Khairun Nisa Zabidi was awarded the prestigious Astro and Chevening scholarships, founded the recycling and equal opportunity-centred startup social enterprise Recovr Resources, then earned a master’s in the UK. She returned as a sustainability consultant at PwC Malaysia and, as of 2019, leads Malaysia’s UK International Climate Fund Pact (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions) programme, a multi-million-dollar technical assistance programme that helps countries to “accelerate their clean growth transitions and reduce carbon emissions”.

In 2021, Khairun co-founded Nusanterra, a Malaysian startup that aims to incorporate Malaysian Nature-based Climate Solutions (NCS) into a worldwide effort to tackle the climate crisis.