Biography
Liming Qiao is a pioneering strategist in Asia’s energy transition, recognized for her ability to transform complex technical challenges into actionable policy frameworks that drive real-world change. With over two decades of experience spanning international climate negotiations to renewable energy deployment, she has emerged as one of the most influential voices shaping Southeast Asia’s path toward a decarbonized energy future.
As Chief Strategy Officer-Asia at the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), Liming is widely regarded as the person who reshaped the offshore wind and renewable energy agenda in Asia, positioning the region at the forefront of the global energy transition. She played a pivotal role in putting offshore wind on the policy map in Vietnam and the Philippines, while also helping establish Taiwan as one of Asia’s first offshore wind success stories.
She is not only a strategist but also an ecosystem builder and fund mobilizer. Her hallmark contribution has been the development of the “route to market” framework—a policy innovation that creates a holistic and structured approach to renewable energy advocacy. By bridging technical, financial, and regulatory perspectives, this framework has provided governments with a replicable model for advancing offshore wind and other clean energy technologies across the region.
Though her career began in international climate diplomacy, including her early participation in UN climate negotiations, her work exemplifies the shift from global climate “talk” to climate “action” to create lasting pathways for real-world transformation.
As a woman working in the male-dominated energy sector, Liming has overcome many hurdles over nearly two decades. Her leadership has established her as a key voice for the energy transition in Asia and a pioneer in shaping the region’s renewable energy future.
She is driven by deep intrinsic motivation, fueled not by external rewards, but by an enduring curiosity about the world and the willingness to bring out changes. “I believe that where there is a will, there is a way,” she shares.
This determination pushes her to ask critical questions, think deeply, and act strategically in search for the root causes and solutions of complex challenges.
Breakthrough program
Liming Qiao was selected for the Climate Breakthrough Award program in 2025.
Liming wants to tackle what she sees as the next big bottleneck in the transition to renewable energy: grid flexibility and energy storage. As countries reach high targets for variable renewable energy (VRE)—solar and wind power that varies with weather conditions—there will come a point where peak supply cannot be integrated into the grid without significant energy storage and improved grid flexibility.
Her new initiative will involve creating the Future Energy Storage and System Integration Alliance (FESSIA), a multi-stakeholder coalition composed of industry players, think tanks, and academia. She will work with the industry through structured engagement, harnessing the fast growing renewables industry in the region and acting with one voice with policy makers and other stakeholders to accelerate deployment of storage technology to enable grid flexibility.
The Alliance will create a new “route to market” framework, pioneered by GWEC Asia, to ensure there is a pathway for large-scale deployment of energy storage technology.
Based in Singapore, Liming is strategically focusing on the ASEAN region. ASEAN is the world’s fourth-largest energy consumer with a fast-growing population, making it a critical region for renewable energy transition. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Southeast Asia will account for 25% of the projected rise in global energy demand over the next decade, driven by population growth and rapid urbanization.
Liming envisions the immense opportunity to lead in a space that is not only technically critical but also institutionally underdeveloped. Her goal is to bridge this gap by delivering technical and policy solutions while mobilizing new leadership and collaboration, to drive a resilient, inclusive, and fully decarbonized energy future across Southeast Asia.
