Prince to sow green seeds in boardrooms: Cambridge offers environmental seminars

THE PRINCE of Wales is joining with his former university, Cambridge, to organise short, intensive courses in green thinking for leading business executives, writes Nicholas Schoon. The fee for the five-day seminars will be pounds 3,250.

The Prince and his environmental advisers, including Jonathan Porritt, hope to steer the boardrooms of Britain's leading corporations down the road of genuinely sustainable development.

'The aim is to foster a culture of international leadership in this critical area of business and the environment through a small but influential core of champions,' the promotional material says.

The first course for up to 40 executives will be held at Madingley Hall, Cambridge, in September.

Cambridge claims that the high fees, which include accommodation, are very reasonable for this level of training.

British Airways, Shell, ICI, NatWest, Wessex Water, Argyll Group and John Laing have agreed to sponsor the programme.

Mr Porritt said pressure on companies to move their businesses into long-term harmony with the environment had slackened, both from consumers and governments, during the recession.

'What we can do is to grab 40 top people a year, the chief executives of the future, and make them think 20 or 30 years into the future,' he said.

(Photograph omitted)