We hosted our annual awards ceremony on Wednesday 4th June 2025, during this jam-packed afternoon the 2025 Environmental Professional of the Year award was presented to joint winners, Robbie Epsom CEnv and Lukas (Luke) Howell CEnv. This blog is about Luke’s professional journey and what this recognition means to him.
2025 Environmental Professional of the Year: Luke Howell CEnv
When Luke Howell accepted the Society for the Environment’s Environmental Professional of the Year award this year, he did so with excitement, humility and a story that challenges what a “typical” sustainability career journey looks like.
“I dropped out of college and never went to university,” Luke says. “So to be recognised by SocEnv and my peers as Environmental Professional of the Year is something I’m genuinely proud of.”
Environmental Professional Journey
Luke’s path into environmental work didn’t begin in a classroom. It began in a solar-powered circus. Born on the road to a family of performers and festival organisers, Luke grew up surrounded by creativity, community, and off-grid innovation. His parents ran what is thought to be the world’s first all-human, non-animal, solar-powered circus, and later transformed it into a mobile eco-education centre that travelled the UK introducing schoolchildren to concepts ranging from clean tech to, conservation and sustainable living.
“We were running on wind and solar in the ’80s,” he says. “That was just normal for me. I grew up helping run renewable energy exhibits, talking to people about batteries, conservation, and clean transport long before those things were in the mainstream.”
Today, Luke is the Founder and Director of Hope Solutions – a consultancy he set up to bring serious climate strategy to the entertainment, media and creative industries. Hope Solutions works behind the scenes on some of the world’s most high-profile sustainability projects across live events and entertainment, including Coldplay’s 59% emissions-cutting world tour, the Earthshot Prize Awards, Glastonbury Festival and initiatives with clients including Netflix, Warner Music, Live Nation and Spotify.
“We believe entertainment is a uniquely powerful space,” Luke says. “It meets people where they’re at – emotionally, socially, culturally. And if we can weave sustainability into that, without preaching, we can influence change in a way that sticks.”
Hope Solutions helps clients not only reduce emissions but also trial new technologies, improve audience engagement, build supplier accountability, create strategies and plans and drive impact at scale. Luke is a Chartered Environmentalist, a Fellow of both IEMA and the RSA, and sits on advisory committees for MIT, the Carbon Accounting Alliance, IEMA, TPi Awards and others.
He has been named one of the 50 most influential people in music and was also named on the ENDS Power List of 2024.
His message to others in the profession?
“We need climate action to happen at every level – particularly in parliament and in boardrooms – but also at home and in spaces where people meet, congregate and engage like festivals and venues and at concerts. Action can be high level but it’s also deeply important for it to be creative and grounded so it’s accessible and engaging. Whether you’re an MP, a councillor, a business leader, a tour manager, an artist, a lighting designer, student
or someone just walking home from work or taking your kids to school – your decisions and actions matter. This isn’t about perfection though, it’s about participation and giving things a go!”
By Luke Howell CEnv
Statements on this blog reflect the views and opinions of the author(s) credited and they do not always represent the views or policies of SocEnv. The blogs shared on the SocEnv website are intended to be thought-provoking articles for informative and educational purposes only.
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