Tubiana co-founded the Paris-based Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI)[2] in 2001, which she headed from 2002 to 2014, is a professor at Sciences Po, as well as has previously served as senior adviser on the environment to the former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.

She has been responsible for conducting international environmental negotiations for the French government and has also been a member of the Conseil d'Analyse Économique attached to the Prime Minister's office.

Her mother and grandmother were Greek Catholic immigrants and early importers of modern Swedish furniture in Algeria.

[8] She was also a member of the French Economic Analysis Council (Conseil d'analyse économique) attached to the Prime Minister's office.

Tubiana was also Research Director at INRA (1995–2002) and an associate professor at the École nationale supérieure agronomique in Montpellier (1992–1997).

[13][14] In 2016, Tubiana was appointed High-Level Champion for pre-2020 climate action to sustain the momentum generated by the Paris Agreement, alongside Hakima El Haité.

[16] She is Chair of Expertise France's Board and President of the French Environment & Energy Management Agency's (ADEME) Scientific Council.

[17] As she explained in a Women of 2015 interview with the Financial Times, Tubiana was then in New York, working as a visiting professor at Columbia University.

Her strategy, which proved successful, was based on encouraging countries to come up with their own plans for adopting domestic policies to provide for action on climate change.

[10] It was Tubiana who suggested inviting the heads of state to the opening of the conference, avoiding the problems faced at COP15 in Copenhagen when they came in at the end.

As a result of the meeting, new energy technologies would enjoy unexpected levels of development, with ever more joint ventures between national administrations and private companies.