Virginie SCHWARZ, Ingénieur Général des Mines, is Director of Energy at the French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy.

A specialist in public policy in the field of energy and the environment, she was previously Deputy Director General of ADEME, the French government's agency for promoting energy and ecological transition. From 2007 to 2009, she worked in New York for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as an adviser on climate change mitigation to the Director of the Global Environment Facility. In addition to her work as a strategy consultant and programme evaluator, she was involved in the design and launch of an initiative to develop regional climate plans in developing countries. From 2003, she held a number of positions at ADEME.

Before joining ADEME, she headed the electricity sub-directorate at the DGEMP (Ministry of Industry), which was responsible in particular for supervising EDF and introducing competition in the electricity sector. She had previously been deputy head of division in the industrial development division of DRIRE Ile-de-France, responsible in particular for steering programmes to support the development of small and medium-sized businesses.