PRI in Person, part 1

I arrived in Paris Sunday afternoon, Sept. 8. I took a train from Charles de Gaulle to Chatelet. Then caught the metro to my hotel. The week leading up to this trip was stressful due to a heavy workload, packing, yard work, keeping up with Paddy, getting a haircut, stockings, new pair of shoes... So I was eager for fine French cuisine and a nice vin rouge. Instead I had a grab and go sandwich and a miniature bottle of wine, which I ate on my suitcase on a grubby train. To add insult, there was tuna on my sandwich. Mon dieu!!

Before I left the metro, I studied a wall map. I got above ground and could not get oriented at all. I was next to a wide boulevard (turns out it was the Champs Elysee) and there were other streets intersecting at angles. I look up and here's Jack and Sean walking by, two PRI colleagues. I follow them to the hotel. We pass a cafe where more colleagues are having a drink and we arrange to meet for dinner. So meal #2 on Sunday was a big improvement--good restaurant, good food, good wine.

Monday morning dawns and I have no fewer than five meetings. Monday night is dinner with the steering comittee of Climate Action 100+, where I learned about energy politics in Indonesia, the Phillippines, and Australia. Tuesday morning dawns (ugh--my head!). I take notes at a meeting from 8am-11pm. Then the meetings continue. I did get a chance to visit the exhibitor space--Hermes had the best booth.

There were more than 1,800 people at the conference. I was a bit star struck, being part of an organisation that could pull this off.

All the food was vegetarian. It was brilliant. Below is the CEO of Shell and the investors who led the Climate Action 100+ engagement with Shell, representing Robeco and Church of England. This was one of many sessions called "engage on stage." Again, really feeling good about my line of work as Shell discussed the way forward in decarbonsing the oil and gas sector--something you won't hear from the CEO of Exxon.

Sept 8-9