Speaker — Neptune Forum 2026
Barbara Pompili
Ancienne ministre française de la Transition écologique, de la Biodiversité et des Négociations internationales sur le climat et la nature
French Ambassador for the Environment, Former Minister for Ecological Transition, France
Barbara Pompili has been committed to political ecology for more than 20 years. As Secretary of State for Biodiversity from February 2016 to 2017, she secured the adoption of the law for the recovery of biodiversity, nature and landscapes, and participated in COP13 in Cancun.
She served as Minister for Ecological Transition from 2020 to 2022, with responsibility for energy, transport, housing, water, biodiversity, the circular economy, natural and industrial risks, and international climate and environment negotiations. She secured the adoption of the Climate and Resilience Act following the Citizens' Convention on Climate. She chaired the EU Environment and Energy Council during the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2022. As Special Adviser 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 European Union countries. In December 2024, acting as Special Envoy of the President of the Republic, she co-organised in Saudi Arabia, with Kazakhstan and the World Bank, a One Planet Summit on the theme of water. She has been President of the OECD Water Governance Initiative since 2022. Since March 2025, she has become France's new French Ambassador for the Environment.
