SUSTAIN 2026 - The Midlands' Sustainability UnConference

SUSTAIN is back this September!

Sustainability | Innovation | Action 

Driven by you!

No speakers. No panels. No fixed agenda. Just 200+ sustainability leaders, business decision-makers, educators, local authority teams and community changemakers solving current challenges, together.

This is your chance to take part and shape what happens next.

Sustain started with a simple belief: when people from different sectors, backgrounds and experiences meet at eye level, better ideas emerge.

Our role is to make those moments possible. You fill them with content. Together, we create the conditions for meaningful exchange and lasting networks.

When everyone is ready to listen, challenge and build, the solutions sit between us, in the shared thinking and unexpected connections.

What is an UnConference?

Sustain 2026 is a one-day sustainability gathering built around conversation, collaboration and action.

We all start the day together, naming the sustainability challenges that matter most right now across the Midlands. From there, the agenda forms in real time.

You can move between rooms and cross-fertilise ideas, bumblebee style. You can pitch a topic and lead. Or drift to wherever the real conversation is, like a butterfly.

Why it matters now

• The Midlands is key to the UK's sustainability transition: in skills, business adaptation and community resilience
• None of us holds the full answer to a challenge as complex as climate change
• None of us can do this alone

Sustain 2026 is the catalyst for your next collaboration. We gather to drive systems change, grounded in local reality.

Themes that matter

Every year, topics are shaped by those attending. But you can expect conversations on:

• Education and Empowerment
• Food and Fair
• Climate and Community
• Renewable Energy and Retrofit
• Waste and Value
• Risk and Resilience
• Construction and Circularity
• Business and Biodiversity
• Finance and Future
• Media and Mental Health

Who it's for

If you care about shaping a sustainable future, this is for you.

• Sustainability professionals and business leaders seeking purpose and impact
• Local authority teams working on climate, community or regeneration
• Educators, young people and the changemakers of tomorrow
• Charities, CICs and social entrepreneurs
• Engineers, architects, food growers, creatives, data analysts, funders…
• No matter your background. If you've got skin in the game, you belong here.

Why we charge for tickets

Your ticket investment supports a full day of collaborative learning and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing in our UnConference format. Your contribution to timely discussions, cross-sector networking and collective problem-solving helps drive lasting change across the Midlands.

Morning and afternoon refreshments, plus a full lunch, are included, provided by ChangeKitchen CIC, our sustainable, socially conscious catering partner.

Pay it forward

You can help us become a more inclusive event by booking an extra ticket, which we'll pass on to someone who couldn't otherwise attend. Just let us know at checkout and we'll treat it as a donated ticket. Thank you!

Don't miss this one

Tickets start from £50. Capacity is limited to 250 places, and once they're gone, they're gone; there's no overflow room and no recording to catch up on afterwards, because what grows when this community spends the day together, you won't find anywhere else.

Book your ticket now and be part of Sustain 2026.