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A slightly frenetic trip to Canada in the wake of their election, where Justin Trudeau managed to squeak back in. First north of Montréal to a QG100 strategic retreat at the Estérel Resort. Beautiful weather outside, though belting down with rain when I headed back to Montréal. My car didn’t arrive, so I hitched a lift south with some delightful Mexicans: Emilio Cadena, Yoelle Rojas Quintero and Alejandro Mendoza of Grupo Prodensa. Had met – and liked – them already at the QG100 event, which made it easier – but very much enjoyed their company as we sped back citywards.

While in Montréal, Lorraine (Smith) took me to a fascinating exhibition of Haida art at the McCord Museum, after which we walked through the library of McGill University, where Elaine’s father, Stanley, studied before WWII.

Then I flew to Edmonton, where there was snow and the signs by the road showed a temperature of -11 degrees C. Was speaking at a major event, SPARK 2019, organised by Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA), exploring ways for the fossil fuels driven province to migrate towards new forms of energy. ERA are a major funder of clean technology. But as I had arrived at Edmonton airport, I got an email from one of the CEOs I had met the QG100 event, asking if (1) I had arrived in Alberta yet, and if so, (2), whether I had been lynched yet? Actually enjoyed myself, even if part of the process was a bit like telling turkeys about incoming Christmas, and learned a lot.

Then back to Montréal, where I stayed overnight, then walked across to Lorraine’s apartment via the waterfront. There I spotted both Moshe Safdie’s ‘Habitat’ complex across the water (which I was fascinated by in the late 1960s/early 1970s, particularly when doing my M. Phil. At UCL in city planning. And then, also across the water, I spotted Buckminster Fuller’s dome (now called The Biosphère) – which I had forgotten was in the city. Stunning.

Fascinating brunch with a range of Lorraine’s friends, including at least one Mohawk, before heading out to see a hydroponics farm, La Boîte Maraîchère) in driving rain (luckily it is indoors), and then on to airport.

Spoke at the World Pension Summit today, held at the Louwman Museum, an extraordinary tribute to the age of the private motor car, and organised by Pensions & Investments. The dinner on the first day was held at the M.C. Escher Museum, somewhere I had always wanted to visit – and which we could wander around at our leisure. A reminder of what an extraordinary mind his was.

After taking part in a Volans salon on the role of Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs) in the 2020s, I head off to Dusseldorf for the K-Fair, Europe’s biggest plastics exhibition. Clear that the industry feels under growing pressure, as it should. Spoke at a Covestro event alongside Lise Kingo of the UN Global Compact and Covestro CEO Markus Steilemann. I had interesting meetings with Markus and his new Chief Commercial Officer, Sucheta Govil, while there.

Easy to see why people find plastics so obsessively interesting, but they feature as one of my ‘Black Swan’ case studies in the new book, Green Swans, due to be published by Fast Company Press in April 2020. Few sectors are now in more urgent need to exponentially evolving Green Swan solutions.

Speaking of which, I dropped in on UBQ Materials’ stand – which was throbbing with people. Their carbon-positive plastics have come on by leaps and bounds, offering multiple colours and all made from domestic garbage. They sent me a coat hanger made from UBQ, to use at the Swedish Fashion Council conference I was meant to be speaking at in Stockholm, but that was cancelled at the very last moment, the day before I was meant to travel.

Spoke at the Clean & Cool ‘Stronger Stories’ event at the PwC building on the Embankment, in a session chaired by Cathy Runciman of Atlas of the Future.

Every so often in my life, things seem to go into warp speed, for better or worse. That has certainly happened in the past few weeks, with the diary suggesting that another acceleration is imminent: Germany, Holland and Canada incoming.

Am currently shaking off a bad dose of flu, unsure whether I picked it up in all the air travel this month or whether it came from the 4-way flu jab I had a couple of weeks back as I walked back from somewhere through Fleet Street. Either way, let’s say I haven’t been feeling myself this week.

Still, am also much buoyed by the early responses to my requests for what the publishers cheerfully call “advance praise” for Green Swans. Quite (American sense) moving, some of the comments on the book.

Otherwise, here are some of the things that have been keeping me busy since the last entry – with visits to Amsterdam to speak at the GIIN Investor Forum, Finland to chair the first meeting of the new Neste Sustainability & New Markets Advisory Council, to Copenhagen (to speak at Deloitte’s ‘Dinner on the Edge’ – losing an aircraft engine along the way and having to swap planes at Heathrow – and then, the next morning, to a UN Global Compact breakfast on the future of the restaurant sector), a speech at the London Business School for Michael Norton and a fascinating group of Chinese alumni of the CK Graduate School of Business (speaking alongside Howie Frumkin, head of the Wellcome Trust’s Our Planet, Our Health initiative), and then, on Friday, across to the London Stock Exchange, very early for me, for the launch of their new Green Economy Mark and Sustainable Bonds Market.

Here’s what they say about the LSE initiatives: The Green Economy Mark recognises listed companies with 50% or more of revenues flowing from environmental solutions, while the Sustainable Bond Market (SBM) incorporates new Sustainability, Social and Issuer-Level Segments. These initiatives are designed to support issuers implementing sustainable business models, and investors who are increasingly focusing on environmental products and services supporting the transition to a low carbon economy.

A case of serendipity, the LSE one: was invited by our neighbour Stewart Lloyd-Jones and his partner Tamara Gehring, who works for the LSE.