The title of this post is quite the mouthful, but I thought I’d expand out the acronyms for everyone.
Last week a colleague asked if I’d like to join an event that was being held quite locally to me, one that Autodesk has participated in for a number of years now. It’s the WBCSD (World Building Council for Sustainable Development) Liaison Delegate Meeting. Basically delegates from the member companies are invited to join a 3-day event to discuss topics related to transforming there businesses to be more sustainable.
I couldn’t make the full three days at such late notice, but I did manage to head across on the train on Wednesday (Day 2) early enough to arrive in Montreux at around 8am.
The event was held in the Fairmont Montreux Palace Hotel.
The gardens have a lovely view across Lac Leman.
Most of our time was spent indoors, though. The morning had plenary sessions with a number of interesting speakers and panel discussions.
During the afternoon there were a breakouts. Given my own research focus, I was interested by the nature-centric sessions.
The event was applying the Chatham House Rule (a new one on me!) which meant not sharing photos or videos of attendees. I’ve included a few static images, but have blurred out any detail that might otherwise have been used to identify my fellow attendees.
One session was a role-play applying a blueprint for implementing nature-based solutions (NbS).
The next was about nature climate solutions (NCS), which focused heavily on tools such as carbon credits.
The day wrapped up with a gala dinner. All - very appropriately - vegetarian, which suited me very well.
Overall the event was a fascinating departure from my usual day-to-day activities. I’m admittedly much more comfortable at events populated by software developers and architectural technologists - they’re my people! - but I enjoyed being part of so many discussions I would otherwise have had no reason to. And it was great hanging out with Rama Dunayevich and Marta Bouchard for the day. Thanks for inviting me, Rama!