The Canberra-based Molonglo group is passionate about the unique opportunities of landscape and place to create communities. It also wants to be an exemplar of good development and is sharing its learnings through an open-source tool for practitioners. Director and co-owner Nikos Kalogeropoulos will speak at Urban Greening on 28 July in Sydney. For Nikos Kalogeropoulos, […]
The Office of Planetary Observations brings space-age insights for greening our cities
Meet the uniquely named Aussie tech company that aims to help councils and town planners make better urban greening decisions by democratising access to data.
Aboriginal Housing, KPMG, Cundall, bushfire resilience, UPowr, and more…
JOBS NEWS: Corporate strategy, transformation, consulting and operations professional…
Keeping cool in the tropics without air conditioning
The University of Singapore’s new School of Design & Environment 4 has made the claim to be the first new-build, net-zero-energy building in Singapore.
More AGL news, supercharging EV uptake, Plastic Free July, Western Sydney, new carbon removal company and more…
BUSINESS NEWS: Brookfield subsidiary now owns 2.56 per cent stake in AGL, and more…
Air quality booms predictably due to pandemic – alongside other, not so predictable building services
MARKET PULSE: New insights into the Australian air conditioning market show the Australian heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) and building services industry is seeing a surge in investment. Perhaps not so predictably, the industry tells us that we are also seeing a rapid uptake of smart building technology as well.
Regenerate and restore: circular economy and investors
Adopting a circular economy lens enables multiple, interconnected issues and their cumulative effects to be assessed and addressed – which is an exciting opportunity for investors facing a growing list of systemic issues in their efforts to meet long-term financial goals.
Meet the Adelaide fintech startup that’s about to revolutionise how banks issue green home loans
Home owners could soon save money on loans and insurance by making their homes more energy efficient, while banks and insurers gain new insights into the sustainability of their portfolios, thanks to a female-founded fintech.
Dan Andrews disappoints with underwhelming gas transition roadmap
The Victorian government has disappointed sustainability advocates with a soft approach on ridding the state of its massive reliance on gas.
The national electricity market is a failed 1990s experiment. It’s time the grid returned to public hands
A crisis, as the saying has it, combines danger and opportunity. The dangers of the current electricity crisis are obvious. The opportunity it presents is to end to the failed experiment of the national electricity market.
Our flood predictions are getting worse as the climate changes. We have to understand how hills shape floods
Managing flood risks is hard, given the cost of flood protection, evacuation and resilience in developed areas and challenges in restricting development in high-risk areas. In recent years, there has been intense pressure on planners in Australian cities to provide new housing stock.
Newcastle hotel development designed by sustainable architects Breathe for sale via auction
Eco properties on the market: A unique sustainable hotel development site in Newcastle, NSW is on the market, with approved plans in place to construct a 40-room hotel designed by Breathe Architecture.
Energetics head of strategy says demand for sustainability consultants will only rise
Sally Cook, head of strategy at market-leader in climate risk, adaptation and energy management for business and government, Energetics, says that businesses need to have a solid plan in place to decarbonise their company operations, and only consider offsets as a last resort. Energetics is a climate and energy risk management consultancy that focuses on helping […]
On the looming uninhabitable cities, and how to avoid them
NEWS FROM THE FRONT DESK: The concrete boots are off. This week, the Albo government drew a line in the sand by announcing it will mandate a 43 per cent emissions cut by 2030.
New framework to measure property sector’s social impact
The Property Council has launched what it claims to be the first social sustainability framework in the world, with the Collective Social Impact Framework that will allow member organisations to voluntarily report on the actions and projects they are currently undertaking and understand how to deepen ESG commitments.
France mandates green roofs – time for Oz to look at the pacesetters
The French parliament recently passed a new law requiring all new commercial buildings to have plants or solar panels on their roofs. This news will resonate with Australian property owners where green roofs are still their infancy. Issues around this topic will be covered in a strong line up at The Fifth Estate’s Urban Greening […]
Melbourne plans spring-cleaning with biggest budget ever delivered – including record infrastructure investment
The City of Melbourne has adopted its Budget and Annual Plan 2022–23, a $838.2 million cash splash in a bid to sweep up the streets, create jobs and restore confidence and consumer spending in the city.
Keen to retrofit your home to lower its carbon footprint and save energy? Consider these 3 things
With temperatures along the east coast plunging and power bills skyrocketing, heating (and cooling) our homes is an energy intensive, expensive affair.
Curtin Uni students are joining the Fremantle Dockers in tackling sustainability challenges
Students from WA’s Curtin University will help AFL club Fremantle to switch to 100 per cent renewable energy, as part of a series of sustainability challenges focusing on the built environment, urban greening and the circular economy.
Corporate volunteering: the untapped wellbeing goldmine
Working from home has both perks and challenges.
Imagining the ecological infrastructural city of the 21st century
It’s a tired refrain that we always try to win the current war with the tools and ideas of the last. Sadly, that’s also true of the way we make buildings and cities in the 21st century. For better or worse, the urban forces of the 19th and 20th centuries have got us to our current multi-level crises. We aren’t going to make cities healthier, less polluting, and more productive with the same ideas.
The climate action we had to have: Albanese government delivers on its climate promises
The Albanese government’s mandated climate emissions target of 43 per cent by 2030 will have an immediate and powerful effect across infrastructure and the built environment sector.
Natural Hazards Research Australia, EY, Aecom, Fight Food Waste Ltd, Edge Environment, Andrews Government and more…
JOBS NEWS: Andrew Gissing has been announced as incoming chief executive officer at Natural Hazards Research Australia, starting on 25 July in the Sydney office. He is moving over from Risk Frontiers as general manager of resilience, and previously held the position of deputy chief officer and director of emergency management and communication with the […]
Australia’s $4.2bn climate tech startup sector is booming – Mick Liubinskas reveals the ones to watch
Leading Australian tech startup angel investor Mick Liubinskas has turned his focus to climate tech. Here’s some of the startups to keep an eye on over the coming years.
Snowdon Developments, Powerhouse Ultimo, Renewable Energy Agency, Countrywide Renewable Hydrogen, Flinders University, and more…
CoreLogic, CEPU, Geelong Sustainability, KPMG and more…
7 things people don’t know about their homes
As a Melbourne-based home comfort and energy advisor, I’ve been in thousands of homes. With each home I visit, there is usually something new for me to see and learn.
Perrottet forced to reveal documents about the climate resilience SEPP and the minister’s “secret speech”
SEPP-GATE: The NSW upper house has given the state government 35 days to hand over all the documents relating to its controversial decision to dump a vital climate resilience policy package, known as the design and place SEPP.
Keeping up with the bevy of views on offsetting, fast-moving regulations and voluntary commitment programs
As a business or organisation working on creating a greener world, you might have heard some concerning chats around the traps of carbon reporting and disclosure and how they don’t go far enough.
This environmental engineer’s answer to passive solar design is a “glimpse into the future”
Utilising recycled timber and the thousands-of-years-old construction material of rammed earth, the “Djildjit” home in Fremantle WA is environmental engineer Martin Anda’s answer to the passive solar philosophy.
New beta framework for nature impacts disclosure regime shifts focus to nature-positive outcomes
The release of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’ beta version of a disclosure regime for nature impacts and dependencies is particularly significant given the increased global and national focus on ESG.