Dr Barbara Bartels Leipold

By birth, Dr. Barbara Bartels-Leipold is from Hanover, but lived for many years in Delmenhorst, a town of around 80,000 in northern Germany, near Bremen. She worked as a professor for public law and European law at the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences in Germany. She also headed the public administration course at the university, in which young civil servants are trained for the state of Lower Saxony and its municipalities and districts. The law graduate has been the ambassador of the European climate pact in Spain since November 1, 2021.

Many years of experience from local to international
As a full-time city councilor in Delmenhorst, Bartels-Leipold was a political official responsible for social affairs, culture, education, science and sport as well as real estate, human resources, organization and finance. Before that, she had worked for the administration of the German Armed Forces for a number of years. She was in the ISAF in Afghanistan, worked in the Ministry of Defense and also in the field of international agreements, in particular for joint training projects in the armed forces.

At the same time, she was also writing her doctoral thesis on the idea of an international piracy court, which was being discussed at the time. “Fortunately, this is no longer such an urgent issue, in contrast to the situation of women in Afghanistan, which affects me very much,” said the lawyer.

Familiar with the topic

The committed professor studied law, specializing in environmental law with European and international references. She wrote her thesis on the implementation of European regulations on waste shipments (waste tourism) in German law. “The topics of the environment, Europe and international affairs have accompanied me throughout my professional career.”

Since summer 2019 she has been living with her husband and daughter in Beniarbeig near Denia.

Why did I apply to be an ambassador for the EU climate pact? Because I need to see pictures like this every day. What is reminiscent of idyllic fog at first glance is nothing more than acrid smoke.

The farmers openly burn the green waste and fallen fruit from the orange trees on their fields. Many think these clouds of smoke are just water vapor. But that’s not true. Due to the combustion temperature being too low, toxic gases and fine dust are produced in addition to carbon dioxide and water vapour. And that is not only unpleasant for the nose, but highly toxic for your health.

My approach as EU Climate Pact Ambassador…

… takes up the idea of the action plan for a circular economy: The agricultural production process must be recorded and controlled with all the materials that occur: whether food, plant residues, secondary raw materials or waste. This is the only way to close the legal gaps and realize all value creation potential for the benefit of people, the climate and the environment. The market alone will not always be able to do this, as the example of Zumosoil shows.