Hongpeng Lei

Global Director, Climate
Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)
London, United Kingdom

Hongpeng joined CIFF in 2015. Currently he leads CIFF’s global portfolio on cities, transport, air quality, and cooling. He also oversees CIFF’s regional strategy and implementation in East and South East Asia, including China as CIFF’s China Chief Representative, working on energy transition, climate finance, cities and transport, air quality, food and land use, and China’s roles in global climate actions.

Hongpeng’s career spans government, think tank, NGOs and philanthropies. Prior to joining CIFF, he was the Director of the Energy Program in China for the World Resources Institute, focusing on renewable energy, energy efficiency, and low carbon city planning and demonstration.

Previously, Hongpeng led WWF China’s climate and energy team and its Low Carbon City Initiative. He authored “Low Carbon Cities: Why and How” in 2010, which provides a systematic methodology and criteria for the development of low carbon cities in China. He also worked on building energy efficiency and green buildings at China’s Ministry of Construction (currently known as Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development), where he gained extensive experiences on building sector.

Hongpeng sits on the Board of Energy Foundation China, a strategic re-granter pursuing clean energy, safe climate and sustainable prosperity. He is also a board member of C40, a global network of cities taking united action to confront the climate crisis. He chairs the Steering Committee of Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership, a multi-donor partnership formed by governmental and philanthropic partners to accelerate sustainable energy transition in the region.

His current advisory roles include Special Advisor of China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), which supports China’s top decision-makers with sustainable development recommendations; Member of China Strategy and Development Committee of World Resources Institute, a world-leading thinktank on environment and climate; and Member of China Advisory Committee of African Climate Foundation, which unlocks development opportunities in climate action in Africa.

Hongpeng has both an engineering and a management degree.