Martin Koehring | Development Finance & Sustainable Finance

I spoke about "Aligning investment, underwriting and lending activities with building a sustainable blue economy" at Bali Ocean Days. My contribution was part of a session on "Impact Finance for a Sustainable Blue Economy". Other sessions focused on marine conservation, technology, seafood, pollution management, and blue carbon. Here I summarise my takeaways from the event.

I'm looking forward to speaking during the "Impact Finance for a Sustainable Blue Economy" session at Bali Ocean Days! Financial institutions are critical in rebuilding ocean prosperity, restoring biodiversity and regenerating ocean health. I will look at recent development and opportunities in aligning investment, underwriting and lending activities with building a sustainable blue economy.

What a year it's been! Some of my highlights in 2024 included joining the Board of the Marine Conservation Society, joining the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as Senior Strategic Expert in Blue Economy, having my TEDx talk published, and speaking at several major ocean and climate events such as London Climate Action Week.

As part of my role as Senior Strategic Expert in Blue Economy at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) it was great to be at the Expert Group Meeting in Vienna. The meeting focused on how UNIDO can advance the contribution of Blue Industry (a term coined by UNIDO) to the Blue Economy agenda.

I'm delighted to join the Marine Conservation Society as a Director/Trustee! MCS is the UK's leading marine charity by and for ocean lovers. It focuses on addressing the climate crisis, protecting marine wildlife and cleaning up our ocean. It does this through a powerful combination of scientific research, advocacy, education, and community engagement.

As a key climate solution, the Ocean needs a prominent seat at COP29, where world leaders will come together to address climate change. I am looking forward to speaking at The Ocean at COP29: Navigating Climate Action, a panel discussion hosted by Acre and Ocean Generation.

During London Climate Action Week last week I was part of The C Collective's "How to become a regenerative business" event. I was joined by fellow speakers and facilitators to explore the concept of regenerative business and how to transform yourself and your organisation thanks to actionable tools such as Three Horizons.

During London Climate Action Week last week I spoke about the Blue Economy at the Blue Earth Forum (part of the Blue Earth Summit) that brings innovators and impact investors together. I was on a panel with Shruti Iyengar, Hanli Prinsloo and Francisco Saraiva Gomes talking about the intersection of marine conservation and industrial growth.

The ocean was on the agenda at London Climate Action Week last week, but not nearly as much as it should be given its importance as the worlds largest carbon sink and a source of crucial climate solutions. I spoke about the Ocean Changemaker Mindset at the Ocean-Climate Nexus event at London Business School.

Thrilled to announce that I will be speaking and delivering a closing keynote speech at the Ocean-Climate Nexus at London Business School next Monday 24 June as part of London Climate Action Week.

Happy World Ocean Day! I am looking forward to participating in a panel discussion on the Blue Economy at the Blue Earth Forum in London on Wednesday 26th June. The Blue Earth Forum is organised by the fantastic team behind the Blue Earth Summit and focuses on connecting business solutions with impact investment.

I'm excited to speak about "How to become a regenerative business" during London Climate Action Week on Thursday 27th June from 6pm. During this event, organised by The C Collective, we'll explore the concept of regenerative business and actionable tools such as Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) frameworks, Three Horizons and inner change.

I moderated an important session on “How to take action against ocean pollution from wastewater and sewage” at Economist Impact's recent World Ocean Summit in Lisbon. This session discussed how to move from traditional solutions to intersection and circularity in addressing sewage and wastewater pollution.

Basecamp is a 6-month part-time journey into the foundations of systems change practice. The course focuses on sharpening our understanding of systems change, using practical approaches to explore dynamics of change, and deepening our appreciation of how worldviews shape our thinking.

I moderated a great session on “How to invest better in the blue economy” at Economist Impact's recent World Ocean Summit in Lisbon. The session focused on how investors can identify companies that combine strong growth potential with a truly sustainable business model.

I’m looking forward to hosting the “Scope 3 emissions and data management” session at the edie 24 event in London on Thursday. Among other things, I’ll be chairing a panel on “Unlocking the power of supply chains for deep decarbonisation”.

I'm thrilled to share that my TEDx talk on "How a just & regenerative mindset can help us navigate the polycrisis" has been published on the TEDx Talks YouTube channel.

Join me at Economist Impact’s 11th annual World Ocean Summit in Lisbon next week where I will be moderating 6 sessions, including the blue foods track. The event is taking place on March 11th-13th 2024, at Lisbon Congress Center, Lisbon, Portugal.

Last week I attended and spoke at Global Sustainability Partnership Network in Manchester. It was great to meet sustainability leaders to discuss how to work together to transform business, supply chains and the wider systems in which we operate. Here are my key takeaways.

Join me at Economist Impact’s 9th annual Sustainability Week, where I will be speaking this week. The event will take place on March 4th-6th 2024, in London, UK and virtual. I will be on a panel to discuss “Scaling local solutions for global supply chains” on Tuesday March 5th 2024, 17:00 GMT.