10 years ago today I started at The Economist Group. It was at the height of the euro zone debt crisis—the day before, the Greek prime minister had just announced a referendum (later cancelled) on the debt restructuring deal with the EU and IMF. As Europe Editor at The Economist Intelligence Unit I was immediately thrown into the biggest global economic and political themes of the time. One of the most memorable moments was my debate with Nigel Farage on Sky News on whether Greece would leave the euro zone.
Global health
After covering European political economy at the EIU for two and a half years, my journey at The Economist Group then took me to another passion of mine: global health. When the Thought Leadership team was looking for a new Senior Editor focusing on global healthcare, it was clear that this was the perfect fit at the time. For more than 5 years I covered topics as diverse as global cancer preparedness, healthy ageing, health systems in the Balkans, value-based healthcare, heart health, and the policy responses to obesity and diabetes. One of my highlights was the launch of our Global Access to Healthcare Index in London. But it was my foray into food sustainability (when working on the Food Sustainability Index from 2017 onwards) that created a bridge to my next move: into the world of sustainability.
Ocean and sustainability
From my days as environment officer at my students union back in the early 2000s, working on sustainability issues has been close to my heart. And when The Economist Group’s newly formed World Ocean Initiative was looking for a head, I knew that this would be the ideal next step. There’s an ocean of challenges and opportunities—from tackling plastic pollution and finding the most sustainable fish feed to decarbonising shipping and the emerging world of blue finance. My role has since expanded to looking after sustainability, climate change and natural resources more broadly. Just this year I have directed projects on net-zero business plans, the future of ESG investing, readiness for electric vehicles, decarbonisation technologies for cities and a new iteration of the Food Sustainability Index.
What an exciting journey it’s been! And with the launch of Economist Impact and The Sustainability Project there’s now huge momentum at The Economist Group to focus on areas I am passionate about: initiatives that build multi-year partnerships on the world’s biggest sustainability challenges and based on research with real-world impact.