In the face of escalating climate impacts, mounting cost pressures, and an increasingly polarised political agenda, edie 26 puts personal and professional resilience at the heart of the content – and we must hold ourselves, our industry partners, our speakers and our attendees accountable to truly have a positive impact through this event.
We remain the UK’s only sustainable business event run by a certified B Corp, and we continue to lead the industry when it comes to speaker diversity and inclusivity, greenwashing and action-oriented content. In fact, we are pleased to report that 21% of all edie 25 speakers were people of colour and 59% of all speakers were female. Moreover, 85% of last year’s attendees told us our event content had a direct, positive impact on their organisation’s sustainability and net-zero strategy.
But this is just the beginning. 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, it’s never been more important for edie to lead the way on sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and transparency.
Now in its third year, this edie 26 Mission Statement sets out our event sustainability policy along with our plan to increase the diversity of voices, eliminate greenwashing and deliver more output-focused content in 2026 - whilst bringing others on the journey.
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 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 renowned 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 59%
// Increased racial diversity on stage (minimum 20% people of colour) – last year, we achieved 21%
// 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
View our publisher’s full Equality & Diversity Policy here.
Clear outputs
An event is only as good as the ideas and outputs it generates, and nowhere is that more important than in the sustainability and net-zero space. Whether it’s implementing new initiatives or forming new collaborations, edie 26 will make a real difference to the world
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 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.
View edie’s brand and partnership guidelines here.
If you have any questions or comments about our edie 26 Mission Statement or brand and partnership guidelines, please email our Publisher Luke Nicholls – lukenicholls@fav-house.com.
edie’s brand guidelines can be viewed here.
Zero greenwashing
edie’s content and events team know corporate greenwash when we see it, and there is certainly no place for 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” surrounding Scope 3 emissions and carbon offsetting.
That said, we have put in 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
Maintaining our status as the UK’s only B Corp-certified sustainable business event relies on 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 is one of the key factors behind our choice to host edie 26 at 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.
If you have any questions or comments about our edie 26 Mission Statement or broader brand guidelines, please email our Publisher, Luke Nicholls, at lukenicholls@fav-house.com.
