Global Chapters Update: Australia

Design Declares Australia continues to build a robust presence in the region, led by board members Michelle Douglas and Nicola Rennie, who represented the chapter at the World Design Congress in September 2025. The chapter has grown to 117 signatories with a strong LinkedIn following of 974.

A comprehensive webinar series reaching designers across every discipline

Australia's standout achievement in 2025 was their ambitious 'Design for Planet' webinar series, covering six different design disciplines with participants from around the globe.

The series featured notable Australian and international speakers including Cameron Tonkinwise, Sasha Titchkosky, Austin Smidt, Matt Bray, among others. All sessions were recorded and are currently being edited for release as a series. The team is collaborating with the Eco Friendly Web Alliance in the UK to reduce the environmental impact of these videos, exploring weight reduction techniques and potential offsetting strategies. They also plan to produce short clips for LinkedIn to extend the reach of this valuable content.

Community building through events and workshops

Design Declares Australia planned an in-person workshop for Climate Action Week Sydney 2025, which attracted over 80 registrations for the free event. Unfortunately, it had to be cancelled due to a cyclone. Undeterred, the chapter successfully ran a 'Weight of your Web' workshop at the BCorp Assembly, led by Nicola and Ben. They've also launched a LinkedIn newsletter, though they acknowledge the need to find consistency and secure regular guest writers to maintain momentum.

An action-packed calendar bringing climate action to major design events

Looking ahead to 2026, Design Declares Australia has secured a packed event schedule tied to major design weeks. The chapter are organising their first social event in collaboration with Comms Declares and Clean Creatives – Climates – in Melbourne at the end of February. This will be an ongoing meetup, with plans to do the same in Sydney from mid 2026. They're also planning to run the Climate Action Cards workshop at Melbourne Design Week (14-24 May) and are planning events for Sydney Design Week in September 2026.

Additionally Ben will hold a workshop at The Design Conference in July, for which he will use Design Declares workshop frameworks. Through these initiatives, Design Declares Australia continues to embed sustainable design practice into the country's major design events and conversations.