Planet Assembly

Bring your best ideas to this solutions-focused workshop session. Facilitated by sustainability entrepreneur Andy Middleton, Chief Exploration Officer at the TYF Group, and joined by Juliet Davenport, Founder and former CEO of Good Energy, and Simon Sharpe, Director of Economics for the UN Climate Champions and author of Five Times Faster, we’ll look at the key issue of energy. We’ll discuss the scale of the issue and a range of solutions, how to action them, how they might impact on their lives and how to manage the change.

The war in Ukraine has created an unexpected energy shock. But it has also hastened a dramatic redesign in how energy is generated and consumed. New giant investments in wind, solar, hydro, nuclear and ocean power have been impressive. But there are ominous signs that the corporate commitment to move away from fossil fuels is weakening because of the big money still being made by oil and gas producers. The battle to decarbonise our energy is not even nearly won. How do we balance energy generation, energy security and energy poverty, at speed and scale?

This workshop is part of our Hay Festival Planet Assembly, a daily, inclusive conversation over ten days involving lay people, scientists, commentators and experts. We want to empower everyone to be accelerators and multipliers for the dramatic policy transformations that are needed immediately to tackle the acute climate and biodiversity emergencies.

Sign up to our free Planet Assembly daily briefing

Bring your best ideas to this solutions-focused workshop session. Facilitated by sustainability entrepreneur Andy Middleton, Chief Exploration Officer at the TYF Group, and joined by Phil Kloer, Deputy Chief Executive of Hywel Thar University Health Board and geriatitian, Rose Anne Kenny, we’ll look at the key issue of health. We’ll discuss the scale of the issue and a range of solutions, how to action them, how they might impact on their lives and how to manage the change.

Our health systems are creaking due to ageing populations, Covid, and recruitment and funding challenges. The impact on wellbeing of the climate emergency and loss of biodiversity is serious and not yet fully understood. Our bodies are not built to handle the new stresses of heat, pollution and the breakdown of natural systems. We need a new map for change that meets the needs of current and future generations. How do we create an economy that puts the health of people and nature first?

This workshop is part of our Hay Festival Planet Assembly, a daily, inclusive conversation over ten days involving lay people, scientists, commentators and experts. We want to empower everyone to be accelerators and multipliers for the dramatic policy transformations that are needed immediately to tackle the acute climate and biodiversity emergencies.

Sign up to our free Planet Assembly daily briefing.

Bring your best ideas to this solutions-focused workshop session. Facilitated by sustainability entrepreneur Andy Middleton, Chief Exploration Officer at the TYF Group, and joined by Philip Lymbery, Global CEO of farm animal welfare charity, Compassion in World Farming International and Jane Davidson, former Chair of the Wales Inquiry of Food, Farming and Countryside Commission and current Chair of Wales Net Zero 2035, we’ll look at the key issue of food. We’ll discuss the scale of the issue and a range of solutions, how to action them, how they might impact on their lives and how to manage the change.

Food supplies are under intense pressure and what we’ve taken for granted is no longer guaranteed. To continue functioning, local economies and sustainable livelihoods must be able to thrive, both in the UK and all producer countries. Plant and animal diversity, as well as the welfare of farmed and wild species, must be protected. How can we design a food production system that reverses damage to nature and restores climate balance?

This workshop is part of our Hay Festival Planet Assembly, a daily, inclusive conversation over ten days involving lay people, scientists, commentators and experts. We want to empower everyone to be accelerators and multipliers for the dramatic policy transformations that are needed immediately to tackle the acute climate and biodiversity emergencies.

Sign up to our free Planet Assembly daily briefing.

Bring your best ideas to this solutions-focused workshop session. Facilitated by sustainability entrepreneur Andy Middleton, Chief Exploration Officer at the TYF Group, and joined by key speakers to be announced, we’ll look at the key issue of mobility. We’ll discuss the scale of the issue and a range of solutions, how to action them, how they might impact on their lives and how to manage the change.

Creating sustainable mobility goes far beyond reducing emissions. Greening how we all travel will improve the lives and livelihoods of billions of citizens around the world. How dramatically are we willing to change the way we move? How might a combination of new technologies, walking and cycling radicalise our behaviour and innovate what we take for granted? We want to hear your experiences. Come to share ideas that will inspire new ways to move around efficiently and sustainably.

This workshop is part of our Hay Festival Planet Assembly, a daily, inclusive conversation over ten days involving lay people, scientists, commentators and experts. We want to empower everyone to be accelerators and multipliers for the dramatic policy transformations that are needed immediately to tackle the acute climate and biodiversity emergencies.

Sign up to our free Planet Assembly daily briefing.

Bring your best ideas to this solutions-focused workshop session. Facilitated by sustainability entrepreneur Andy Middleton, Chief Exploration Officer at the TYF Group, and joined by Jade Brudenell, Executive Director of the Conservation Collective, we’ll look at the key issue of water. We’ll discuss the scale of the issue and a range of solutions, how to action them, how they might impact on their lives and how to manage the change.

We used to take water for granted, but recent droughts, floods and disruption show that’s no longer a sure bet. Good quality water is vital for reducing the global burden of disease, food production and our everyday health and wellbeing. Unpredictable extremes created by the climate emergency mean that water supplies are erratic and there’s often too much or too little. Today more than 1.7 billion people live in river basins where more water is used than recharged by nature. How can we ensure that the world’s populations are heading away from, rather than towards, water stress?

This workshop is part of our Hay Festival Planet Assembly, a daily, inclusive conversation over ten days involving lay people, scientists, commentators and experts. We want to empower everyone to be accelerators and multipliers for the dramatic policy transformations that are needed immediately to tackle the acute climate and biodiversity emergencies.

Sign up to our free Planet Assembly daily briefing.

Bring your best ideas to this solutions-focused workshop session. Facilitated by sustainability entrepreneur Andy Middleton, Chief Exploration Officer at the TYF Group, and joined by Sara Vaughan, advisor to the Sustainable Beauty Coalition Steering Committee, and digital fashion pioneer Kadine James, we’ll look at the key issue of what we wear. We’ll discuss the scale of the issue and a range of solutions, how to action them, how they might impact on their lives and how to manage the change.

Our never-ending passion for the latest styles and designs has been created by marketing and carries a huge social and environmental cost. The fashion industry accounts for a massive 8–10% of global carbon emissions and nearly 20% of wastewater production. While the environmental impact of flying is well known, fashion sucks up more energy than both aviation and shipping combined and this can’t continue. A growing band of entrepreneurs and fashionistas are rethinking fashion, asking: how can we create a green, regenerative fashion industry by sharing, reusing and redefining what ends up in our wardrobes from the High Street and online stores?

This workshop is part of our Hay Festival Planet Assembly, a daily, inclusive conversation over ten days involving lay people, scientists, commentators and experts. We want to empower everyone to be accelerators and multipliers for the dramatic policy transformations that are needed immediately to tackle the acute climate and biodiversity emergencies.

Sign up to our free Planet Assembly daily briefing.

Bring your best ideas to this solutions-focused workshop session. Facilitated by sustainability entrepreneur Andy Middleton, Chief Exploration Officer at the TYF Group, and joined by Anna Swaithes, Head of Sustainability, Crown Estate , we’ll look at the key issue of biodiversity. We’ll discuss the scale of the issue and a range of solutions, how to action them, how they might impact on their lives and how to manage the change.

Biodiversity is the collective term for the full variety of life on Earth. We’ve lost 69% of wildlife over the past 50 years, and at last we’re realising the consequences. The COP15 summit in Montreal last December was a remarkable and unexpected success but most businesses have little knowledge of nature risks and no plan to restore biodiversity. How can we mobilise joined up, local-to-global action by business, society and governments on biodiversity, at a speed and scale fast enough to matter?

This workshop is part of our Hay Festival Planet Assembly, a daily, inclusive conversation over ten days involving lay people, scientists, commentators and experts. We want to empower everyone to be accelerators and multipliers for the dramatic policy transformations that are needed immediately to tackle the acute climate and biodiversity emergencies.

Sign up to our free Planet Assembly daily briefing.

Bring your best ideas to this solutions-focused workshop session. Facilitated by sustainability entrepreneur Andy Middleton, Chief Exploration Officer at the TYF Group, and joined by Ian Goldin, author of Age of the City, we’ll look at the key issue of where and how we live. We’ll discuss the scale of the issue and a range of solutions, how to action them, how they might impact on their lives and how to manage the change.

Our cities cover 3% of the Earth’s surface area, and more than half of the planet’s people already live in them. Pressures are rising as cities consume up to 80% of global energy and produce 75% of the world’s carbon emissions. Rural communities have their own challenges relating to depopulation, lack of access to services and natural disasters. Urban conurbations are where sustainability, climate and biodiversity ambitions have the greatest impact, but they can only do that if rural communities thrive too. How can we reimagine the relationship between place, prosperity and the wellbeing of future generations? How fast and decisively can we change?

This workshop is part of our Hay Festival Planet Assembly, a daily, inclusive conversation over ten days involving lay people, scientists, commentators and experts. We want to empower everyone to be accelerators and multipliers for the dramatic policy transformations that are needed immediately to tackle the acute climate and biodiversity emergencies.

Sign up to our free Planet Assembly daily briefing.

Come along to hear Tony Juniper and Emily Shuckburgh discuss the results from the week of Planet Assembly public workshops led by sustainability entrepreneur Andy Middleton, Chief Exploration Officer at the TYF Group. At this concluding event, we’ll launch the urgent call to action generated from these intense brain-storming discussions.

At the workshops over the first nine days of the Festival, people from all walks of life will contribute to inclusive discussions with scientists, commentators and experts. We’ll share ideas to create new momentum to ensure planetary conditions in which all species can thrive. Each day we’ll tackle an area of our lives where there must and can be urgent change, from biodiversity and mobility to energy and food, water and cities to health and fashion.

The aim is to design and define the new tipping points we confront and to create new public pressure on policy makers and businesses to effect rapid change. Tony Juniper is Chair of Natural England and Emily Shuckburgh is Director of Cambridge Zero; together they have authored Climate Change with His Majesty, King Charles.

This event is part of our Hay Festival Planet Assembly, a daily, inclusive conversation over ten days involving lay people, scientists, commentators and experts. We want to empower everyone to be accelerators and multipliers for the dramatic policy transformations that are needed immediately to tackle the acute climate and biodiversity emergencies.

Sign up to our free Planet Assembly daily briefing.