O₃, the highest value of methanol space–time yield (413 ) being obtained on the CuO/ZnO/La₂O₃/ZrO₂/SiO₂ catalyst containing 50 wt% of copper oxide.