[2][3] The grandson of a polytechnician, he attended the École nationale de l'aviation civile from 1964 to 1966 and earned a degree in engineering.

[12] In 2001, Richard succeeded Luc Hoffmann as president of the World Wide Fund for Nature - France [fr].

[14] During his mandate,[15] the L'Alliance pour la planète [fr] brought together more than 80 NGOs for the Grenelle Environnement in 2005.

[17] In February 2009, Richard founded the environmental and citizens movement, Résistances,[18] with Victor Hugo Espinoza.

He joined Yvan Lachaud of The Centrists in the party list, a move unpopular with voters, leading him to finish with only 18.62% of votes in the second round.