Minister of the Environment

Personal information

Tomáš Jan Podivínský was born on 21 November 1969 in Vyškov, Moravia.

Education

He graduated from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague, and in 2004 graduated from the Diplomatic Academy in Prague; he is a career diplomat.

Professional and public activities

From 1997 to 2003 he was tasked by the Czech embassy in Vienna to manage Czech-Austrian communications regarding issues around the Temelín nuclear power plant. He participated in the organization of official as well as numerous unofficial negotiations between Austrian provincial governors with their Czech counterparts, environment ministers or foreign ministers, participated in public hearings regarding Temelín and in the creation of the Melk agreement.

He gained experience from 2003 to 2005 as director of the cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, and from 2005 to 2009 he also devoted himself to cross-border infrastructural and environmental Czech-German activities and projects as General Consul of the Czech Republic in Germany.

He came to the Ministry of the Environment from the State Environmental Fund, where as a deputy he was responsible for the Green for Savings programme, which he devoted himself to at the ministry as well.

On 10 July 2013, he was named minister of the environment.