CEO & President

Prof. Ji Zou, as CEO & President of Energy Foundation China, overall manages the organization.

With years of experience in economics, energy, environment, climate change, and policymaking, Prof. Zou is highly regarded in the climate and clean energy space. He previously served as a deputy director general of China’s National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, under the government’s National Development and Reform Commission, focusing on China’s low-carbon development strategy and policy, and also led international climate negotiations and collaboration. He has extensive experience working at international, national, and local levels.

Between 2012 and 2015 and between 2000 and 2009, Prof. Zou was a key member of the Chinese climate negotiation team leading up to the Paris Agreement, which has promoted China’s new role in the global climate governance. Between 2013 and 2014, he served as a China representative to the United Nations Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing. He also contributed to the assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as a lead author or a coordinating lead author. He has facilitated academic exchanges between Chinese and international policy researchers, and helped organize strategy and policy dialogues between governments and civil society.

Prof. Zou was a vice dean, professor, and doctoral supervisor at the School of Environment and Natural Resources, Renmin University in Beijing, and an endowed professor at the School of Economics and Management, Harbin Institute of Technology in Shenzhen. He has worked hard to foster professional talent for the environment, energy, and development domains.

Prof. Zou brings NGO experience to the position, as well. He served as the first China Country Director of the World Resources Institute from 2009 to 2012, during which he led the institute in exploring projects in climate change, clean energy, and sustainable and livable cities.

His educational background covers multiple disciplines. Prof. Zou holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering and a master’s in Technical Economics, both from Tsinghua University, and a Ph.D. in Resources and Environmental Economics from Renmin University. He was also a visiting scholar at Harvard University and The London School of Economics and Political Science.