Fairly busy week so far, driving down yesterday to Highgrove, for a meeting of the alumni of what is now called The Prince of Wales’s Business & Sustainability Programme, developed by the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership. The S-word just adopted in the first case. Terrible jam on the M4 on the way down, where I lost over an hour, because of a fire in a truck of charcoal. Eventually passed the burned-out wreck. Rubbernecking drivers headed eastward had created jams that extended for miles in that direction, too. The spotlight of the event was on natural capital, Polly Courtice and Jonathon Porritt steered, and Pavan Sukhdev talked about his TEEB study on ecosystem services.
My sense overall, however, was that there were fairly low energy levels – surprising given what has been happening in the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe it was just the heat? The best speech, by far, was an extempore one from the Prince in the open air. My comment to him: “I should have worn a sombrero.” My scalp seems more sun-sensitive these days – and the sun was pretty intense for England. I then decided to drive across to Little Rissington, to see my parents, which I did, arriving around 18.30. Tim conjured up a bantam egg curry – and it was wonderful to see the three of them.
Then, today, there was a session at McKinsey’s 1 Jermyn Street offices, hosted by Generation Investment Management, and steered by Al Gore and David Blood. The theme was the prospects for – and dynamic of – sustainable capitalism. About 40 people present, but subject to the Chatham House Rule, so limit to what I can say. But one theme that came through both at Highgrove and at today’s event was the need for behavioural and culture change, which are the focus on a new program we are developing at Volans.
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