Julian Popov is a Senior Fellow at the Brussels-based think tank Strategic Perspectives and a former Minister of Environment of Bulgaria (2013, 2023–24, 2026). He is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and of the Advisory Board of the Energy Policy Group.

Julian has served as Bulgaria’s Goodwill Ambassador for Energy and Climate Policy, Energy Security Adviser to the President of Bulgaria, Chairman of the Building Performance Institute Europe, and Senior Fellow at the European Climate Foundation. He is the founding Vice-Chancellor of New Bulgarian University and co-founder of the Tunisian School of Politics.

He was named by Euractiv as one of the 40 most influential voices in European energy policy (No. 24) and European energy efficiency policy (No. 25). His articles on foreign affairs and energy policy have appeared in the Financial Times, Project Syndicate, NS Energy Monitor, The Independent, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, and Euractiv, among others.

He is the author of two books and co-author of The European Supergrid and Energy and Climate Diplomacy.