Lisa Emelia Svensson is a Swedish and American trained environmental and economical doctor with a PhD in political economy. She has over 18 years of international experience working in public sector on a broad range of national, regional and international sustainability issues, working closely with private sector, civil society, academia and media alike.

She is currently the UN Environment’s ambassador for ocean, where she leads work on global ocean issues; addressing marine pollution, coral reefs, sustainable blue economy, ocean interlinkages to climate change and ocean governance.

Svensson joined the Swedish Foreign Service in 2002. She was the lead negotiator for the sustainable development chapters in EU’s free trade agreements for ASEAN, MERCOSUR, the economic partnership agreements and the partnership and the partnership cooperation agreement with China.

As ambassador for corporate responsibility starting in 2010, she engaged with private sector to enhance public-private partnerships and she was Sweden’s chief negotiator during the revision of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. As Sweden’s ambassador for ocean, seas and freshwater she initiated and expanded international foreign policy and put Sweden on the map in the ocean community.

She was a diplomat-in-residence at the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, in US where she conducted research on technology and innovation to combat climate change.