Dr Zhai Yongping graduated from the Department of Thermal Engineering at Tsinghua University in 1983 and earned his Ph.D. in Energy Economics from the French Institute for Energy Policy and Economics in 1989. He has had a long career at the African Development Bank (1993-2000) and the Asian Development Bank (2000-2021), where he served as the Chief of Energy Sector Group, promoting renewable energy technologies in developing countries. In July 2021, he joined Tencent as a Senior Advisor in the Strategic Development Department, contributing to the company's carbon neutrality initiatives. In 2024, he became a member of the Steering Committee of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG-P).