New festival of events dedicated to Sustainability is coming to Yorkshire

A brand-new week dedicated to sustainability is coming to Yorkshire this July 2023. The festival of events will epitomise the importance of collaboration, sharing key learnings and recognising that every business, must start somewhere to make a difference to protect our planet.

Yorkshire Sustainability Week (YSW) will stretch across all channels of sustainability, from living sustainably, retail, food and healthcare through to future cities, construction, water and energy.

The event has already gained serious traction and recognition with Leeds City Council and Leeds University both partnering with the organisers as headline sponsors, along with a growing international keynote speaker line up confirming attendance.

Kate Hutchinson, founder of YSW and Managing Director of The Secret Event Service said: “The sustainability community in Yorkshire is still in its infancy, with many sustainability events happening in silo’s. We want to create a platform that allows all of the fantastic businesses across Yorkshire making serious change happen to come together and learn from each other. It’s an extremely exciting time to be creating an event which is purposefully built to support this community to reach ambitious goals. There is no doubt in my mind that we are on the precipice of a green revolution.”

We are blown away by the serious backing seen from the organisations from across the region and cannot wait to welcome and showcase what the region has to offer in terms of sustainable thinking and as a host to 2000+ attendees.

Tom Riordan, chief executive of Leeds City Council said: “We are delighted that Yorkshire Sustainability Week is to be hosted in our city. We are one of the leading cities in the UK for taking climate action and are working hard towards becoming the first UK net zero city. The festival of events will help share this ambition while shining a light on the trailblazers of sustainable innovation from across Yorkshire, pathing the way for a brighter and greener future.”

The week will host a series of events to showcase the great work happening across the nation and is themed around the UN 17 sustainable development goals. The flagship two-day conference taking place at Cloth Hall Court is accompanied by a series of events including; Pitch it Green, an opportunity to watch seed start-ups pitch with real investors to get their ideas off the ground, The Big Green Gathering, and The Secret Business Lunch. Furthermore, businesses from across Yorkshire are invited to submit their own sustainability fringe events, creating a thunderclap of potential change across the region.

Professor Nick Plant, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation from the University of Leeds said “At the University of Leeds our interdisciplinary research collaborations link our physical, technological, economic and social understanding of climate change and sustainability, creating solutions to address this global crisis. We are committed to embedding sustainability in everything we do, taking responsibility for our economic, cultural, social and environmental impacts.  We are thrilled to be joint headline sponsors of Yorkshire Sustainability Week, and to help highlight the opportunities that embracing sustainability initiatives can bring.”

“We are thrilled to sponsor at the Yorkshire Sustainability Conference on Future Cities, at EY we truly believe that sustainability is everyone’s business and are committed to reframing how organisations approach environment, social and governance (ESG) by demonstrating the value it can create.

By teaming together with YSW we hope to raise the roof for momentum and reach businesses across Yorkshire to accelerate their transition to thinking green.”

The festival of events will take place across 3 – 7 July 2023, with a two-day conference held on the 4^th and 5^th July and is committed to be carbon neutral. Furthermore, businesses across Yorkshire are invited to host their own fringe events throughout Yorkshire to support the festival’s vision to building a greener future in the region. Tickets to attend the events throughout the week are now on sale at ysf.thesustainabilitycommunity.com