Carlos Lopes
Senior Advisor

Carlos advises clients on Africa. He is an honorary professor at the Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town, affiliate professor at Sciences Po Paris and associate fellow at Chatham House’s Africa Programme.

He has held several leadership positions across the UN system, including policy director for Secretary General Kofi Annan and executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

He chairs the African Climate Foundation Board. He is a member of the African Union reform team led by Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and served as the organisation's high representative for partnerships with Europe. He has been a member of several global commissions and participates in several boards of academic institutions and non-profit organisations.

Carlos holds a PhD in history from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and a research master’s degree from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. He is a Foundation Fellow of the International Science Council and a member of African Academy of Sciences and the Lisbon Academy of Sciences.

Carlos has authored or edited more than 20 books and feature articles for Project Syndicate, CNN, Le Monde, The Financial Times, China Daily, The Guardian and Jeune Afrique.