Journal

A few photographs from a walk around Barnes on Sunday — and another shot as I walked to the bus stop to head in to work.

Thames and Barnes Bridge 1   Thames and figure 1   Thames and figure 2   Barnes Pond, sunrise

I may be green, but made it into the red book — Who’s Who 2009 — this year, alongside the likes of Daniel Craig.  Am rather glad we didn’t have to race one another along a sky-crane for the privilege.

Rupert taken over my shoulder by Sam

Left the GIIN reception (see previous entry) to catch a cab across to the Duke of Cambridge pub, where Charmian and I were due for the first joint Christmas dinner between the SustainAbility and Volans teams in London.  In addition to Charmian, other Volanders there were Sam and Smita.  A rather noisy — but completely wonderful — family reunion.  Struck me that of those present from the SustainAbility side, probably the longest serving — part from myself — was Rupert Bassett, our designer.

Sam at work

View from J.P. Morgan offices at 10 Aldermanbury

At a time when many people are thinking back to Presidents like Lincoln and FDR for clues on how to rescue the US economy, it might also be worth recalling John Pierpoint Morgan, credited with saving the US economy on two separate occasions.  Was reminded of him this afternoon, which I spent chez J.P. Morgan Chase & Company, the financial services firm, which hosted (alongside The Rockefeller Foundation, Social Finance, Generation Investment Management and Citigroup) a meeting of people and institutions interested in building out a London node for the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN).   Obvious acronym would be GIIN, though that’s already taken by Groupe Intersyndicale de l’Industrie Nucleare, it seems.  

In any event, GIIN — due for launch in 2009 — is “a select global group of investors and intermediaries who put capital to work at scale to generate social and/or environmental value as well as financial return.”  Among those present were a number of people I knew, including Mark Campanale, who reminded me that he and I had first started working in the socially responsible investing field as long ago as 1988, with the Merlin Ecology Fund and Tessa Tennant.  

In any event, the triple bottom lives — and, indeed, seems to be gaining traction in the heart of the economic beast.  Look out for an impending report from the Monitor Group on the potential for impact investing.  Meanwhile, I sometimes find myself wishing I hadn’t given up economics at university in 1968, though I doubt I would have learned that much that would have been directly relevant to today’s work, though a more thorough immersion in the works of Kondratiev, Schumpeter and Keynes would have been an advantage in these times.

Mark Campanale in one of the rooms where reception will shortly be held

Muses?

By Eurostar yesterday for an EcoVadis Advisory Board meeting, held in la Maison de l’Amerique Latine.  Put up at the Hotel Bellechasse, which was intriguing — and took a brief walk around the Musee d’Orsay, just behind, before turning in.  Not sure whether the six female figures were Muses or not, but that was the best I could arrive at — though I seem to recall that the Muses numbered anywhere between three and nine, depending who you happened to talk to.

Very interesting EcoVadis session.  Had forgotten I had to do a small keynote over lunch for some 35-40 people drawn from their client universe, but managed to develop my thoughts during the morning.  Then spent an hour or two on a sofa catching up with Jacqueline Aloisi de Larderel, also a member of the EcoVadis Advisory Board and a long-standing  ally when she ran  UNEP’s DTIE  — and now as a colleague at GRI.  

Then, late afternoon, Jacqueline took me by bus to Gare de Lyon for a meeting with Sylvie Lemmet, who now runs the UNEP Division of Trade, Industry and Economics.  A very animated meeting over green tea at Le Train Bleu, with some potentially quite interesting ideas surfacing, after which I took a cab back to Gare du Nord for the Eurostar home.  Trains slow at the moment, because of the repairs after the tunnel fire a while back.  Ordered a cheese baguette for the ride home, only to find that the charming woman had stuffed it full of sliced ham, too.  It ended up in the bin, a crime of several sorts, I’m sure.

Le Train Bleu – without flash