Kitty Bu

Vice President, Southeast Asia at GEAPP

Speaker

Passionate about accelerating change for impact-oriented results, Kitty Bu works towards catalyzing system transitions to achieve net-zero economies at scale. Building on over a decade of experience, she stands uniquely at the nexus of two parallel transitions, that of green energy and food-agri systems.

Kitty leads the Southeast Asia region at Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), identifying and executing opportunities to catalyze investments in critical solutions for decarbonizing the region. Drawing on her private sector experience and background in adopting an ecosystem approach to drive net-zero transitions, Kitty has made early strides at GEAPP in pioneering creative partnerships that can greatly amplify and complement GEAPP’s own financial contributions to investments.

With an aim to utilize the power of collaboration to develop crucial and innovative breakthroughs, Kitty co-founded the China practice for the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) in 2014, forging partnerships with the Chinese government. This enabled RMI to share its cutting-edge research on technology, business models, and policies to support energy systems transition as policymakers mapped out their national five-year energy plan. Later, at the European Climate Foundation (ECF), she founded a new practice focused on the scaling of renewable energy globally.

Kitty then ventured into the food-agri space, keen to apply lessons learned in the energy sector to this other important component of the net-zero transition, with a particular focus on scaling up strategic partnerships. She worked as the Asia Chief Representative for Impossible Foods, a Silicon Valley tech company backed by Bill Gates, Temasek, and other major investors. She served as the business strategist for fostering market entry strategies around Asia for the world’s largest plant-based meat company at the time.

Kitty has established herself as a thought leader in blended finance and the possibilities for new approaches – including flexible platforms that bring together partners for a range of potential specific deals – to draw in capital that otherwise might have sat on the sidelines. She brings an iterative, start-up approach to her work that enables her to identify and develop new opportunities, partnerships, and ways of working in this space. Kitty has focused on the nexus of business, policy, and finance, working with a range of partners to enable disruptive technologies and business models to thrive. She is also a strong advocate for creating inclusive spaces in the energy sector to ensure that more women assume leadership positions.

After a successful career with Reuters, Kitty launched her own media production company, focusing her award-winning long-form videos on telling inspiring stories of marginalized communities overcoming the challenges they face. Her ambition to make an impact on environmental and climate issues spurred her to launch her career in the energy and foodagri systems, always focusing on her aim of making a difference for the marginalized communities who had previously welcomed her into their lives.