Yabei Zhang is a senior energy specialist of the World Bank and leads the World Bank’s engagement on clean cooking. Yabei has managed various energy projects in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP), Europe and the Central Asia, and Africa regions, with focus on household energy, energy efficiency, and urban energy. She led the regional flagship program EAP Clean Stove Initiative with country programs in China, Mongolia, Indonesia, and Lao PDR, and coordinated efficient and clean heating projects in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. She has developed and coordinated the UK Aid funded Modern Energy Cooking Services Program together with Loughborough University. She now leads the Clean Cooking Fund (CCF) at the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) and has developed the first CCF co-financed operation in Rwanda.
Prior to joining the World Bank through the Young Professional Program in 2008, Yabei worked at the Joint Global Change Research Institute. She holds a PhD in Economics from University of Maryland, College Park, a Master in City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a BA in Finance from Renmin University of China.