Martin Koehring - Global Sustainability and Ocean Expert

Our Ocean conference in Oslo

In October I attended the annual Our Ocean conference in Oslo. The conference was established in 2014 under the leadership of then US Secretary of State John Kerry and took place in Washington DC.

Eye-catching commitments from governments, businesses and civil-society organisations are a hallmark of the conference. In Oslo 370 pledges were made, totalling almost US$64bn. But the transformation towards a truly “blue” economy requires more fundamental changes.

Read my summary article for the World Ocean Initiative here.

More posts on the ocean economy:

How to accelerate ocean regeneration in MexicoSeptember 6, 2023
The Future of Sustainability: Courage to TransformSeptember 6, 2023
Keynote speaker at Forum for the Ocean in CancunAugust 17, 2023
Judge at this year’s Electric Vehicle Innovation & Excellence AwardsAugust 14, 2023
My essay on marine natural capital published in official T20 compendium for India’s G20 presidencyAugust 6, 2023

Tags: BlueEconomy ocean

I am Global Director of Impact at the international sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future. In this role I lead Forum’s programmatic work, with a focus on ensuring and increasing its impact on the world. I lead the Global Impact Team, which works across four geographies. For 25 years Forum has been working in partnership with business, governments and civil society to accelerate transformation to a just and regenerative future. Forum is internationally recognised for its approach to driving systems change and inspiring alternative futures.

Before joining Forum I held various leadership positions at Economist Impact, which is part of The Economist Group (publisher of The Economist newspaper). I was the head of Economist Impact’s World Ocean Initiative; led Economist Impact’s Sustainability, Climate Change and Natural Resources practice in the EMEA region; and was the editorial lead of the award-winning Sustainability Project. Over the years I have directed many sustainability-related research and thought-leadership projects with partners in business, government, academia and civil society, in areas such as food sustainability, a just energy transition and the role of business in society.

As part of my wider engagement on sustainability, I am a trustee of the New Economics Foundation (a think tank focusing on social, economic and environmental justice). I sit on the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Inclusive Economies Advisory Group and the Sustainable Brands Turkey Global Advisory Board. I have also been a member of the Advisory Committee for the UN Environment Programme’s Global Environment Outlook for Business, a senior rapporteur at World Water Week, a faculty member in the Food & Sustainability Certificate Program provided by the European Institute of Innovation for Sustainability and a judge at the Reuters Events Responsible Business Awards.