Steve Backshall
Climate and environmental risk now sit inside every serious strategy review, yet most leadership teams still treat the natural world as a public-affairs issue rather than an operating one. The gap between corporate climate language and what is actually happening in oceans, forests, and weather systems is widening. Leaders need someone who has watched that gap close in real time, on the ground, for two decades.
Steve Backshall is a BAFTA-winning broadcaster, naturalist, and explorer who helps organisations connect environmental reality to commercial decision-making and human performance under pressure.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Steve Backshall
- Two decades of first-hand evidence on climate and biodiversity change, anchored by Our Changing Planet, the BBC’s seven-year longitudinal study of six fragile ecosystems.
- Credibility across two audiences in one booking: the executive room responsible for climate strategy, and the wider workforce that responds to adventure, resilience, and human performance stories.
- A scientific spine behind the broadcaster, including an MSc in bioscience and an honorary doctorate from the University of Exeter, which lifts the content above motivational generality.
- Experience hosting and moderating at scale, including a sold-out UK and Australia theatre tour, which makes him a low-risk choice for plenary, fireside, or interview formats.
- A working conservationist, not a commentator. President of Buglife and an active patron, which gives his environmental content first-party authority rather than secondary analysis.
Biography highlights
- Two BAFTAs in 2011: Best Children’s Presenter and Best Factual Series, both for Deadly 60.
- MBE, 2020, for services to wildlife conservation and charity.
- Honorary PhD, University of Exeter; MSc Bioscience, Canterbury Christ Church University.
- National Geographic Channel “Adventurer in Residence”, 1998 to 2003.
- Presenter of Our Changing Planet (BBC One), Expedition with Steve Backshall (BBC Two and Dave), Deadly 60 (CBBC), and Lost Land of the Tiger / Volcano / Jaguar.
- Author of Deep Blue, Mountain, Wildlings, Expedition, and The Falcon Chronicles novels.
Biography
The natural world is no longer a separate file in the corporate risk register. Climate volatility, biodiversity collapse, and ocean health now feed directly into supply chains, insurance pricing, and licence to operate. The leaders who handle this best tend to be the ones who have spent time looking at the physical evidence, not only the disclosure templates.
Steve Backshall has spent his career inside that physical evidence. As presenter of the BBC’s Our Changing Planet, he has tracked six of the world’s most fragile ecosystems over a seven-year arc, returning to the same sites to document what has actually changed. Earlier work for National Geographic, where he served as Adventurer in Residence from 1998, gave him a comparable long view across reefs, jungles, and polar regions.
The credentials sit on top of fieldwork, not the other way round. He holds an MSc in bioscience from Canterbury Christ Church University and an honorary PhD from the University of Exeter, and he serves as President of Buglife. His two BAFTAs in 2011, for Deadly 60, and his MBE in 2020 for services to conservation, anchor a public profile that reaches well beyond the specialist audience.
The same body of work supplies a second register that organisations use heavily: first-descent kayaking expeditions in New Guinea, first ascents on Venezuelan tepuis, world record paddles, and the operational discipline behind them. That material translates cleanly into sessions on resilience, decision-making under risk, and team performance in environments where failure is not abstract.
Key speaking topics
- Climate and biodiversity change observed in the field
- Ocean health and marine conservation
- Expedition leadership and decision-making under risk
- Resilience and human performance in extreme environments
- Conservation strategy and corporate environmental responsibility
- Adventure, exploration, and the science behind both
Ideal for
- Sustainability, ESG, and corporate affairs leaders responsible for climate narrative and substance
- Senior leadership offsites and all-hands events where one speaker needs to land with the boardroom and the wider workforce
- Conference hosts and moderators needing a credible plenary anchor across science, exploration, and sustainability tracks
- Internal leadership programmes on resilience, team performance, and decision-making under pressure
Audience outcomes
- A grounded view of what is actually happening in climate and biodiversity systems, beyond the headline framings
- A clearer link between environmental change and operational, commercial, and reputational exposure
- Concrete stories on risk, preparation, and team behaviour drawn from genuine first-descent and first-ascent expeditions
- Renewed appetite for ambition and long-horizon thinking inside the organisation