Barbara Pompili has been involved in environmental politics for over 20 years.
As Secretary of State for Biodiversity from February 2016 to 2017, she led the adoption of the Law for the Restoration of Biodiversity, Nature, and Landscapes and took part in COP13 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Cancun.
She served as a Member of Parliament for the Somme constituency from 2017 to 2020, then again from 2020 to 2023. During this time, she chaired the Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning Committee of the National Assembly, and later was designated rapporteur in the Foreign Affairs Committee.
She was Minister for the Ecological Transition from 2020 to 2022, overseeing Energy, Transport, Housing, Water, Biodiversity, Circular Economy, Natural and Industrial Risks, and International Climate/Environment negotiations. She led the adoption of the Climate and Resilience Law, following the Citizens’ Climate Convention. During France’s presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2022, she chaired the EU Environment and Energy Councils.
In October 2023, she submitted a report to the Government on the public acceptability of Low Emission Zones (LEZ) and lessons from the experiences of other European countries.
As Special Advisor for International Affairs at the General Secretariat for Ecological Planning (SGPE), she published in January 2025 a benchmarking report on ecological planning in G20 and EU countries.
In December 2024, as Special Envoy of the President of the French Republic, she co-organized in Saudi Arabia, alongside Kazakhstan and the World Bank, a One Planet Summit focused on water.
She has served as Chair of the OECD Water Governance Initiative since 2022.
Since March 2025, she has been France’s new Ambassador for the Environment. She is a graduate of Sciences Po Lille and speaks both French and English.