Andrew Steer to chair Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Board
Today’s announcement is clear and simple: the UK Government has named Sir Andrew Steer as the next Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. His four‑year term is set for 1 February 2026 to 31 January 2030. Nature Minister Mary Creagh welcomed the appointment and thanked outgoing Chair Dame Amelia Fawcett for her leadership.
If you’re seeing his name for the first time: Steer led the Bezos Earth Fund from 2021 to 2025; before that he headed the World Resources Institute and earlier served in senior roles at the World Bank and the UK’s Department for International Development. He was knighted in 2024 for services to sustainable development and climate action, and in 2025 joined the London School of Economics’ Global School of Sustainability as a Professor in Practice.
What will he actually do? Kew is an executive non‑departmental public body and an exempt charity, created by the National Heritage Act 1983 and sponsored by Defra. The Board provides independent, non‑executive leadership and oversight of strategy, finances and risk; the Chair leads that Board.
A quick refresher on Kew. The organisation’s mission is to understand and protect plants and fungi for the wellbeing of people and the future of all life on Earth, set out in its 10‑year ‘Manifesto for Change’ and the Kew Science Strategy. Kew’s gardens and collections also carry UNESCO World Heritage status for their historic design and scientific value.
Kew’s seed‑saving work is world‑leading. The Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst in Sussex is the largest wild seed storage facility on the planet, now safeguarding more than 2.5 billion seeds from around 40,000 species-figures reported by AP News and supported by Kew’s own updates, which note its Guinness World Records title. The seeds support research, habitat restoration and food security projects.
What you see on a visit links directly to that science. In July 2025, Reuters reported Kew opened a permanent Carbon Garden to explain how carbon shapes life and the climate crisis. Kew is also preparing a major restoration of the 1848 Palm House and the Waterlily House, aiming to create the first net‑zero heritage glasshouses of their kind.
All of this sits within a wider sustainability push. Kew has committed to become climate positive by 2030, which means storing more carbon than it emits while rapidly cutting energy use and moving away from fossil fuels across its sites and supply chains, according to Kew’s sustainability plan.
For teachers and students, this is a live case study in how science, culture and government meet. Expect Steer to work with Defra ministers, the Director and global partners to sharpen the impact of Kew’s research and collections on biodiversity and livelihoods-exactly the focus set out in the government announcement and Kew’s Science Strategy.
Public appointments come with rules. This one was made under the Governance Code on Public Appointments; the government says Steer has declared no political activity. Mary Creagh has been the Minister for Nature since July 2024 and Kew sits within her brief, as set out on GOV.UK.
What this means for you: if you’re studying biology, geography or politics, follow the next steps. Steer starts on 1 February 2026; Kew’s Board remains the non‑executive body shaping the organisation; and big projects such as the Palm House works and seed‑bank collaborations will offer new ways to explore climate and biodiversity in class and coursework.