Overview

• Monique Barbut, 69, was appointed to lead the Ecological Transition, taking over from Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
• Her portfolio includes biodiversity and France’s international climate negotiations less than a month before COP30 opens in Brazil on November 10–21.
• Pannier-Runacher, a Macron loyalist since 2018, declined to return to the Lecornu 2 government, citing “la rupture.”
• Barbut inherits a ministry with reduced room to act following reported policy rollbacks, budget cuts, and attacks on renewables and national environmental agencies.
• Her career spans leadership at WWF (2021–2023), executive roles at UNCCD, UNEP, and the Global Environment Facility, and early service at the Agence Française de Développement starting in 1981.