[9] Neubauer grew up in Hamburg's Iserbrook district and completed her high school diploma in 2014 at the Marion-Dönhoff-Gymnasium in the affluent Blankenese neighborhood.

She did a semester abroad at the University College London[1] and received scholarships from the German government[12] and the Alliance 90/The-Greens-affiliated Heinrich Böll Foundation.

[18] Luisa Neubauer was an organizer and spokesperson for the first school climate strike on 14 December 2018, which also made use of the social media hashtag #FridaysForFuture.

Neubauer rejects comparisons of herself and other strike organizers to Greta Thunberg, saying: "We're building a mass-movement and reaching out quite far in our methods of mobilizing and gaining attention.

"[21] Following the protests of Fridays For Future Germany against Siemens for a specific infrastructure project in Australia, Neubauer met with Joe Kaeser in January 2020.

[22] Following the start of 2023 Israel-Hamas war on 7 October 2023, Neubauer has been dealing with conflicting positions within both Fridays for Future Germany and the wider climate movement.

[24] In an interview with Der Spiegel, Neubauer indicated her expectations for the COP 28 climate meeting in these terms:[25]: confirmed translation It will be really complicated.

Of course, we will also work with human rights organizations to stand up for political prisoners, as we did [at COP 27].Der Spiegel wrote elsewhere:[26] The climate movement is now facing a potential schism.

The German chapter of Fridays for Future has distanced itself from the international movement, with Luisa Neubauer, the group's most prominent member in the country, telling Der Spiegel in an interview that "the loss of trust is immense".Neubauer had earlier separated herself from public statements by the Fridays for Future international board regarding the military action by Israel.

[33][34] During a Spiegel interview with member of German parliament Wolfgang Schäuble at the end of October 2020, Neubauer emphasized the special status of the climate crisis as a problem that affects all areas of life.

"[36] Neubauer, writing in Der Spiegel in December 2024, argues that the political backsliding on climate protection in Germany over the past two years or so is the responsibility of everyone.

Neubauer indicated the biggest failure of Fridays for Future Germany was not to embed climate policy across the political spectrum "in a way that it could sustainably live on without us".

Neubauer also argued that "it is no longer green technologies that are the issue, but the fight for democracy and truth" and furthermore that "if there's no shared reality in which we operate, it will be impossible to move forward with the climate transition".

[38] At the opening of the 2025 Berinale, Neubauer wore a long formal dress with slogans suggesting that CDU/CSU chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz was normalizing far‑right politics.

[8] She said further, this kind of criticism expressed a generational conflict and a question of power that pits private ecological behavior against larger political issues, such as rising CO2 levels and the general amount of air travel.

[44] Alexander Straßner [de], an adjunct professor of political science at Regensburg University, accused her of using the term "old white man" as a synonym for someone with different opinions to discredit such people.