Carter Cheng

Global Shaper, London II Hub

Carter is the Regional Focal Point for Europe at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Youth Caucus, a Legal Fellow (Environment and Sustainable Development) with International Lawyers Project, the Managing Director (London) of the Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP), and an Advisory Council Member of the Harvard Business Review.

Directing the European branch of the official UNCCD youth constituency, Carter advises the UNCCD Secretariat on its youth engagement policies and capacity-building strategies related to deforestation, land restoration and sustainable land management. By engaging stakeholders—including multinationals, NGOs, nature recovery impact organizations, and activist groups—in productive multilateral dialogues (e.g., UNCCD COP and the Open Dialogues on Climate Change), Carter works closely with 80+ environmental groups across Europe to elevate young people’s voices in global sustainable land management policymaking (www.unccdyouthcaucus.org).

As a Legal Fellow of the Environment and Sustainable Development Programme at International Lawyers Project, Carter challenges economic injustice caused by environmental damage, biodiversity loss, deforestation, illegal resource trafficking, climate change and conflicts over natural resources. Through a wide range of legal strategies, including policy review, strategic litigation support, legal research, capacity-building, and compliance checks, she helps affected communities—particularly indigenous communities in Sub-Saharan Africa—to defend rights and hold relevant actors to account (www.internationallawyersproject.org).

Overseeing the London branch of YPFP, the world’s largest network of young professionals in the foreign policy space (with 20,000+ members worldwide), Carter is leading five initiatives to widen access to the exclusive diplomatic and foreign policy industries in the UK (www.ypfp-london.org). Carter was also the Impact Officer (2023-24) of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers London Hub II, where she co-developed the infant hub into one of the most impact-driven Global Shapers Hubs in Europe, directly supporting 500+ individuals through eight impact projects (www.londonglobalshapersii.com).

Carter is an Aspen UK Rising Leaders Fellow, a Tencent THINC Tech for Impact Fellow and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Previously, she also served as a United Nations SDSN Local Pathways Fellow (2023), a Nelson Mandela Residential Fellow (2023) with the Centre for Diplomatic Advancement, and a Climate Negotiations Trainer (2024) with the Ministry of Youth and Children of Spain.

As an intrapreneur from Hong Kong, Carter worked for United Nations ESCAP, where she co-founded Asia’s first-ever agritech research platform and encouraged $28.9mn investments in agritech through a flagship project. In 2019-2021, she also researched and taught geopolitics and tech law as a Yenching Fellow (one of China’s most prestigious fellowships) at Peking University and published one of the very first empirical studies on China’s AI-powered courts.

As a Wolfson College Dr John T Grantham Scholar and MPP Candidate at the University of Cambridge, Carter holds an undergraduate degree in international relations (Dean's List) from the University of St Andrews and dual master’s degrees in economics and law at the London School of Economics (LSE) and Peking University.

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