Barbara Trachte is a Belgian Green politician and Member of the Brussels Parliament. From 2019 to 2024, she served as Brussels-Capital Region’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Research.

As a Green Minister, she challenged the conventional idea that economic policy should primarily pursue growth, and explored how public policy can instead help build an economy that operates within planetary boundaries and serves social needs. Inspired by Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics, she worked to translate this vision into concrete economic instruments, creating new ways to support, finance and incentivise businesses to engage in the ecological transition.

Her experience in Brussels offers a practical perspective on a key question: how can governments move from alternative economic thinking to policies that actually change the way economies and businesses operate?