edie 25

As the UK’s longest running sustainable business event organised by a B Corp certified company, we continue to lead the industry when it comes to speaker diversity and inclusivity, greenwashing and action-oriented content: 83% of attendees claim their event experience will have a direct, positive impact on their organisation's sustainability strategy, and 90% say they feel more energised to drive positive change as a result of being there.

But this is just the start. We recognise there is so much further we can go to truly achieve the sustainable and equitable future we are all striving for. And, with the sustainability events market becoming increasingly crowded,  you’ve told us you want us to lead the way on sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and transparency.  

You told us you want us to increase the diversity of voices, eliminate greenwashing and deliver more output-focused content this year – whilst bringing others on the journey.  

We’ve listened, and we want to hold ourselves fully accountable for delivering on our shared values. This is our commitment to a better future. 

Diversity of voices

The ‘biodiversity of thought’ is fundamental to fixing the future. A room or panel of devoid of diverse voices will naturally struggle to grasp global challenges that are dependent on interconnect planetary systems. This is where edie 26 comes in.  

Our event is recognised for curating the best, most inspiring speaker line-ups in the industry, and delivering sessions which advocate for the levels of gender balance, diversity and inclusivity that industry is striving for.  

Our commitments for 2026:

// An even gender balance on stage (minimum 50% women on average across all stages) – last year, we achieved 53%

// Increased racial diversity on stage (minimum 20% people of colour) – last year, we achieved 24%

// There will be no single-gender or single-race panel discussions across all theatres and stages – last year, this target was achieved

// Racial diversity on our edie 26 Advisory Board (minimum 4 people of colour)

View our publisher’s full Equality & Diversity Policy here.  

Our commitments for 2026:

// Every presentation will include clear and actionable takeaways, and every session will include practical case studies which provide ‘how to’ insights  

// Workshops will be professionally facilitated with an output-focussed agenda – these outputs will be captured and shared with all delegates in a dedicated afterwards  

// QR Codes will be placed around the event and displayed during sessions, linking through to relevant content outputs   

// Our content team will produce a dedicated post-event report, listing all of the key outputs from across the two days – to be shared with all delegates one month after the event 

Commercial partnerships

edie believes in the power of cross-sector collaboration and industry partnerships to drive sustainable business. This comes to life at edie 26, where our commercial partnerships can involve exhibiting on the show floor, sponsoring stages or sessions, speaking or presenting, and hosting features and workshops. 

That said, we are hyperconscious of entering into commercial partnerships with any organisation that has a net-negative impact on people or the planet (or is at ‘high risk’ of doing so) with no clear and officially validated pathway to remediate actual and potential environmental and human rights risks. 

As such, we have developed a clear and steadfast set of brand guidelines which outline who we will and work with on a commercial basis to ensure that every edie 26 partnership is built on a shared set of values which ultimately put an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy first.  edie’s brand guidelines can be viewed here.

Zero greenwashing

edie’s content and events team know corporate greenwash when we see it, and we know you don’t want it at edie 26. Weeding it out entirely can be tough, though, especially given the recent surge of net-zero commitments and associated “grey areas” such as Scope 3 emissions and carbon offsetting.   

That said, we have put place a clear set of guidelines and principles that all edie 26 speakers and partners must adhere to in order to feature at the event. 

Our commitments for 2026:  

// All speakers are vetted by our Producer against a set of criteria before being given a space on the programme 

// All speakers are briefed by our Producer to address the elephant-in-the-room topics and ensure they focus on the topic at hand and not purely the successes of an individual/organisation 

// Presentations are vetted by our Producer to ensure they are scrupulously relevant to the topic at hand and not purely promotional

// “Ask us anything” panels will be truly that, with chairs asking questions that have been upvoted the most by our audience via the digital event app

// We hold a dedicated speaker briefing and provide a clear set of guidelines for all sessions across all stages. This includes a clear policy for no sales pitches to be given at any time on any stage

Event sustainability

We know how important integrity is to you. Our status as the UK’s longest running sustainable business event organised by B Corp certified company is underpinned by a clear and rigorous Sustainable Events Policy which ensures we walk the walk when it comes to environmental and social sustainability at edie 26. 

This was one of the key factors behind our move to the Business Design Centre – a fellow B Corp-certified organisation which champions the highest standards of event sustainability.  

One key aspect of this is our catering, which is entirely vegan. Eating a plant-based diet is one of the most important decisions we can make as individuals to protect the planet, and through edie 26 we will showcase the ever-growing range of delicious plant-based alternatives that are now available. Carbon labels will also be on display across our catering stations, allowing us to measure the climate impacts of all food on offer.  

Our full Sustainability Policy can be viewed here. 