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Broadcaster, journalist, speaker and author Lucy Siegle is a regular commentator and opinion leader specialising in climate and sustainability. She has been invited to speak on BBC Breakfast (2000-) and Newsnight (1980-), as well as being a regular contributor to The One Show (2006-).
Lucy Siegle started her career in 2000 working for The Observer magazine (then Life magazine) as an administrator. She was initially reluctant to contribute writing to the magazine, but she soon became interested in environmental and social issues and decided to write her first feature a year later on London’s new Civil Partnerships, and has gone on to write articles for The Guardian group, among others, on themes of environmental and social justice. In 2004, she went freelance and starting writing for Marie Claire UK Magazine and an ethical-living columnist for The Observer.
In addition to launching The Observer Ethical Awards, Lucy Siegle has hosted events for Greenbuild, The Yorkshire Post and Ben and Jerry’s. She is the co-founder of the Green Carpet Challenge with Livia Firth – an initiative to get sustainable fashion at international events.
She writes a weekly ethical living column for The Observer and is the author of a number of books; Green Living in the Urban Jungle (2001), A Good Life (2005), To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World? (2011) and Turning the Tides on Plastic (2018). To Die For… was nominated for the 2012 Orwell prize and formed the basis of the 2015 documentary The True Cost, which Lucy co-produced. Her first quiz book was published in 2022, Be the Ultimate Friend of the Earth: 100 Questions to Boost your Climate and Nature IQ, aimed at amplifying eco literacy.
As well as being a proficient writer, Lucy is a regular face on our television screens. She has been a reporter on the BBC One programme The One Show since 2007, and in 2009 and 2012 she stood in as co-presenter. She also appears on Sky News (1989-) and Good Morning Britain (2014-) to speak about environmental issues. In 2018, Lucy appeared in the BBC One documentary Fashion’s Dirty Secrets, hosted by Stacey Dooley, where she gave evidence on the eco footprint of the fast fashion sector to the UK Government’s environmental audit committee. In 2021, Lucy filmed a major investigation into the energy from waste industry and UK recycling, contributed a series for the launch of Times Earth, appeared on Times Radio and chaired a number of debates including for The Guardian on food security, the Royal Television Society on green TV and Green Alliance on resource use.
In 2004 she founded and launched the Observer Ethical Awards, which celebrated their tenth anniversary at the V&A museum in London. Lucy has chaired several debates on the fashion industry in the House of Commons and House of Lords, taken part in the main stage debates at the Royal Society and in 2016 hosted the Association for Public Service Excellence awards in Blackpool.
Also in 2016, she interviewed both Dame Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney live on stage, the latter as part of the Kering sustainability awards in London. Lucy is critical of large fast fashion brands who pretend to be ethical and clothes recycling initiatives. Along with friend Livia Firth, Lucy devised the Green Carpet Challenge which promoted the use of sustainable fashion on the red carpet at events such as the Met Ball, Golden Globes and BAFTAs. In 2012, she directed the short film Green Cut which focussed on sustainable fashion, and in 2014 she travelled to the Brazilian Amazon, which stemmed the idea of producing zero deforestation handbags with Gucci.
In 2020, Lucy was announced as the head judge for Our Planet, the first powerlist dedicated to acknowledging women who are making a positive contribution to the environment or sustainability of the planet. She was also on the judging panel for BBC Bitesize’s Regenerators, who aim to find the next generation of environmental champions.
Lucy is an experienced chair and host with years of live and virtual performance expertise. She has hosted events for the United Nations, London’s Sustainable Fashion Week, virtual book launches, webinars and finance debates. She also moderated the final day of the Net Zero conference from the studio to a virtual audience.
Lucy has interviewed many natural world heroes, most notably Sir David Attenborough for her weekly podcast, So Hot Right Now, telling climate stories.
Lucy definitely puts her money where her mouth is, and held an eco-friendly wedding in 2000 in South Devon. She also lives next to the River Thames where she collects plastic daily from her kayak. She is the trustee for the environmental NGO, Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) and chair of the Real Circularity Coalition, spearheading the change to a real circular economy. Lucy is also an ambassador for The Circle, the women’s rights foundation founded by Annie Lennox.
Lucy has spoken about a range of issues related to the environment, social justice and ethical consumerism, from the health of our oceans to sustainable fashion to politics. As a chair and host, she is regarded as warm, friendly and professional, able to tease out important debates on stage.
Could you please pass on my huge thanks to Lucy for doing such a great job at WEBA last Thursday. She really is a great asset to the Awards and approached it with exactly the right balance, lots of humour and warmth while keeping it slick and professional.
Sarah Moore, Events Manager, Triodos
