15 September 2025
#1 – The Way I Came and the Way ForwardÂ
For those of you reading this blog, you probably already know me—and may have heard the news: I have been honoured with the 2025 Climate Breakthrough Award, the largest award given to an individual in the field of climate change. This award recognises past achievements while empowering the next chapter of work in the global effort to combat climate change.
I started this blog to give friends, colleagues, and partners a closer look at what this award means: what it is, why I was chosen, and how it will shape the path ahead.
(Warning: this is a long read—stay with me to the end to hear about my exciting and transformational new project.)
What is This Award? And Why me?
The Climate Breakthrough Award provides significant multi-year funding to visionary leaders whose bold ideas can drive transformative change. It recognises not just past achievements, but the potential to reshape entire landscapes and ecosystems.
I am deeply humbled to be selected, and to stand alongside a cohort of inspiring leaders delivering breakthrough solutions to the world’s greatest challenge: climate change.
Why me?
Looking back, the past six years have been the most defining chapter of my career:
I approached the region’s challenges with a holistic policy framework, always keeping the bigger picture in sight. My 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 and industry with a replicable model for advancing offshore wind and other clean energy technologies across the region.
- Accelerating offshore wind in Southeast Asia – We pushed the agenda for offshore wind earlier than many thought possible. I still remember the first Offshore Wind Roundtable in 2019, when most investors were focused only on onshore wind in Vietnam. Together with partners like the World Bank Group, DEA, and GIZ, GWEC helped shape the VEPG Offshore Wind Task Force and catalyze an entirely new ecosystem.
- Mobilizing philanthropic funding – Beginning in 2020, we opened the door for philanthropic capital to flow into offshore wind in Asia. It was the first time major funders turned their attention to this sector in emerging Asia—and it changed the trajectory of what was possible.
- Building GWEC Asia – What began with just me relocating to Singapore has now grown into a 15-person team across Japan, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Singapore. Membership has multiplied many times over, and the region has become a global focal point for offshore wind. The GWEC Asia team is something I’m truly proud of: A team of highly professional, goal focused and passionate people, working to deliver mission impossible.
Zooming out from these past six years to my full career, I feel privileged to have witnessed—and contributed to—several transformations in climate and energy:
- Since beginning my career in international climate diplomacy in 2003, I have seen climate change move from a niche concern to a central global political and security issue, with renewable energy at the heart of the response.
- Over the past two decades, I have journeyed from being a climate advocate, to partnering with the clean energy industry, to building bridges between industry and policymakers—all with the aim of advancing the energy transition in this critical region.
What This Award Means to Me
For me, this award is not only a recognition of professional achievements—it is also a testament to women’s empowerment in the energy sector.
When I first entered the wind industry in 2008, I attended the Husum Wind Show in Germany. A colleague asked me to look around: the entire room was filled with men in black suits—except for the two of us women. That moment has always stayed with me.
The energy sector has long been male-dominated. While offshore wind has opened more doors for women in recent years—particularly in Asia over the past 5–8 years—earning a respected seat at the table is still far from easy. That is why every woman who manages to stand tall in this industry is, in her own way, a heroine.
I also carry the cultural background of East Asia, where humility—and sometimes even self-diminishing—runs deep. That makes this recognition even more meaningful.
And that’s exactly why I want to use this award as a message to other women:
👉 Trust yourself—even before others begin to.
👉 Embrace recognition when it comes, and own your success.
👉 Celebrate your achievements wholeheartedly—give yourself that big internal hug.
To those who see themselves in my story: this award is not mine alone. It is also for you—the women who have been steering some of the most crucial journeys from the second row. We don’t need to prove ourselves endlessly. We deserve the recognition we earn.
Finally, a small call to action: if this message resonates with you, drop a 💚 in the comments. Let’s make visible how many of us are out here, lifting each other up.
Gratitude
No journey is ever walked alone. I want to take a moment to thank the many people and organizations who have shaped mine.
- GWEC – My professional home for the past 18 years, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. It is hard to part ways with such an extraordinary community. GWEC has always been the right organization at the right time: a leader in the energy transition and a true ecosystem builder. I have stood on its shoulders, and together we achieved so much.
- Steve Sawyer – The founding Secretary General of GWEC, my mentor, and the one who first brought me into GWEC. I feel so fortunate to have worked closely with him during the last 10 years of his life. He left countless marks on me, many of which I only came to realize later. This moment of recognition, I want to share with Steve.
- Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC – Thank you for trusting me even before I could fully trust myself. And applause for truly walking the talk on gender balance. Under your leadership, GWEC not only launched the Women in Wind program, but also embedded gender equity in its leadership team—today, half of the senior management are women. Ben, you are a true champion of inclusion.
- GWEC Management – Rebecca, thank you for your generosity, open mind, and joy in collaboration. Joyce, for your hard work and professionalism during the early days of GWEC Asia; Amisha, who is the inspiration of my deep thinking of the previous section on this award’s meanings to me.
- My dearest Asia Team – Mark Hutchinson, my mentor for the past six years—nothing I achieved today would have been possible without your constant support. To former colleagues like Naveen Balachandran and Alastair Dutton, who stood by me at the inception of GWEC Asia, your encouragement meant everything. And to my precious colleagues across Asia, I may not name each of you, but you all know the special place you hold in my heart.
- Members, partners, funders and supporters – To every organization and individual who supported GWEC when we first started in Singapore: thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
The Road Ahead
Winning the Climate Breakthrough Award is not just about looking back—it is about stepping forward with renewed purpose. My next chapter will be centered on launching FESSIA – the Future Energy Storage and System Integration Alliance (www.fessia.org)
Why an alliance and not an association?
Because the mission is not just to represent one group of stakeholders, but to bring together a diverse coalition—industry, governments, utilities, funders, and innovators—around a shared vision: enabling the flexibility and system integration that Asia’s clean energy future requires.
Why energy storage and system integration?
As renewable energy scales, the next bottleneck is no longer generation, but grid flexibility and system integration. Storage technology and its deployment will determine whether the energy transition succeeds or stalls. This is where the next frontier of transformation lies—and where I believe my experience and networks can make the greatest impact: building the policy frameworks that will give storage technologies a clear route to market in ASEAN.
Where will we begin?
- I will continue to focus on markets close to my heart: Vietnam and the Philippines—both at the tipping point of integrating large shares of renewables, where storage and flexibility solutions are urgently needed.
- At the same time, we will look into Thailand and Malaysia as the next priority markets, where momentum is rising and where laying the groundwork today can unlock system-wide transformation in the years ahead.
Embracing the challenge
This is a new sector, and building an organization from scratch is never easy. I am also stepping out of the wind and offshore wind industry, where I have spent 18 years building knowledge, networks, and expertise. Moving into energy storage and the even more complex field of system integration is bold—and it exposes me to daunting challenges.
So, what gives me courage?
- The award itself: not just the resources, but the recognition. As I shared earlier, confidence has not always come naturally to me—and I know many women share this struggle. This acknowledgment helps me embrace the courage needed to pursue bold and ambitious goals.
And despite the risks, I am excited. The opportunity to bridge industry and government, to create the enabling conditions for storage and system integration, and to bring Asia closer to its net-zero future is a challenge worth embracing.
This next chapter is about building an ecosystem once again—this time not only for wind, but for the entire renewable energy system to stand strong.
Closing Reflections
Looking back, my journey has been about building ecosystems—first for wind, then for offshore wind, and now for the broader renewable energy transition in Asia. Each chapter has been defined by collaboration, trust, and the belief that bold ideas can shift the course of an entire industry.
The Climate Breakthrough Award is both a recognition of what has been achieved and a commitment to what lies ahead. With FESSIA, I am stepping into the next frontier: creating the flexibility and system integration needed to unlock the full potential of renewables in Asia.
This new chapter is not mine alone. It will be shaped by the partners, allies, and communities who believe in a net-zero future and are willing to work together to make it real. My hope is that FESSIA will become a platform for exactly that: a place where ambition meets action, and where industry and governments can bridge the gap between vision and reality.
To all of you who have been part of my journey so far—thank you. And to those who will walk with me into this new chapter—I can’t wait to get started.
FESSIA is just getting started. Subscribe to receive the latest updates from me.
Liming Qiao
2025 Climate Breakthrough Award Winner, and Chief Executive Officer/Co-founder, Future Energy Storage and Systems Integration Alliance (FESSIA)