Chris Hines MBE

Owner of A Grain of Sand & Founding Member of Surfers Against Sewage

Chris has spent more than 30 years working and campaigning for the environment, with a career built around communication, practical action and driving positive change. He was a co-founder and Director of Surfers Against Sewage from 1990 to 2000, helping grow the organisation into one of the UK’s most influential environmental pressure groups. During that time, SAS was described by BBC News and Current Affairs as “some of the Government’s most sophisticated environmental critics” and by The Independent as “Britain’s coolest pressure group”. Its campaigning contributed to major improvements in the UK’s coastal environment, including helping to secure billions of pounds of investment.

Chris went on to become Sustainability Director at the Eden Project, where he spent five years helping to embed sustainable business practice across the organisation. His work included conceiving and delivering “Waste Neutral”, an early precursor to the circular economy, alongside championing the triple bottom line approach to people, planet and profit.

He has also given evidence to Commons and Lords Select Committees, the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, and the European Parliament and Commission, and was invited to act as a special adviser to the then Environment Minister, Michael Meacher MP. A highly experienced communicator, Chris has appeared across national and international media, including Panorama, BBC Newsnight, the BBC World Service and CNN.

Today, Chris is at the heart of A Grain of Sand, an organisation dedicated to delivering positive change.

Chris Hines MBE has chaired Shift since 2022, and we were delighted to welcome him back for Shift 2026. Known for his ability to spark dialogue and draw people into the conversation, Chris brings together a lifetime of environmental experience with a natural instinct for keeping discussions focused and energised.