EU Strategies and the Role of Education for Sustainable Development

Abstract

In June 2006 the European Union decided upon a new Strategy for Sustainable Development. Together with the Lisbon Strategy that was revised in 2005, there is now some coherence between the two strategies which had been conflicting before. The renewed Strategy for Sustainable Development includes aspects of production and consumption and promotes a knowledge society. The renewed Lisbon strategy lists ecoinnovation and environmental technology as one of the areas which are important for competitiveness. The Lisbon Strategy and the Strategy for Sustainable Development are now seen to be mutually enforcing and complementary, with the Strategy for Sustainable Development focussing on a long-term overarching objective. One special item which has now been included in the EU Strategy for sustainable development is education for sustainable development, which provides an additional link to the Lisbon Strategy, which focuses on the knowledge society. The European Support Centre and the Austrian Chapter of the Club of Rome have established a large European network on environmental education which is in line with the targets of the EU Strategy for Sustainable Development.