Sustainability, regeneration and Our Local FIRM in 2026

What more is there to sustainability solutions – other than cost and efficiency and compliance and cutbacks?

What’s beyond EVs, solar panels, recycling, cutting back and voting for change?

There’s a world of “why we can’t” myths – let’s start by busting a few of them:

We still need more solutions to be invented, because the solutions we have today aren’t really practical at scale. (Actually, there are plenty of solutions – scaling globally across all sectors.)
Today’s problems can be solved with more efficient approaches to Business As Usual.
(Actually, upgrading to smarter business and supply chain design offers more benefits, faster: To the tune of $26 billion in Australia)
The solutions are all up to big government and big business.
(Really? There’s nothing for Australia’s 2.6 million SMEs? Or thousands of entrepreneurial thinkers? The Australian Institute of Company Directors thinks otherwise.)
Sustainability is mostly a lot of costly, detailed, boring compliance that takes the focus off core business. (Or is it – as global solutions experts have modelled “The biggest business opportunity in human history“?)
Do good business first THEN do other “good” later. (Retrofitting is more expensive than good design. What are you designing OUT?)

How do you find your piece of the action?

Where do you look for today’s wide range of actionable solutions?
How do you find the rich smorgasbord of industry and community action already in play?
What are some cool stories about local Aussie “solutionists”…
What are some action possibilities for a couple of Our Local F.I.R.M. members?

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Starting points and practical links

This web page is built with Melbourne SME businesses in mind and includes:

Links to selected commercial solutions catalogues showing the full range of what’s happening commercially and in local communities.
Links connecting you to key innovation principles driving today’s solutions.
Links to Victorian and Australian local examples.
Links to practical tools/processes to help you get started.

SME action examples and ideas

See it big – so you can keep it simple

Big picture, what’s going on is:

A growing recognition that the last 200 years of “extract/use/dump” design is pretty toxic for the 20km layer of biosphere that delivers our food, water, air, resources and weather.
A growing recognition that “extract/use/dump” is ALSO massively costly way of doing business.

This has led to 30+ years of entrepreneurial innovation – solutionists building models that restore and regenerate ecosystems and communities AND business bottom lines.

Get strategic about your customers and their industries

Find out what developing trends are likely to affect your clients and customers – including where their opportunities lie:

Full spectrum solar, including community battery and Virtual Power Plant deals.
Supermarket property owners – tailored VPPs that shade carparks, charges EVs and power the store.
Construction industry – preparation for next level of electrification. Initiatives such as Electrify 2515 and Electrify Everything.
Retail & hospitality – Melbourne startup ElIoT Energy is doing plug-in-the-wall smart batteries for consumables fridges – supported by big drinks corporations. Their results so far: Reduced electricity costs for cafés, restaurants and grocery stores by up to 72% through intelligent load shifting.

General SME operations

Look for opportunities to buy “full spectrum circular” – Framework PCs are repairable and upgradable for Windows users and could well be “the last PC you ever buy”. Here’s a Choice review
Check for smarter renewable energy solutions – electricity retailer Amber has an Electricity as a Service business model. They offer solar/battery owners the option to trade at wholesale price through their platform (not measly feed-in tariffs).
Provide secure bicycle parking and showers to support non-car staff travel.
Show up locally – and get involved with local habitat regeneration projects – on-site or a local verge.
Be part of (or start) a regenerative street as part of the Regen.Melbourne initiative.

Business property owners

Would a Virtual Power Plant on your roof add an income stream?

Business coaches / consultants / service providers

Find out what your clients core (often unspoken) concerns are, and how you can add value using free tools such as:

This Sustainability in Business Starter Kit
Or this Doughnut Design for Business Tool
Or talk to me about what else is available….

Got young people in your circle?

If you know anyone considering their career options (or worried about the future), then they might be interested in this article on the Top Green Jobs in Australia: What’s in Demand Right Now?

And what could be better for the anxious (of any age) than exploring a career in fixing the systems issues? Nearly any job could “go circular” but these five positions are critical to accelerating circularity

Looking for new horizons? Personally or in business?

In our January get-together, one member said: “I’m over my business – it’s time for a change. I don’t know what, I’m not ready to retire, but I want something new.”

Identify your signature strengths, do a bit of values clarification work (with one of the group’s coaches?) AND explore Project Regeneration for inspiration.

Influence

Show up as informed, practical, forward-thinking and trustworthy.
Create visibility of “beyond government’ action happening today.
Renting premises? Ask your landlord about their solar Virtual Power Plant plans.
Put a copy of REGENERATION in your reception area.
Normalise concern and action on ecosystems and community well-being as a legitimate domain for SMEs.

Creatives and communicators

Simplify and visually communicate regenerative solutions, including: basic concepts; next generation design approaches, and the supporting mental models.

(I’ve done 3 websites and various updates over 20+ years – and still struggle to find meaningful images to use in a business context.)

Write SEO advisory articles on:

“How to rank higher” for sustainability businesses.
“How to toot your sustainability horn without getting done for green-washing”.

Article/opinion piece on sustainable website design – pros and cons.

Staff activities/offers for young demographic (generally more environmentally engaged). So consider.

Run group cooking class on cooking plant-rich food.
BYOD buying group for Framework PCs.

Future strategy decisions:

Aim for cowork spaces that have secure bike parking (enabling bikes and eBikes), public transport access, are renewably powered, etc.

An action list to get started exploring…

Download the free Project Drawdown Review – and read through the Summary of Individual Solutions table on page 86-87.
Why? So you understand the full range of evidence-based, no-regrets business solutions happening at scale today – and which are most impactful.
Tip: You’re looking for this page.
Go to the Project Regeneration Action Nexus and scroll through the solutions action lists to see what sparks your interest.
Why? So you understand the science-based scope of individual, community, SME and regional actions today.
Tip: Use this summary list to keep track.
Get an idea of what full spectrum Circular Economy involves by exploring the Butterfly Diagram from the Ellen Macarthur Foundation.
Why? So you understand the big picture thinking already spreading around the world.
Read through the 10 mindset shifts for aspiring sustainability innovators and check for 20th century assumptions.
Why? So you understand where / whether your thinking could be limited.
Get out and talk to your customers about what they – or their industries – are already doing.

Some other useful starting points to explore the bigger picture

Places where you can look in order to get a better view – without too much “should” stuff – and uncover your opportunities to influence, engage and build your business and your community.

Actionable industry/business solutions catalogue – Project Drawdown has an interactive, multi-sector list of evidence-based commercial solutions already scaling globally.
The Drawdown Review is a good, readable summary PDF – and free to download. (AND NOT as long as it looks when you open it – due to lots of pictures and visual explainers.)
A catalogue of actionable individual, SME, community solutions is the Project Regeneration Action Nexus – multi-sector list of science-based solutions happening today.
Another route into understanding where industry is playing globally is the Circular Economy case studies on the website of the Ellen Macarthur Foundation for the Circular Economy.
Local case studies and stories and connections are available from the Australian Circular Economy Hub.
Practical innovation frameworks for designing the next economy start with:
Circular Economy Design Guide is a detailed tool kit for facilitators and innovators interested in spreading full spectrum, intentional circular systems.
The Doughnut Economics Action Lab has a wide range tools and frameworks bring together social and environmental at the city/community level.
Useful tools to help you think about your business and its potential:
FREE 3D Framework for Sustainability in Business Starter Kit from the Unschool of Disruptive Design.
For smaller businesses, this recent place-based version of Doughnut Business Design:
Place-based Doughnut Design for Business Tool
10 straightforward thinking shifts to help you explore beyond what “everybody knows” about sustainability.

Is practical in-house action POSSIBLE for small businesses?

Lets define “practical” first. What does “practical” mean to your business in your industry?

Saves us money or makes us money? (In what time frame? Define your payback period?)
Builds our visibility in our community? (Solar panels shading the car park? EV doing deliveries?)
Increases trust in our brand? (Walking the talk on “we care”, demonstrating forward-thinking.)
Increases staff engagement? (Come to work to help change the world)
Reduces staff turnover costs?
Increases in-house innovation?
Enables us as business operators (and our staff) to live our values more? And make a better future for our families.
Influences people around us towards greater sustainability?

More people in more businesses – big and small – are adapting to the increasingly obvious reality that the ecosystems and communities they operate within are NOT infinite-capacity resources. And they’re looking for opportunities in this fundamental world-view shift. That’s increasingly likely to include your major customers and your competitors.

So waiting for “policy change” is an increasingly risky strategy. So it simply good sense to:

Get informed on key trends affecting your industry and/or those of your key customer groups.
Get involved in a local council council program to find other interested businesses.
Get involved in industry groups – yours or that of your key customers.

Local / Australian Examples

Networks and groups

Melboune’s local Doughnut Economics chapter is Regen.Melbourne – and here are some stories of the Melbourne Doughnut.

The Australian Circular Economy Hub connects local actionists. Free to join.

Deakin Uni’s Circular Cities program uses the Doughnut Economics framework and tools.

Totally Renewable Yackandandah got started back in 2014, and has progressed from community buying group to virtual power plant, spinning of a commercial energy retailer along the way.

Circular regions

Bega Valley is out to be the world’s most circular region.

Greening cities and suburbia

Micro-forests, revegetation and Re-imagining Nature Strips.

Urban rooftop farming, such as Melbourne SkyFarm.

Collaborative regeneration projects like Domaine/Melbourne Water/Regen Nurseries in the Yarra Valley

Energy beyond solar

Small scale water turbines in Marysville and Warburton. Also in Melbourne Water storages.

Combined heat and power make the most of energy and its by-product heat. One small UK data centre is heating the water for the next-door swimming pool.

The best kilowatt you can buy is a “negawatt” – the energy you DON’T use. Building efficiency retrofits utilising IoT technology are increasingly cost effective.

Industries and markets

Trades and residential construction

Jamie Durie’s Future House series showcased new approaches: prefab, tilt slab and 3D-printed residential builds. (What does it mean for the building industry?)

Next-generation electric utes with Vehicle to Load capability which can power a worksite for the day, or a home for 3 days. And Aussie engineering entrepreneurs are doing conversions to make them fit for Australian conditions.

The Cape sustainable housing development (Cape Patterson).

Aged care

Solar – not just panels/battery but participation in local Virtual Power Plants (Yackandandah).

Food issues are impactful for communities and ecosystems – from Maggie Beer doing better food for elders to reduced food waste.

Diaper recycling is becoming feasible for incontinence products.

Farming

Agroecology and Food Sovereignity Alliance are working on better, fairer agriculture.

Farmers for Climate Action – has a Climate-Smart Farming Toolkit.

Agrivoltaics (solar over crops / livestock) is increasing farm productivity, farm income and renewable energy. (Everything from better wool quality to more lettuces.)

Manufacturing

Australian Circular Economy Hub – free online networking platform.

Beyond Zero Emissions Repowering Manufacturing resources.

Often it’s our thinking habits that hide opportunities

How we think about “this sustainability thing” limits the actions we can see. Make sure you’re not missing out.

Old Thinking	New Thinking
Obligation, government/corporate policy, compliance, cost, reporting…	Opportunity, creativity, business innovation, community development, ecosystem benefits.
Sustainability = “doing less harm” through reductions, efficiency in current processes.	Regeneration and restoration and innovation – designing for better from the start, across communities, ecosystems and local economies.
Big players push global solutions outwards and from the top down.	Business and communities apply global AND local know-how to generate local win/win/win solutions.
Extractive, linear systems dating back to “infinite nature” thinking.	Circular, beneficial systems DESIGNED for upcycling resources.
Push more products, in higher volumes, and further afield.	Deliver more value using less resources.
Defaults to resource-intensive mechanical and chemical engineering processes	Expands solutions thinking to include biology-based and physics-based processes
Settles for “managable” toxicity as “the best we can do”.	Designs for 3D safety – to make/use/dispose for ecosystems/people/economies
Focuses on process-level improvements.	Seeks to optimise systems-level results and performance.
Big players push global solutions outwards and from the top down.	Local solutionists apply global AND local know-how to generate local win/win/win solutions.
Business is independent of and separate from it’s host ecosystems and communities.	Business depends on functioning communities and ecosystems for long term survival and growth.
Rational economic, self-interested decisions from commercial systems, groups and individuals.	Emotional, loss-averse, short-sighted, status-conscious behaviour from change-resistant human systems.

A regenerative take on F.I.R.M. (for word and ideas junkies)

F = Flourishing together – communities, SMEs and ecosystems flourishing together – by design through skilled systems innovation practices.

I = Innovation – upgrading the production, supply and economic systems that design, build and deliver the products and services we use every day. (Through invention and research transformed into business innovation, which often happens well ahead of “government policy”.)

R = Regeneration – because “less harm” solves nothing – and regeneration is

M=Mutuality – ecosystems, communities and economies as partners.