October London meeting

Herewith a few ideas for the October meeting in London, some of them
after checking with Paul Portney and with Pankaj. I offer these very, very
preliminary thoughts just to start you thinking - do you want your UK
colleagues on the program; do we want some ancillary events? After getting
your views on questions such as these, I can make more definite suggestions.
I certainly think that we should convene a few hours before the opening
dinner so that the advisors can have a tour of the building and the
facilities. Also, I am hoping that Steve will leave some time on this trip
for a tour of the new BA headquarters - very innovative.
We should consider doing something on the global warming question from the
viewpoint of the Europeans. Start with three recommendations on the political
side that Paul received from David Victor of the Council on Foreign Relations
(characterized as "a VERY smart guy on climate"):
Tony Brenton (Deputy chief of mission, UK embassy in DC. Has been on UK
climate delegations for a decade; smart and lively; pragmatic; insightful).
Bo Kjellen (Swedish head of delegation; knows European politics inside out;
big figure in Europe).
Tubiana, Laurence (Conseil d'Analyse Economique, France; knows the issue and
can speak to French position, but may not have the gravitas of Kjellen or
Brenton).
Among other ideas (I have winnowed out several) is a guy named Liam
Salter at Climate Network Europe. Brussels based, but relatively junior. Paul
also recommends a woman by the name of Laurence Tubiana, an economist in the
French government's equivalent of the CEA; she has a reputation as a good
presenter and a good economist.
WOULD YOU PLEASE CHECK THESE FOLKS OUT WITH YOUR LONDON PEOPLE, AND GET
ADDITIONAL NAMES FROM THEM. THE GOAL IS TO GIVE ALL OF US A PERSPECTIVE ON
THE EUROPEAN VIEW ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES - UNLESS YOU THINK THAT NOT A
USEFUL TOPIC.
I turn now to Pankaj's suggestion, which I transmit verbatim: "I remember
promising to scout around and see if there were a European whom it would be
interesting to invite to talk to the Enron International Advisory Council
about the (non) convergence of governance structures in Europe, particularly
on the Continent, to the U.S. model. I got the following names from Jay
Lorsch (apparently all members of the committee steering a multifaculty
Harvard business School project on governance in comparative perspective) as
possibilities. Jay suggested that Sihler would be best (former CEO of
Henkel, very senior), Peter's second best (apparently, chairman of Amsterdam
Stock Exchange now) and Smith - formerly Managing partner at Price Waterhouse
Coopers - would be the most junior of the three. I don't personally know any
of the three."
Now some ideas of my own, again acting on the assumption that we want a
two-way educational dialogue - to give your folks in London and Europe a
run-down on the situation in the US, and the US contingent a better
understanding of how European policymakers view the issues we all face.
1.Bill Kristol on the US political scene, in which there is great
interest here, and great misunderstanding of the Bush administration. We
might also consider inviting Larry Lindsey or some other Bush person if
allowed to do so.
2. Someone on the European view on global warming (see suggestions above).
3. Energy regulation in the UK. Callum McCarthy.
4. Economic outlook. Gavyn Davies (usual talk).
5. What went wrong in California (great interest in that over here) and
how to fix it. Steve could do this, or you could invite Bill Hogan (just
joking) or the chairman of FERC if we are allowed to pay his way.
6. Motivating people in a multinational, multicultural organization. If
this is of interest, I can get recommendations for speakers.
7. I would be inclined to add a high-level speaker on the state of
US-UK-European relations, perhaps as a dinner speaker. Between Gavyn and me,
we might be able to get Chancellor Gordon Brown, a very interesting guy, and
the inventor of the "climate change levy" that is driving industry in this
country nuts.
Please look this over. Steve and I have to get together, preferably with
Ken, which leads me to suggest Aspen during the Institute's energy forum,
which I understand Ken will be attending. But if that is not feasible, Steve
and I can work out a date for a preliminary meeting, followed up by one with
Ken at his convenience.
END