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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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EMERGE, ENEL, GRI, WTO ETC

John Elkington · 27 November 2010 · Leave a Comment

Another week that was

AO Amy and Jack Sim XXX Jack, me A2 Charmian holds forth at EMERGE A3 Sara Parkin’s foot A4 Peter Randall Page sculptures at Said Business School

Ice was spreading across Barnes Pond as I walked home this evening after spending the day at the EMERGE conference in Oxford, my session involving a conversation with Solarcentury CEO Jeremy Leggett. Twitter stream here. Charmian (Love) did an excellent session on how-to-get-into-this-sector this morning, during which I sat on the floor next to Forum for the Future co-founder Sara Parkin – and Amy (Birchall) is involved tomorrow. Great discussion with David Grayson this afternoon on a new project we’re planning at Volans, which broke some sort of logjam in my brain.

As often happens with events in Oxford, Volans happily served as a stopover for migrating entrepreneurs – and we had a great session yesterday with Jack Sim of the World Toilet Organization (WTO).

Earlier in the week, on Wednesday and Thursday, I was in Rome, speaking at a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) organisational stakeholder meeting at ENEL’s HQ in Rome. Italy seems to be developing quite an appetite for sustainability reporting. ENEL’s Luigi Ferraris gave one of the most engaging speeches I have ever seen as CFO do, noting that 5% of the energy company’s are now owned by socially responsible investment (SRI) firms.

Loved the stone pines lining the streets as various taxis whisked me around the city, ignoring jams by streaking down tram-tracks, the drivers vigorously texting as they screeched one-handed around corners.

Next time I’ll take my cycle, I think, though had to take that into the cycle shop during the week, because the combination of the sheer weight of stuff I typically carry around in my panniers and the increasingly aggressive potholes that are eating up the London streetscape had created metal fatigue – and a strut gave way as I sped home on Thursday evening. Love the cycle shop, Holdworth’s. Bought a tiny, resonant bell that they had lying around in the workshop for a while, which means I won’t now need to use my industrial klaxon , except in extremis.

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Introduction

I began this blog with an entry reporting on a visit to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, on 30 September 2003. The blog element of the website has gone through several iterations since, with much of the older material still available.

Like so many things in my life, blog entries blur the boundaries between the personal and the professional. As explained on this site’s Home Page, the website and the blog are part platform for ongoing projects, part autobiography, and part accountability mechanism.

In addition, my blogs have appeared on many sites such as: Chinadialogue, CSRWire, Fast Company, GreenBiz, Guardian Sustainable Business, and the Harvard Business Review.

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About

John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. He is currently Founding Partner and Executive Chairman of Volans, a future-focused business working at the intersection of the sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation movements.

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john@johnelkington.com  |  +44 203 701 7550 | Twitter: @volansjohn

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