Beijing

IIRC meeting In China Club

GRI Chairman Mervyn King at dinner on first night Wall in China Club Teapots Coffee cup Illuminated floor Relic: hand-cranked phone Nameplate Back to the bus Illuminated trees outside our hotel Dawn out at airport, en route Singapore

After frantic last-minute attempts to get a Chinese visa in London, where all sorts of barriers seem to be flung up, the Accounting for Sustainability team swung in and sorted things out. But hadn’t known until pretty late in the day whether I would get in to Beijing after my Hong Kong visit. Once I did arrive, though, I almost literally got the red carpet treatment. Was in Beijing for second meeting of the International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC), of which I’m a member. Fascinating meeting, on which more anon, in part through a blog that The Guardian will publish this coming week on its Sustainable Business website. Amazed to see how much traffic was already out on the roads of Beijing when I left for the airport in the early hours.