119An Overview of ESD in European Countries:
What is the Role of National Governments?
Walter LEAL FILHO
Research and Transfer Centre, Applications of Life Sciences
Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences
Lohbruegger Kirchstraße 65, Sector S4, Room 0.38, Hamburg 21033, Germany
e-mail: walter.leal@haw-hamburg.de

Abstract
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is and will continue to be vital to national efforts to pursue the goal of sustainability. The problems posed by increased CO2 emissions, the depletion of the rainforests,
increased levels of pollution, to name a few, require a search for solutions to capitalize on various advantages
derived from education, awareness and training on sustainability. The importance of ESD is particularly pertinent in Europe, the continent with the highest concentration of industrialized nations, where awareness ofenvironmental problems has not always been translated into action. This paper describes the current status of
ESD in Europe and introduces the state of affairs in a number of European countries. It presents the results ofa survey involving member countries of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), outlining someof factors that hinder progress at implementing ESD at the national level. Finally, it lists some measures for
implementing ESD in practice.
Key words: deficiencies, education programmes, Europe, sustainable development, training

1. Introduction
Sustainability is commonly defined as the ability tomeet the needs of the present while living within the
carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems, withoutcompromising the ability of future generations to meettheir own needs (WCED, 1987). However, the goal ofmanaging today’s resources so that they may be available
to future generations will not be easy to reach. Indeed, inorder to achieve this ambitious goal, it is important thatgovernment agencies and education institutions become
engaged in the sustainability debate (UNESCO, 2007),not superficially as it has largely been the case until now,
but in a manner not seen before.
The importance of ESD is particularly pertinent inEurope, the continent with the highest concentration ofindustrialized nations in the world, where awareness ofenvironmental problems has not always been translated
into action. In Europe, discussion of ESD has taken place
at different degrees of depth at different speeds across theregion (Leal Filho & Littledyke, 2004; Sandell et al.,2005). There are complex and interlinked factors thatlead to divergent conceptualizations and receptions of
ESD in different countries.
The heterogeneous nature of European history andculture, combined with current financial constraints, has
had and still has an impact on the ways countries perceive
Global Environmental Research
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printed in Japanenvironmental issues as a whole, which affect national
perceptions and interpretations of ESD. For example, insome countries there are extensive efforts towards incorporating ESD into urban design and development inorder to communicate solutions effectively to planners,
developers and policy-makers (Cooper et al., 2009). It isregrettable, however, that such efforts are still limited,since there is indeed a need for a new system which uses
sustainability and quality of life, rather than GDP andshareholder returns as indicators of development(Corrigan et al., 2009).
Although many northern European countries haveembraced the concept of ESD, in eastern and southern
Europe, discussions on ESD as such (that is, outside thecontext of traditional environmental education) are still
limited and take place only unsystematically and irregularly. In addition, many eastern and southern European
countries have no structures in place to support it. This ispartly due to the fact that in most cases there are no specific budget provisions for ESD. The lack of financial
resources, however, is not the only problem. Further
barriers to the implementation of ESD in both formal andnon-formal education include logistical problems (e.g.,lack of means to organize field trips, difficulty of fitting
ESD into curricula, inadequate teacher training for ESD)and limited resource materials on ESD, to name a few.
Indeed, the barriers to promoting ESD in Europe are to a©2010 AIRIES

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W. LEAL FILHO

large extent long-standing problems in furthering thecause of better preparing Europeans to live in a moresustainable way.
Despite this mixed background, it is meaningful totalk about “ESD in Europe” as the European region has ahistory of developing joint strategies to promote ESD. In
1991 the first pan-European “Environment for Europe”
Ministerial Conference was held in Dobris, Czech
Republic. The Environment for Europe conferences havebeen held at regular intervals since then, and the third
conference (1995, Sofia) endorsed an Environmental
Programme prepared within the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to make Agenda 21 more
operational in the European context. The fifth conference(2003, Kiev) called for and led to the emergence of a
UNECE initiative on ESD. At the conference, all of theministers gave the green light to draw up a regional
Strategy for ESD (UNECE, 2005). Progress wasreviewed at the sixth conference (2007, Belgrade). At theseventh conference, which will take place in Astana,
Kazakhstan, on 21-23 September 2011, current progress
will be assessed and further action agreed upon, partly
based and built on the results presented in this article.
The implementation of the regional Strategy for ESD
was a challenging exercise for all those concerned. Botheducation per se and sustainable development as an issue,
are complex topics. Therefore, it was crucially important
to develop the Strategy through a participatory process
involving governments, UNESCO, NGOs and other stakeholders. Environment and education ministries cooperated closely in the drafting process. Noting the political,
economic and social diversity in the European region, thetext of the Strategy had to be made flexible enough sothat its implementation could be adapted to eachcountry’s priorities, specific needs and circumstances.
In the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, in early 2005,
ministers and other officials from education and environment ministries from across the ECE region adopted
the Strategy at their joint High-Level Meeting. Various
stakeholders, including international organisations,businesses, non-governmental organisations, regional
environmental centres and research institutions took partin the meeting and provided valuable contributions. The
meeting also launched the United Nations Decade ofESD (UNESCO, 2003) in the region.
The objective of the Strategy is to incorporate key
themes of sustainable development in all education systems. These themes include a wide range of issues, suchas poverty alleviation, peace, ethics, democracy, justice,
security, human rights, health, social equity, cultural
diversity, economy, environmental protection and natural
resource management.
As a milestone in the process of implementation of
the Strategy, UNECE countries agreed to develop
indicators to assess its implementation, organise thematicand sub-regional workshops and compile good practices
in ESD.

2. ESD in Europe: The State of Affairs
There is a paucity of comparative research on ESD in
Europe. This is a serious problem, since without proper
research, no benchmarking can be made and no reliable
assessments of progress may be undertaken.
Based on this acute research need and in order to gain
an understanding of the extent to which the priorities
governments have set themselves have been pursued, abenchmarking of the status of ESD among a set of European countries (Table 1) was conducted. Data werecollected from each country based on a review of thelatest documents, telephone conversations with government officials and consultations with internationalorganisations, the UN and the Delegation of the European Commission in different countries. The key figuresfrom the study are as follows:
1) number of countries: 532) number of people surveyed/consulted: 1453) number of documents reviewed: 32
Due to the scope of the study and the nature of theinformation being requested, the survey can by no means
be regarded as representative. Rather, it builds a roughprofile of the status of ESD in Europe today and outlines
some of the current problems and some areas where
attention is needed.
The survey involving 145 persons from the listed
countries investigated three main questions:
1) What is the status of ESD in the country in respect of
its inclusion in educational programmes, provisions
for pre- and in-service education, existence oforganisations which support the implementation of
ESD and public awareness?
Table 1 Countries surveyed (in alphabetical order).
Albania
AndorraArmenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
BelarusBelgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
CyprusCzech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
FinlandFranceGeorgia
Germany
GreeceHungary
Iceland
IrelandIsraelItaly
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
LatviaLiechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Moldova
MonacoMontenegro
Netherlands
NorwayPolandPortugal
Romania
Russian Federation
San Marino
SerbiaSlovakia
Slovenia
Spain
SwedenSwitzerland
Tajikistan
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
TurkeyTurkmenistan
UkraineUnited Kingdom of Great Britain andNorthern Ireland
Uzbekistan

An Overview of ESD in European Countries: What is the Role of National Governments?

2) What problems hinder progress in the field?
3) What needs to be done in order to cater to the promotion of ESD?
As far as Question 1 is concerned, an analysis of thereplies obtained enables the status of ESD in some
European Union countries to be classified into threestages of development:
i. Stage 1 (initial): the focus is limited to traditional
approaches to environmental education; efforts topromote ESD at an early stage; little emphasis on
public awareness.
ii. Stage 2 (intermediary): ESD is progressively being
included as part of educational programmes; trainingof multiplicators available but rather limited; publicawareness is not often fostered.
iii. Stage 3 (advanced): ESD is already as part of educational programmes, including pre- and in-service
education, in and out of schools; there exist manyorganisations and associations which pursue or support the implementation of ESD; public awareness is
actively fostered.

Number of respondents

Quantitatively, the distribution of countries according
to each stage is summarised in Table 2. It is noted thatmany countries in eastern and southern Europe are still at
the first two stages, but over half of the surveyedcountries are at an advanced stage.
In reply to Question 2, the respondent was asked tochoose factors that hindered progress in the field of ESD(multiple choices possible) in his or her country. The
results are show in Fig. 1. It is noticeable that lack oftraining is the most frequently mentioned problem acrossEurope, closely followed by lack of teaching materials.
Lack of continuing education programmes (i.e.,
in-service training) is also deemed an obstacle. Lack ofsustained financial support is also acknowledged as abarrier, albeit to a lesser extent.
In terms of Question 3, which asked respondents tostate what needed to be done in order to promote ESD,the most frequently provided responses (funding issues
excluded) were as follows:• more provisions for teaching and information materials (72%),• increased provisions for training (61%),• more regional cooperation (47%),• better clarity in promoting ESD (32%),• better engagement from government agencies (21%),• more networking between players in the field of ESD(16%),• others (e.g., better legislation) (13%).
A further element identified in the interviews was aneed to incorporate some themes related to sustainable
development (e.g., poverty alleviation, peace, ethics,
democracy, justice, human rights, health, environmental
protection, natural resource management) in education
systems in a more systematic way.

Table 2 Distribution of countries at different stages of ESD
implementation.
Stage 1
(initial)

Stage 2(intermediary)Stage 3
(advanced)

Albania
Albania
Armenia
Azerbaijan
BelarusBosnia andHerzegovina
Georgia
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Moldova
Montenegro
Romania
SerbiaTajikistan
The former Yugoslav
Republic ofMacedonia
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

Bulgaria
Croatia
IsraelLiechtenstein
Luxembourg
MonacoRomania
Russian Federation
San Marino
UkraineAustria
Belgium
CyprusCzech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
FinlandFranceGermany
GreeceHungary
Iceland
IrelandItaly
LatviaLithuania
Netherlands
NorwayPolandPortugal
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
SwedenSwitzerland
TurkeyUnited Kingdom ofGreat Britain andNorthern Ireland

40
35

1

30
25
20

4

15
10
5
0

121

2
3
5
6
7

Legend
1. lack of training of teachers to handle mattersrelated to ESD;
2. lack of specific materials which may
facilitate its handling at schools;
3. limited provisions for continuous educationin the field of ESD;
4. limited availability of institutions which
specialise in ESD and can provide advice on
the ground;
5. difficulties in evaluating ESD;
6. lack of coordination between countries andinstitutions on ESD;
7. lack of continuous political support to ESD
beyond the political discourse atinternational events.

Fig. 1 Main factors which hinder the promotion ESD.

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W. LEAL FILHO

3. The Need for Further Education
Programmes
Until now, most action in the field of ESD is seen at
the school (Estyn, 2006; Ofsted, 2009) and university
level (Leal Filho, 2009). The further education sector has,so far and for historical reasons, been largely overlooked.
The problem is not new and was reiterated both at theBelgrade Charter (UNESCO-UNEP, 1975) and in the
Declaration of the Tbilisi Intergovernmental Conference
on Environmental Education in 1977 (UNESCO-UNEP
1977). This is an area where improvements are due, notonly as a result of the perceived need to foster more sustainable values (Hossay, 2006), but also based on the
many opportunities offered to foster awareness of sustainability at this level (Leal Filho, 2006).
At the CONFINTEA Conference held in 1997,
UNESCO’s Institute of Higher Education emphasised theneed for a better integration of sustainability elements
into further education programmes. A subsequent publication, titled Lifelong Learning and Environmental
Education (Leal Filho, 1997) described some of theexamples of ways via which ESD could be included infurther education programmes.
“Tapping into the world’s wisdom,” as postulated byNakashima et al. (2000), is certainly one of the means via
which ESD may be better incorporated into further
education programmes. Indeed, there is much further
evidence that much could be gained by making provisions for ESD in the field of further education (e.g.,
Pavlova, 2009).
On a European scale, interesting examples of theintegration of ESD in further education are given by theBaltic University Programme (BUP), one of the world’s
largest sustainability networks, with over 200 member
universities. Based at Uppsala University’s Centre for
Sustainable Development, in Sweden, BUP runs educational programmes and projects which have a strong
cross-sectoral nature, reaching planners, architects, engineers, teachers and other stakeholders, bringing sustainability closer to their professions and, inter alia, to theirprofessional lives.
Some examples seen across Europe which further
testify to the usefulness of this approach are as follows:
In England, many further education programmes arefocused on linking sustainability with professional education. In this context, builders, engineers, chemists andother professionals now access a wide range of educational programmes where aspects of sustainable development related to their professions are outlined. As aresult of these efforts, the country is set to take a lead rolein areas such as sustainable construction and regeneration.
In Germany, matters related to sustainable development are part of the majority of further education programmes. Not only in technical fields but also in respectof management programmes or even business education,
sustainable development is an intrinsic part of mostcurricula in further education and is found in manysyllabi.
In Finland, which is officially acknowledged by theWorld Resources Institute as the world’s most sustainablecountry, the subject matter of sustainability has been
intensively pursued in various sectors, especially indesign. This means that in large companies such as
NOKIA, workers pay considerable attention to aspects ofsustainability and eco-efficiency, in the design, use anddisposal of products.
In Sweden, the inclusion of sustainability elements infurther education programmes in the automobile sector
has led to the development of more efficient fuel use andmore environmentally-friendly cars. Here a key role has
been played by Volvo and Scania. Bearing in mind thatthe automobile sector is a sector where jobs are often atrisk, this represents a refreshing way of illustrating the
economic benefits education for sustainability in a given
sector can achieve.
In Poland, the Technical University of Lodz has
incorporated sustainability elements across its whole
programme both in further education and in conventional
graduate training. Principles of ESD are now part of thecore training of engineers at Lodz
This list is by no mean comprehensive and is meant
solely to illustrate some of the concrete work taking place
to date. Unfortunately, many examples of the implementation of ESD in the area of further education are, forvarious reasons, poorly or often not documented at all.
However, the examples above offer a snapshot of potential benefits derived from including sustainability components in further education schemes, such as improved
competitiveness and job creation, not to mention better
understanding of sustainability principles.

4. Effective Approaches to ESD
Based on the so-called best practices and examples
offered by each country, a set of effective approaches to
ESD may be identified.
4.1 Better understanding of ESD for different
stakeholder groups
This approach, currently used in the United Kingdom
for instance, is aimed at explaining what sustainability is
and what it means to various audiences. It goes over andabove the conventional description of what environmental issues are and puts an emphasis on the economic
and social value of sustainable development. Improved
conceptual understanding allows sustainable development principles to be applied in different sectors of theeconomy with subsequent benefits.
4.2 Better public awarenessThis approach is emphasised for example in Sweden,
which was one of the first countries to have produced a“National Sustainable Development Strategy.” Theapproach, pursued by Sweden’s Ministry of Environment,
aims at informing the public of the links between
sustainable development goals and objectives and theirAn Overview of ESD in European Countries: What is the Role of National Governments?

own lives. It encourages citizens, no matter from which
region, profession or social background, to access information on sustainable development issues. It is assumed
that better informed citizens understand the market
mechanisms more easily and are prepared to pay the costsof measures leading to sustainable development.
4.3 More participation
An outstanding example of participation is from
Finland. The Finnish public is asked to express theirviews, opinions and inputs in the decision-making process, bearing in mind the long-term implications ofgovernment decision making with respect to environmental affairs.
4.4 Cross-sectoral and cross-thematic collaboration
The key to sustainable development includes, among
other things, addressing diverse pressing issues such as
poverty alleviation, citizenship, peace, ethics, responsibility in local and global contexts, democracy andgovernance, justice, security, human rights, health, gender equity, cultural diversity, rural and urban development, economy, production and consumption patterns,
corporate responsibility, environmental protection, natural resource management and biological and landscapediversity. Addressing such diverse themes in ESD requires a holistic approach. This approach is being pursued in France, where government authorities such as the
Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Education are
combining efforts to generate activities in various sectors.
Cross-sectoral and cross-thematic approaches to ESD
facilitate the implementation of both educational andmore technical environmental initiatives.

5. Regional-Level Institutional Support
Mechanisms
In addition to UNECE and its working group on ESD,
there are agencies that have been supporting efforts inthis field in Europe. For example, UNESCO Paris serves
as the global secretariat of the UN Decade of ESD. The
European Environment Agency runs a modest information service and produces a small set of educational
materials for use in and outside a school context. The
European Commission provides a substantial amount offunding for ESD-related research and capacity-development projects; between January 2002 and June 2010, an
estimated € 95 million has been spent on projects
involving ESD, i.e., projects which have transnational
importance and a practical application within programmes such as Socrates, ALFA III, Erasmus, ErasmusMundus and Interreg. The funding offered by the EU has
also been instrumental to projects focusing on development of skills. Access to this funding is however quite
competitive and it is unfortunate that participation of
institutions across the region is quite limited, perhaps
partly due to language barriers, but also due to the current
problems observed with respect to promoting ESD
beyond schools.

123

To give a few examples of EU-funded ESD projects,
Socrates/Erasmus Programmes support INSPIRE (http://
www.inspire-project.eu/), which is led by the author andinvolves Germany, Latvia and Poland. The Research andTransfer Centre “Applications of Life Sciences” at theHamburg University of Applied Sciences, funded by theEuropean Commission, contributes to integrating sustainable development into educational programmes,
environment projects and policy-making in European
countries. The centre organized the “World Sustainable
Development Teach-In Day”, on 3 December 2010(http://www.sustainability-day.net), which involved
thousands of universities across Europe and the globe. It
is recognized by UNESCO as a project in the frameworkof the United Nations Decade of ESD and was organizedin partnership with many organizations in different
countries.
Furthermore, much work has been undertaken by the
Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCEs), which have been set up under
the auspices of the United Nations University and which
comprise a number of Centres in Europe, as well as in otherparts of the world. The history of the RCEs is not a very
long one (United Nations University, 2005), but ischaracterized by many success stories. As stated by
Dam-Mieras (2005), RCEs play a key role in mobilisingengagement in ESD.

6. Conclusions: What Can Governments Do?
The shift towards a sustainable society cannot be
achieved without proper provision of ESD. In order tomotivate people to reflect more carefully on their relationship with their environment (and not simply modify
negative habits), it is necessary not only to provide themwith the proper educational basis needed, but also to
motivate them. In order to realize the potential of ESD in
Europe, it is necessary that national governments act toaddress the barriers which currently exist in respect of theimplementation of ESD. They can concretely do so by:a) producing a strategy, action plan or guidance
document on ESD which gives a sense of direction
as to the path a country intends to follow;b) establishing a formal structure at the Ministerial or
Sub-Ministerial level, which takes responsibility
for coordinating ESD. This can be set up, forexample, at the Education or Environment Ministry, or as an independent inter-ministerial body,depending on the country’s context;c) making provision of financial support to ESD
initiatives, not on an ad hoc basis as is largely thecase today, but in a more structured manner and as
part of annual or bi-annual plans.
The UNECE strategy acknowledges that, while
implementing ESD, the following areas should be addressed:a) improving basic education,b) reorienting education towards sustainable development, and124

W. LEAL FILHOc) increasing public awareness and promoting training.
There is a lot of room for improvements given the current level of emphasis placed on ESD in Europe. In
addition, the current gaps in ESD promotion seen
between Eastern and Western Europe as well as between
Northern and Southern Europe should be addressed.
Overall, current trends related to ESD in Europe are quite
optimistic. Not only can we now count on well organised
structures in some countries, but also on institutional
support not available before. It is now our task to takeadvantage of this momentum and push the cause forward,
making sure that the debate on ESD goes well beyond aschool or a higher education context, and find its ways tothe heart of society.
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Walter LEAL FILHO
Walter Leal Filho is a Senior Professor at London
Metropolitan University (UK), Uppsala University (Sweden) and the Hamburg University ofApplied Sciences in Germany, where he heads the
Research and Transfer Centre “Applications ofLife Sciences.” He holds a doctorate in environmental education (Ph.D.), a higher doctorate (D.Sc.) in sustainable
development and, commensurate with his scientific performance and outputs, the titles of Doctor of Letters (D.L.), Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.),
Doctor of Philosophy (Phil.) and Doctor of Education (D.Ed.). He is an
editor of the award-winning book series Environmental Education,
Communication and Sustainability, with over 30 volumes produced to date,
and founding editor of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher
Education. He has written, edited or co-edited over 60 books and has nearly
200 published papers and book chapters to his credit.

(Received 13 September 2010, Accepted 17 December 2010)