I wasn’t a climate footprint role model this week – spending a couple days in Oregon working on organizational issues and then making my way to Chicago for a few hours to speak on a couple subjects at the Carbon Footprint Consumer Products Conference.
I felt bad about having to return to Phoenix after a few sessions on the first day, but my family and dog
deserve some of my time after a week away – don’t you think?
Even back in Phoenix, Friday was packed with a good meeting at the request of an old friend, Jim Thomas. He’s the relatively new VP of CSR at JCPenny and wanted to spend some time discussing strategies as he builds his new programs there. Anyway, back to climate…
I was impressed with the attendance at the conference. More people than I expected and many of the world’s top brands. In just the short time I was there, I had conversations with leaders from Starbucks, GE, Aveda, Patagonia, Goldman Sachs, CH2MHill, UPS, etc.
I was also impressed with the sophistication of the participants. These folks were involved, not just passive observers. I know there are probably 31 climate conferences in the 30 days in September, but if the attendees are half as engaged as this group, I’m optimistic.
Tim Higgs, one of our global climate/air/carbon experts also attended and spoke on a panel before heading over to Brussels to do some carbon strategy work in the EU.
Just in case you’re interested, here are the slides I spoke from.
And, a GreenBiz story on the conference.
