Regenerative Futures Education & Sustainability Leadership Conference 2025
Date: 25-27 September 2025
Location: Shawnigan Lake School
Vancouver, Canada
Open to: Schools and universities across Canada, the Americas and the Pacific Rim
Number of delegates: 150
In collaboration with Shawnigan Lake School and Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership
Review
The Regenerative Futures International Education and Sustainability Leadership Conference was a powerful and deeply purposeful three-day gathering that brought together education, business and sustainability leaders from across the Americas and beyond. Together, we explored the relationships between indigenous knowledge, regenerative leadership and sustainable systems and their connected impact on how we live our lives.
Hosted at Shawnigan Lake School on Vancouver Island, the conference marked the next chapter in a global series of Education and Sustainability Leadership conferences spanning Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the UK.
Designed in close collaboration with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and Sustainability Education (SusEd), the conference created a rich space for dialogue, challenge and renewal at a time of profound global uncertainty.
Confronting the Polycrisis
Across the three days, participants engaged in a carefully choreographed sequence of critical conversations and experiences that confronted the systems failures driving today’s interconnected social, environmental and economic crises. Rather than offering simple solutions, the conference invited honesty, courage and humility – acknowledging the limits of current models while opening space for new ways of thinking and leading.
Students, teachers and school leaders worked alongside policy makers, business and development leaders, and climate experts, modelling the kind of cross-sector collaboration required for meaningful change.
Education as a Regenerative Force
With Education, Sustainability and Leadership at its core, the conference explored how education can move beyond sustainability towards regeneration. Sessions drew on indigenous knowledge systems, regenerative leadership practices and systems thinking, challenging participants to rethink purpose, power and progress.
The presence of students as full contributors was central. Their voices, questions and insights reminded all participants that education is not only about preparing for the future, but about actively shaping it now.
A Global Community, Rooted in Place
Delegations from 23 schools, universities and organisations across the Americas brought diverse perspectives shaped by local contexts, while the natural setting of Vancouver Island offered a powerful reminder of humanity’s relationship with the living world. This balance between global perspective and local grounding reinforced the conference’s emphasis on connection – to place, to people and to purpose.
While schools were encouraged to attend with broad leadership teams, the conference embraced flexibility, recognising that diversity of context and voice strengthens collective learning.
From Insight to Commitment
As the conference drew to a close, participants were invited to reflect not only on what they had learned, but on how they would act differently as a result. The focus shifted firmly towards commitment: connected actions, sustained partnerships and leadership rooted in care, courage and responsibility.
A Shared Step Towards Regenerative Futures
The Regenerative Futures Conference was not simply a professional gathering; it was a shared commitment to doing education differently in service of a more peaceful, just and sustainable world. Participants left as part of a growing global community of educators and leaders – connected by purpose, strengthened by relationship and ready to act.
This conference affirmed that regeneration begins not with answers, but with listening, learning and leading together.
“I had several intimate, honest and real conversations about things that matter. One of many highlights was the integration of First Nations voices. A beautiful story and wonderfully well told”.
What next?
The summit experience nurtured networks of agency and connected action. We will reconvene in six months from now, online, to see how far we have come on our journeys together. Further Education and Sustainability Leadership Summits are planned for the summer of 2026 in the Netherlands and next Autumn, 2026, in Asia Pacific and Europe.
If you would like to be a part of this exciting and arguably necessary adventure, please email hello@sused.org
What will your verse be?