Hongpeng Lei serves as Global Director, Climate at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF).
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 tanks, NGOs and philanthropies. Before 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 Low Carbon City Initiative. He authored “Low Carbon Cities: Why and How” in 2010, providing a systematic methodology and criteria for developing low-carbon cities in China. He also worked on building energy efficiency and green buildings at China’s Ministry of Construction (currently known as the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development), where he gained extensive experience in the building sector.
Hongpeng sits on the Board of Energy Foundation China, a strategic re-granter pursuing clean energy, safe climate and sustainable prosperity. He chairs the Steering Committee of the 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 the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), which supports China’s top decision-makers with sustainable development recommendations; member of the China Strategy and Development Committee of the World Resources Institute, a world-leading thinktank on environment and climate; and member of the China Advisory Committee of the African Climate Foundation, which unlocks development opportunities for climate action in Africa.
Hongpeng has both an engineering and a management degree.