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Archive
Journal entries prior to May 2008 can be found in the old archived site here

Journal: May, 2009

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Solar Energy Pioneer
Well, now that EDF mention it ...

Shadow shot

A slight double-take when an EDF promotional flyer came through the letterbox this morning, shown above right. Given that 17 books - including 1984's Sun Traps: The Renewable Energy Revolution (Pelican Books) - and SustainAbility were all conceived and incubated in our smallish Barnes home, I have sometimes thought of putting a green plaque on the back wall of the house, to commemorate all the people who have been part of the extraordinary journey. Will certainly give EDF a call, but unsure whether we'll get to the point of installing solar panels just yet. Builders have been a constant here over the decades - and Elaine is always nervous about giving them another foothold in our lives.... more >

Of Coral and Bones
Clue to what ails - and might be done to save - world's reefs?

Astonishing fact reported in today's Financial Times, that the gene that controls skeletal development in humans is identical to the one that helps corals create their exoskeletons.... more >

End of an Era?
The next ten years could be brutal

 We mainly get The Times for the obituaries, but today it ran an article that resonated strongly, entitled 'A peasants' revolt in the new age of brutality'.  I have been warning for some years that the golden age of CSR is more or less over, which is the theme of this piece, but it sets the arguments in the context of the work of one of my favourite historians, Barbara Tuchman, and her book The Distant Mirror, which sits at my bedside.  Not comfortable reading.... more >

The Copenhagen Call
To be - or not to be - climate-friendly

Stepping into the future: Vestas windmill

Raising the bar: Dr Pachauri

My vehicle of choice for dealing with opposition to climate action

Lise Kingo

Final session: Blood, Rogers, Gowing, Tickell

Blood and water: Shai Agassi waters David Blood

Media@work

Every which way: artwork at airport (detail)

Airborne

After a pretty muddled start, with panels of CEOs allowed to meander on about corporate citizenship, the World Business Summit on Climate Change finally took off with a speech by Cate Blanchett and, the next morning, a panel moderated by the BBC's Nik Gowing, who took the gloves off and really got to work on the agenda set at the beginning of the event by Al Gore and Rajendra Pachauri.  Video coverage can be found here.... more >

Australia rules
Oz dominates World Business Summit on Climate Change

Maybe it was just the sessions I was in, but Australia seemed in the ascendant at the World Business Summit on Climate Change, with Tim Flannery as Chairman and Cate Blanchett dropping into the session he and I did on forestry today - and then giving the final plenary speech.  A moving end, especially when she spoke of fellow Australians cooked in their cars when the flame front swept through towns in the recent fires.  Last night, a wonderful dinner with Novo Nordisk and Al Gore, where both he and Lise Kingo of Novo Nordisk gave special mention to the work we have done over the years.  Wonderful to see Mads Øvlisen, who first brought us into Novo at the every end of 1988 or early in 1989.... more >

No Speed Limit Anymore
Feeling distinctly more positive

No Speed Limit Anymore

Girding my loins to fly to Copenhagen this afternoon, I have been tidying up, among other things uploading recent photographs from my camera to my laptop.  When Doug Miller of GlobeScan asked me last night at dinner in Whit's how I was feeling, the answer was/is that after a period of wanting to hold back as the downturn took serious hold, partly because I thought that any approach to possible partners and clients would lead to stonewalling, I'm now beginning to feel much more open to the world and to opportunity.  ... more >

ADP 'None of Our Business' event
Time whistling by

Across to Brick Lane with Charmian late in the day to take part in a panel discussion for Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP).  Speaking alongside Jon Sopel of BBC News 24, Gib Bulloch of ADP, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart of Anglo-American and Charles Badenoch of World Vision. Lively and the time whistled by, an experience I don't normally share with the rest of humanity. First time I had been to The Brickhouse, an interesting venue, a bit like playing the Jazz Cafe. The subject of the debate, a new paper by Gib and Jane Nelson, called Development Collaboration: None of Our Business?... more >

SHINE: The Unconference
... as it pours

I speak

Filmed

Sam and Char prepare to head across to The Hub

Spoke at the SHINE conference near King's Cross this evening, before heading over to The Hub for a party - with Alejandro, Charmian, Rosie (Reeve), Sam and Yingli (Guo). Cliff Prior of UnLtd asked all the Volans folk to self-identify themselves in front of the final plenary session, which was rather a proud moment.  Things may have been challenging, but we have built a great team.... more >

An evening with (vanishing) amphibians
Frogs: The Thin Green Line

Following today's zouk ventures AGM at The Lanesborough, I walked up to the US Embassy in a slight drizzle this evening to see the film Frogs: The Thin Green Line, with Sam (Lakha) and YingLi (Guo). Met the director, Allison Argo of ArgoFilms, before the film began, and asked the first question from the audience when the discussion began.  A very powerful account of the plight of amphibians worldwide, with a particular focus on the chytrid fungus, which I covered in a blog entry on 4 February 2006 and again on 1 January 2008. Made eating the popcorn they served a little harder than usual.... more >

Zouk Cleantech AGM
A day at the leading edge

Harvey Nicks 1

Harvey Nicks 2

Harvey Nicks 3

Harvey Nicks 4

Spent the day at the Lanesborough Hotel, at Hyde Park Corner, a few buildings along from where SustainAbility used to have its office.  This was the AGM for Limited Partners and Advisory Board members for zouk ventures.  ... more >

Engaging the C-suite
A session at SustainAbility

Shot by Maggie

Peter in full flow

Jodie and Geoff in midst of a later session

This morning I went across to SustainAbility to do a session with the full SustainAbility team, with people having flown in from Switzerland, India and the US.  Right at the beginning, Maggie (Brenneke) stole my camera and shot some pictures from the front, one of which is shown here. When it came to our session, John Schaetzl, SustainAbility's Chairman, interviewed me on how to engage CEOs and other C-suite folk.  A very lively discussion, followed by lunch and then cycled back to Bloomsbury Place for a series of meetings.... more >

Across to HSBC
Into capybara territory

Capybara

Nick and Charmian

Started the day in Docklands, at HSBC, with Charmian and Nick Robins, who I first worked with way back in 1994.  He heads the HSBC Centre of Excellence on Climate Change.  Was very much struck to see a giant capybara on the wall of the room where we met. Fascinating, provocative discussion of various aspects of climate change, including the extent to which it is usefully tackled in the current round of government stimulus packages.... more >

Common and Garden

Rose and clematis in our garden

Cycladic head

Front door, detail

Tree on Common

Plane Pain
Gritty eyes as London goes seedy

As I have cycled and walked around the city, the plane tree seeds have been ubiquitous, getting into the yes - so that often I found myself cycling with me eyes shut.  Hardly recommended.  But I love these trees - so am happy to endure a week or two of grief each year.... more >

Heaven & Earth
A favourite sculptor

Idaho Quartz Circle, 1992

A week or two back, Tell Muenzing sent me this photograph of a Richard Long sculpture at the offices of Value Partners in Milano - entitled 'Idaho Quartz Circle', dated 1992 and using 54 stone slabs.... more >

Seen and Hurd
Into the eye of the storm

Dissent--and a typo, I suspect

Went across to the House of Commons early today to see Nick Hurd, who is responsible for pulling together thinking on social enterprise matters in the Conservative Party, among other things. Good to see protests going on across the way, a signal that the Government hasn't quite managed to squeeze out all dissent with its restrictive controls.  Parliament besieged in so many ways these days.... more >

Social Business Conference

Back today by Eurostar from Paris and HEC Paris, the business school, where I did the final plenary session at this year's Social Business Conference, co-organised with Net Impact. The conference provided a useful opportunity to explore critical issues like poverty reduction, natural resource efficiency, public-private partnerships and the evolution of social business models in the company of MBA students from around the world.... more >

This is how I want to cycle ...
... in the next life

 This is how I want to cycle.  Thanks, Gaia.... more >

EDF on environmental innovation
Business-as-unusual

Each year, one of my favourite NGOs, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), surveys the landscape of environmental innovation in business. The aim is to find the "most compelling, and implementable, new practices and technologies—those that drive operational efficiency, create new business opportunities and carve out competitive advantages." The conclusions this year came as no surprise: 'That especially in these lean economic times, sustainability is business positive. From the Fortune 100 to the smallest start-up, U.S. companies are competing to be the most green.' EDF hopes that the Innovations Review offers actionable models, inspires further innovation and continually redefines what is "business as usual." The second year I have served on the Advisory Committee.

... more >

Creating shared value in the Big Apple
First session of Nestlé advisory board

Chrysler Building from my bed

Spent much of the week in New York, primarily for the first meeting of the new Nestlé Creating Shared Value Advisory Board, of which I'm a member. More on the background here. ... more >