Qingfeng Zhang

Senior Sector Director
, ADB
Profile / Bio: 

Since 30 June 2023, Asian Development Bank (ADB) has introduced the new operating model (NOM). NOM is enhancing the Bank-wide synergies by consolidating agriculture, food systems, natural capital, and rural development expertise into one single sector. Dr. Zhang is leading this newly established Agriculture, Food, Nature, and Rural Development (AFNR) sector office.
AFNR sector office will lead the Bank-wide efforts for food security, scale up natural capital investment, promote integrated river basin management, develop inclusive and green agricultural value chain, and pilot integration of sovereign operations and private sector investment.

Mr. Zhang is leading the Bank’s efforts to achieve $14 billion food security ambition over 2022-2025 which was announced in September 2022. This program is designed to support to ease a worsening food crisis in the Asia and Pacific region, and improve long-term food security by strengthening food systems against the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss.

During 2020-2023, Mr. Zhang was also serving as the Chief of Rural Development & Food Security Thematic Group and concurrently Office in Charge of Environment Thematic Group. He was leading the Bank’s initiatives in natural capital lab, ocean health action plan, air quality management, operational guidance for rural development & food security, and East Asian Australasian Flyway.

Mr. Zhang was also serving as the Director for Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture in East Asia Department in the Bank (2014-2020). He successfully linked the agricultural production with natural resources management and environmental health, delivering the $2 billion Yangtze river economic belt framework program, designing $6 billion rural vitalization program in PRC, formulating multiple-phased air quality management and sustainable tourism programs in Mongolia across the various sectors. Prior to joining ADB, he was a Senior Environment Specialist at the World Bank in Washington; a Director at the State Environmental Protection Administration in Beijing; and a Research Fellow at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Mr. Zhang is a Chinese national. He holds a doctoral degree in environmental engineering from the Tsinghua University; and a master’s degree in water resources management, and a bachelor’s degree in hydrology from the Sichuan University. He was also trained at the Harvard Business School through its Executive Development Program.

Materials

Title Date Learning Materials Topic
The Role of MDBs in Addressing Climate-Food-Nature Nexus 10 December 2023 Slides Climate Change
Mainstreaming Climate Change in Food Security Investment Projects in Central and West Asia 09 December 2023 Slides Climate Change
[VIDEO] Welcome and introduction 07 September 2022 Multimedia Environment
Welcome Address 22 March 2022 Document Agriculture and Natural Resources
Day 2 Forum Recap 27 January 2022 Multimedia Environment, Finance, ICT, Water
Day 1 Forum Recap 26 January 2022 Multimedia Environment, Finance, ICT, Water
Remarks 03 August 2021 Document Agriculture and Natural Resources
Natural Capital Investments and Green Agri-Business Development 28 June 2021 Slides Agriculture and Natural Resources
Opening Remarks 20 April 2021 Multimedia Agriculture and Natural Resources
ADB Experience and Knowledge Sharing (Focus on Gender, Climate Change, and High-Level Technology) 09 March 2021 Document Agriculture and Natural Resources, Climate Change, Gender Equality
Mongolia’s Agriculture and Rural Development and ADB’s Assistance 29 October 2019 Slides Agriculture and Natural Resources
Mainstreaming Eco-Compensation into Sustainable Development Agenda: The Asian Development Bank Vision 08 December 2017 Slides Agriculture and Natural Resources, Environment, Knowledge Management
Challenges in Scaling Up Integrated Approaches: ADB Perspectives 21 January 2016 Slides ICT, Water