Carlos Lopes is Honorary Professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town, and Associate Fellow at Chatham House, London. He has also been a Fellow at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, and serves as Senior Advisor at Macro-Advisory Partners. He has served on several international commissions and advisory boards, including the Global Commission for the Economy and Climate and the Global Commission for the Future of Work. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the World Resources Institute and the Board of the ClimateWorks Foundation and is Chair of the African Climate Foundation. He is also a member of the United Nations Committee for Development Policy.

He previously served as Chair of the Lisbon University Institute (2009–2017), Affiliate Professor at Sciences Po, Paris (2018–2024), and Visiting Professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. At the United Nations, he held several senior positions, including Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (2012–2016), as well as leadership roles at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and the UN System Staff College. Earlier, he served as UN Assistant Secretary-General and Political Director to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He was appointed African Union High Representative for Partnerships with Europe in 2018 and served on the African Union Reform Team led by President Paul Kagame (2016–2024). More of his writings and reflections can be found at www.africacheetah.run.

Where do you see the most exciting research/debates happening in your field?

I see the most dynamic debates emerging around how Africa positions itself within a world where the certainties of globalization are breaking down. My work has long argued that Africa cannot rely on the benevolence of others or on outdated prescriptions anchored in aid, comparative advantage, or externally imposed “best practices.” What excites me now is how research is catching up to this reality: the recognition that industrial policy is back, that strategic autonomy matters, and that Africa must leverage its demographics and resource base to bargain differently in global fora.

There is a particularly rich debate around climate and development finance. The old model assumed Africa would be a passive recipient of aid flows. But the structural gap in adaptation and mitigation financing has exposed the fragility of that model. Scholars and practitioners are now looking at instruments such as regulated carbon markets, regional financial platforms, and reforms of the international financial architecture. These debates resonate with my own proposals for an African Domestic Capital Mobilization Compact and for granting African multilateral financial institutions preferred creditor status — moves that would shift the balance of financial sovereignty decisively.

How has the way you understand the world changed over time, and what (or who) prompted the most significant shifts in your thinking?

When I began my career, the intellectual climate was dominated by the Washington Consensus.........

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