Jure Leben, born in Ljubljana in 1981, is an environmental policy expert.

He began his academic journey in the United States, graduating in 2006 with a BSc in Environmental Assessment and Management from Green Mountain College. After graduation, he moved to the United Kingdom, where he joined the TRL transport institute, with responsibility for assessing transport systems and their environmental impacts. In parallel, he pursued further studies at Oxford Brookes University, graduating in 2008 with a degree in environmental studies. His dissertation explored the links between national development indicators and the deployment of hydrogen and fuel cell technology. During his time at TRL, he was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Marie Curie Fund. In 2018, Mr Leben further broadened his academic horizons, obtaining a Master of Philosophy qualification from the University of Hertfordshire.

In 2008, he returned to Slovenia to head the Centre for Renewable Energy and Environmental Protection in Pivka. In this role, he focused on issues such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and alternative energy sources in transport and buildings.

Mr Leben then continued his career at the Government Office for Climate Change, where he was tasked with developing policies in energy and emerging green technologies and managing EU-funded projects. In 2012, he joined the then Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment to take charge of the implementation of the ECO label and eco-innovations. He was also head of the inter-ministerial working group on green public procurement and deputy head of the inter-ministerial working group on green tax reform.

In 2014, he was briefly State Secretary at the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, where he was responsible for overseeing environmental policy.

In 2016, he was appointed State Secretary at the Ministry of Infrastructure, in charge of the country's largest infrastructure project, the construction of the second track of the Divača–Koper railway line.

He remained in this position until being elected Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning in September 2018. In 2019, he found employment in the commercial sector, where he worked until June 2024, when he was appointed State Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office.