Kate Hutchinson is the founder of The Sustainability Community, an organisation dedicated to accelerating the green economy through knowledge sharing and collaboration. She is also the driving force behind the Yorkshire Sustainability Festival, the UK’s largest sustainability-focused business event outside London. With a background in sociology and business development, Kate has leveraged her skills to create impactful sustainability events that bring together key players from public, private and third sectors.
“Sustainability isn’t just a London conversation — it’s a national priority, and we’re leading the charge from the north.”
My journey from state school to sustainability champion
I come from Barnsley and went to a state school where only 23% of my year passed five GCSEs including English and Maths. It was a very deprived area, though I came from a middle-class family — my dad was a headteacher and my mum was a teacher. Growing up in that environment, surrounded by deprivation but going home to a family who cared about education, created an interesting dichotomy.
My older brother was a genius and I was really competitive, so I did well in that environment. I ended up at Notre Dame High School in Sheffield for my A-levels, where I initially struggled. After re-sitting my AS levels in my A-level year, I eventually achieved two As and a B. Though I briefly attended the University of Greenwich, I lasted just eight weeks before returning home.
After taking a gap year working at Next, I went to Durham University to study sociology, which was incredible. Those three years at Durham, where I was in St Aidan’s College, taught me so much about understanding the world. I graduated with a 2:1 about ten years ago.
From fashion dreams to events management success
At the time, my dream was to work in fashion. I got a job in luxury children’s wear in London, but six months later, I was back at my parents’ door, determined not to return. Within a year, I found myself working for a networking company in Leeds, starting as a business development executive. My job was to make a hundred calls a day and sell as much as possible for upcoming events. Remarkably, within eight months, they made me the general manager of the company.
After running the company for about two years, I set up my own events agency called The Secret Event Service nearly seven years ago. Like many businesses, the pandemic forced us to pivot. Overnight, in-person events became impossible, so we transitioned to virtual events and we developed specialist expertise using a virtual event platform. Luckily for us, that virtual event platform ended up being the biggest virtual event platform in the market at the time. We got to know it inside out and back to front so that became one of our greatest strengths.
Finding purpose through firewalking
By late 2022, after the economy crashed, I took a step back to reassess our business model. We had just delivered a major event in London and New York for a large marketing company — an exciting project that reinforced our strengths in event delivery. But it also made me reflect on where I wanted to focus my energy long-term. That was when I realised my passion lay in sustainability, and I wanted to dedicate myself fully to that sector.
I was working with a coach at the time and nearly sold The Secret Event Service — I had an offer on the table which I rejected. A week later, I went on a fire walk with my coach, who is a firewalking instructor. I walked on hot coals seven times that night. The experience was all about releasing self-limiting beliefs and finding your purpose. Five days later, I came up with the idea to launch Yorkshire Sustainability Week.
Building a regional approach to sustainability
That first year, Yorkshire Sustainability Week became the biggest sustainability festival for the business community outside of London. We had 1,200 people attend 25 events, which was an amazing reaction. We decided to establish it as its own company called The Sustainability Community, with a vision to build a global sustainability network region by region.
In 2024, we expanded the week into a full-scale festival, drawing 1,500 attendees to 40 events across the region. Speakers included Kevin McCloud, Mary Portas, [pictured in main image], Jon Richardson and The Futurenauts, who brought innovative new insights and inspiration to the discussions.
For 2025, we’re thinking even bigger. Sustainability isn’t just a London conversation — it’s a national priority, and we’re leading the charge from the north.
Our next major event is Green Finance UK in Sheffield, partnering with the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. It’s a deep dive into how we finance the green transition in the UK, both regionally and nationally, covering topics from biodiversity and regional hotspots to hydrogen investment and retrofit. We have an amazing speaker lineup from the National Wealth Fund to Innovate UK, Deloitte, and small businesses.
What we always try to do is ensure a good mix of public, private, and third-sector engagement in all our events. We make sure there’s a place for corporates, SMEs, and young people as well.
Regional collaboration as the key to a Net Zero future
We believe you get to a national picture of Net Zero region by region. The challenges facing York and North Yorkshire are different from those in Nottingham or the East Midlands, but similar to areas like Devon with farming and coastline.
With a regional focus, we can understand the individual challenges and strengths in each region. We can then lean into strengthening what’s already there and supporting areas of weakness. You can’t get to a national picture of Net Zero if you don’t understand what’s happening at a regional level.
Education and knowledge sharing in a fast-moving field
One of the most interesting things about working in sustainability is that it’s moving at such a pace that you need to constantly educate yourself. Keeping up with new regulations, legislation, and technologies is crucial, which is exactly why we run our events.
All our events focus on two things: knowledge sharing and networking. They provide a constant opportunity to learn about new developments, both for people entering the industry and adapting their careers, as well as for those already established in sustainability roles.
Why diversity of thought leads to a just transition to Net Zero
Diversity of thought is crucial because what we’re keen to achieve is what’s called a ‘just transition’ to Net Zero. You’ll never get to a just transition without diversity of thought in the conversation.
At all our events, we try our hardest to build panels with representation from anchor institutions (councils, universities, government organisations), corporates, SMEs, and young people. Each of these groups is fundamental to achieving Net Zero, and we need to understand where they can fill the gaps.
The just transition is fundamentally important because it’s how we redistribute wealth in this country. Over the last 14 years, the gap between rich and poor has returned to Victorian levels, which is why we’re seeing a swing toward more extreme political views. With the growth of the Net Zero economy, we can redistribute some of that wealth to our post-industrial towns and cities that have lost industrialised work and are looking for new opportunities.
Meeting people where they are
Not everybody needs to understand the science behind why we’re making the move to Net Zero. You can meet people where they are in the story, and humans have always connected through effective storytelling.
The story we need to be telling the whole of the UK about Net Zero is that it allows us to strengthen our borders and become more secure by controlling our own energy, which is vital in an increasingly challenging world. It also creates a huge number of jobs. When talking to people who are resistant to adapting to Net Zero, we need to emphasise that this will bring the next big job opportunities to their area, allowing them to earn a decent living and provide for their families.
If we get these two things right — energy security and job creation — we’ll see a redistribution of wealth across the country rather than a swing toward extremism.
Connect with me and join our Community
The best place to find me is on LinkedIn. Everyone is very welcome to connect with me or follow me there. You can also head to our website, and register to receive emails about all our events.
Our Green Finance UK Conference is happening on the 6th March in Sheffield, and Re:Generation Earth UK will take place on the 18th and 19th June at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. At Regeneration Earth, all the regions will be under one roof to grow the green economy. On 6th November we’re running the Green Skills UK Conference 2025 in Leeds, so 2025 is going to be busy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!
I hope to see you there!
