Tonight, I got the chance to see Al Gore speak live. He was spruiking his investment company, Generation _, which is being launched (via a platform) to retail investors in Australia. I’m not usually seduced by celebrity, but this felt like an opportunity you don’t get every day.
I read on the smoking gun that this would normally cost the company $100,000, plus first class travel expenses (hybrid cars where possible).
It was a bit of an anti-climax, on the whole. He’s a great speaker, but I think I’ve heard all his good jokes before (“used to be the next President of the USA” got a laugh, but I can’t believe anyone hadn’t heard it before), and the spruiking made it much more like any other fund manager presentation I’ve ever been to (and I’ve been to a few).
But, as he said, far more money is invested by the markets every day than by governments annually. He’s probably being more effective lobbying for wholesale and retail funds to be invested thinking sustainably, than he is by lobbying any government you would care to name. More power to him.
Apparently David Niven always told the same stories…As you say, at least he’s out there trying to do something.