In 2024 we entred a new world, where global temperatures breached the 1.5°C warming limit. It is widely acknowledged that the construction and operation of the built environment – through it’s consumption and waste of energy and material resources – accounts for 35-40% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2025, we continue to see increasing global impacts that signify change, including escalating weather events, declining biodiversity and warnings of approaching tipping points. We have breached six out of nine planetary boundaries, and key organisations such as the Australian Climate Council call for an urgent review of Net Zero targets in order to meet our responsibilities under the 2015 Paris Accord.
As practitioners in the built environment, we are complicit in this.
The Climate Forum is a response to this complicity: to make space for dialogue on how we, in Australia and across the Pacific, can connect, adapt and regenerate in a world of change. We recognise that communities need place-based design solutions that centre Country and nature, that built environment professionals need to consider interconnected living systems, thinking globally and acting locally. To do this, in our second year we are bringing together built-environment practitioners, students, young people and community members to share and connect on initiatives, success stories, and knowledge.
The Climate Action in Australian Architectural Practice report was the starting point and the program builds on its six findings for moving forwards: Build Agency, Overcome Inertia, Advocate, Build Knowledge, Connect and Choose Hope.
This year the Climate Forum is hosted by ACAN Australia, as an online event designed by emerging researchers, architects and practitioners. It is supported by Arch Climate Futures and Australian Architects Declare.
THE EVENT PROGRAM
A series of online panels will be held from 12:30-6pm AEDT with short breaks in between.
Final sessopm details will be released shortly.
If you can’t make it on the day – you can purchase a ticket and an on-demand recording will be provided (with CPD questionnaire if required).
We look forward to seeing you there!
Session 1: 12:30-1:30pm AEDT
Designing for Care: Regeneration, Community and Wellbeing
Hear from Isabella Peppard (Charmaine ‘Ilaiū Talei – Senior Lecturer at Te Pare School of Architecture & Planning), Talina Edwards (Envirotecture), Vanessa Girling (Nessa Rose & Bahu Design Studio) and Genevieve Quinn (Deicke Richards) to discuss relational design, working with place and social impact.
30 min break – online breakout spaces
Session 2: 2:00-3:00pm AEDT
Designing within Planetary Boundaries: rethinking materials, systems & ways of practice
Hear from Lauren Crockett (Sibling Architecture), Ben Berwick (Prevalent Architects & Solgami), Bella Singal (Monash University) and Dominika Richards (Deicke Richards) to discuss new ways of practicing, systems thinking, and moving beyond sustainbility to designing within planetary boundaries.
30 min break – online breakout spaces
Session 3: 3:30-4:30pm AEDT
Relational Equity with Country
Join Alana Marsh and others curious to deepen their Relational Equity with Country!
Relational Equity or loving reciprocity with Land, Sky and Water informed ways of Knowing, Being and Doing in Australia for thousands of years prior to colonisation. This nourishment is no longer central in modernity. What does it mean today? What’s your contemporary expression of these ancient wisdoms and strengths?
30 min break – online breakout spaces
Session 4: 5:00 – 6:00pm AEDT
Designing for action: building climate literacy, campaigns & international movements
Hear from Isabella Peppard (Product Aware , Susty Spec & Upfront Podcast), Gerard Reinmuth (Terroir, UTS & Australian Reduction Roadmap), Armelle Breuil (ACT! Architects & Former ACAN international co-ordinator) and Gracie O’Malley Welby (ACAN Demolition Atlas) to discuss how we can build climate literacy, create momentum and change policy – from grass roots actions to international campaigns – thinking globally, acting locally.
Forum close
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
We will hear from the following speakers working arcoss architecture, research, climate action, education and regenerative practice.
Ben Berwick
Ben Berwick is a Newcastle-born architect and systems designer creating protocols for a regenerative future. His practice, Prevalent, builds award-winning prototypes to reverse architecture’s environmental impact by blending design and science. His work has been shown internationally, he lectures at Australia’s top universities and advises leading climate bodies.
Armelle Breuil
Armelle Breuil is a French architect based in Oslo, co-founder of ACAN Norge, ex international coordinator of ACAN and founder of ACT!. Her work bridges architecture, activism, and mediation, focusing on regenerative desin and creative responses to the climate crisis.
Lauren Crockett
Lauren Crockett is an Australian architect, teacher, and writer. She co-founded Caliper Journal and Sens, and in 2025 received two major fellowships to research circular construction and regenerative design in Europe. Her work explores how social, cultural, and environmental forces shape architecture.
Talina Edwards
Talina Edwards is a Director of ENVIROTECTURE, and cares deeply about creating healthy, beautiful, functional, comfortable and sustainable architecture which combines building-science and biophilic-design. Talina brings over 25 years experience to her architectural practice and has completed Passivhaus Designer certification and studies with the Living Futures Institute.
Vanessa Girling
Vanessa is a graduating Bachelor of Architecture student and New Colombo Plan scholar based in Singapore with 12 years of professional experience. She is passionate about biophilic and regenerative design, exploring how architecture can foster cultural connection, well-being, and harmony between people and place through holistic practice.
Alana Marsh
Alana is a Meriam Regenerative Practitioner. Her regen lineage draws on the framework literacy and inner and outer pattern recognition of the Regenesis Institute in Santa Fe. Alana shows up steeped in her personal observations and relationship with the living world.
Isabella Peppard
Isabella Peppard is a registered architect and sustainability advocate. She runs the sustainability advisory Susty Spec, led the development of Product Aware and produced Upfront Podcast. Isabella has created significant change through digital disruption, challenging industry to question material life cycle and supply chain.
Dominika Richards
Dominika is an architect and sustainability lead at Deicke Richards with experience across affordable housing, education, health and community projects. Dominika has a passion for advancing socially and ecologically sustainable design practices and is eager to instigate change towards more sustainable future within the architectural profession. She is passionate about fostering communities through sustainable architecture and believes that a true difference can be made in the way we live through climate responsive, regenerative design, spatial configuration, and architectural articulation.
Gerard Reinmuth
Gerard founded TERROIR in 1999, a practice that quickly became a critical participant in Australian architecture culture through writings, exhibitions, publications and built projects. As the conversations that started the practice – around the re-examination of place in light of contemporary cultural and environmental questions – have become more acute, the body of work completed over that time has increased in relevance.
terroir.com.au / reductionroadmap.au
Charmaine ‘Ilaiu Talei
Dr Charmaine ‘Ilaiū Talei is a researcher, educator and registered architect. She specialises in Tongan and Fijian architectures, particularly vernacular building technologies, sociospatial practices, and Indigenous value-led spaces. Her new work is focussed on design praxes of Indigenous architecture, meanings of Pacific housing wellbeing and applied research in contemporary Tongan housing.
gb-a.au/people/charmaine-ilaiu-talei
Genevieve Quinn
Genevieve is an architect with a strong interest in community architecture and architecture that addresses social sustainability and equity. Genevieve has worked at Deicke Richards for over 3 years. In this time, she has focused her work on projects that include community design engagement and strong consideration for the power of architecture to achieve social impact.
SPECIAL THANKS
This year’s event is proudly supported by Tarkett Australia
We’d like to give special thanks to the Climate Forum founders, with the inaugural forum launched in 2024. This was delivered by Dr Liz Brogden (University of Queensland), Dr Kavita Gonsalves (Populous), Owen Cafe (Blaklash), Carol Marra (Marra + Yeh Architects), Emma Healey (Landings Studio) and Lucy Humphrey (Studio Ecology).
The delivery of the Climate Forum has been supported by Architecture Climate Futures, Parlour, Architects Declare and ACAN Australia. We hope to build on the collaboration, passion, and commitment to advocacy these groups bring to the built environment professions in Australia.
