PROMOTING SKILLS for

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
 There can be no sustainable development without education

“Environmental, economic and social indicators tell us that our current model of progress is
unsustainable. Climate change is destroying our path to sustainability. Ours is a world of
looming challenges and increasingly limited resources. Sustainable development offers the
best chance to adjust our course.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, January 2012

We need to put our world on a more sustainable development path. Yet reaching – and
teaching – sustainability is still a paramount challenge. Without education, there can be
no sustainable development.

Education empowers people with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to
shape a more stable and peaceful future. It is thus the key to building greener societies.

Sustainable development cannot be reached through technological solutions or

financial instruments alone. Achieving sustainable development requires a change in
the way people think and act. This change can be attained by:

Systematically integrating Education for Sustainable Development

(ESD) into all levels and settings of education and training, from
early childhood to higher education and workplace learning.

Advancing and greening Technical and Vocational Education and

Training (TVET). TVET prepares learners for fields of work and business
such as construction, waste management and agriculture, many of
which consume enormous amounts of energy, raw materials and
water. Green TVET helps develop skilled workers who have knowledge
of – and commitment to – sustainable development, as well as the
requisite technical knowledge. Greening TVET is crucial for making a
transition from energy and emissions-intensive economies to cleaner
and greener production and service patterns.
ESD and TVET are powerful forces that can help people to
become active and ecologically responsible citizens, workers
and consumers, able to address local and global challenges.

Why invest in ESD?

Because ESD can help everyone to acquire the values,

skills and knowledge needed to build a sustainable
future.
Because the transition to green economies and
societies requires informed citizens and consumers
who can move the sustainable development agenda
forward.

What is Green TVET?

Green TVET encompasses pre-employment education

and training, learning in the workplace and further
training that address environmental, economic and
social sustainability, while meeting the needs of
industries and individual learners.
Green TVET prepares people for green jobs that
contribute to preserving or restoring the quality of the
environment, while improving human well-being and
social equity.
Why invest in Green TVET?

Because Green TVET helps production move to more

environmentally conscious practices.
Because national governments need to seize the
potential for job creation by providing skills needed
in new green sectors.
Because disadvantaged groups in the labour market
(youth, women, persons with disabilities, rural
communities, and other vulnerable groups) require
targeted support to develop knowledge and skills for
green jobs.
 Green jobs and green skills
Green jobs contribute to preserving or restoring environmental quality, while also
ensuring adequate wages, safe working conditions, and workers’ rights. Green jobs
must be decent jobs and accessible to all.
Green jobs can be found in all sectors – agriculture, industry, services and
administration. They include jobs that protect ecosystems and biodiversity; reduce
energy, materials and water consumption through high-efficiency strategies;
de-carbonize the economy; and minimize waste and pollution.
Green jobs are not confined to jobs in new green sectors such as renewable
energy. A global study on skills for green jobs by the ILO – covering 21 countries
representing 60 per cent of the world population – indicates that sweeping
changes will take place in skills profiles within existing occupations.
Given that all jobs can and should become greener, there is a need to develop a
wide range of relevant skills for green jobs. Green TVET should play a crucial role in
enhancing learners’ creative, entrepreneurial and innovative skills. These skills need
to be underpinned by the critical reflection on attitudes and values that is at the
heart of ESD.

Many countries are experiencing

in water and sanitation skills
© UNESCO/TVET Workshop

skills shortages in new green

sectors. TVET can provide these
needed skills.

Basic skills affect the ability to

© UNESCO/GMR Akash

learn new skills. It is critical to

enable workers to take advantage
of training for skills upgrading.

Not all new skills are technical.

Green TVET should enhance
© COWFA, Malawi

learners’ skills in problem solving,

analysing complexity, and
exploring more sustainable forms
of production and consumption.
 Skills for Sustainable Development

World of Life (Personal)

Life/Lifestyle
Life skills education Education for sustainable
consumption and lifestyles

Problem solving/
innovations ESD Citizenship

Entrepreneurial education TVET for sustainable

production
Work/Employment
World of Work (Professional)

ESD and Green TVET complement each other

TVET goes beyond promoting skills development for employability. It empowers
young people and adults to develop skills for work and life. Green TVET therefore
means more than developing technical skills for green employment (such as
eco-tourism, renewable energy and recycling). It also means developing ‘soft’ green
skills. There are thus considerable overlaps between ESD and Green TVET. Like ESD,
Green TVET can include education for enhancing problem-solving skills in everyday
situations (life skills education), education for sustainable consumption and lifestyles,
and entrepreneurial learning. Green TVET ensures that all workers are able to play
appropriate roles, both in the workplace and the broader community, by
contributing to environmental, economic and social sustainability. ESD is at the core
of green skills and provides a framework to reorient education and training at all
levels towards sustainability.
 What can policymakers do?
The following recommended actions help ensure effective education and training with
regard to green economies and green societies. They are distilled from key messages of
UN documents which in turn are based on extensive expert consultations and a
thorough synthesis of international studies.

1. Integrate sustainable development into education and training at all levels

• Incorporate the principles of sustainable development and environmental awareness
into education at all levels.
• Train teachers and trainers in sustainability issues, and on how to integrate them into
their daily practice.
• Ensure that updated and new curricula take economic, social, and environmental
dimensions of sustainable development into account.
• Make ESD an integral part of training of leaders in business, industry, trade union,
non-profit and voluntary organizations, and the public services.

2. Promote technical skills for a transition to a greener economy

• Train TVET teachers and trainers in fast-growing green sectors.
• Revise TVET curricula to offer courses in energy-saving and cleaner technologies
and sustainable agriculture, including traditional technologies redefined as
green technologies.
• Provide retraining for skills upgrading to keep workers’ skills up
to date with new demands of the green economy.
• Provide training for employers in the
informal economy and micro
and small enterprises to enter
local green markets, especially in
developing countries.
• Improve the match between
classroom and workplace learning
through apprenticeships, etc.
• Involve the private sector, trade unions
and employers’ associations in
designing TVET to ensure its relevance to
industry needs.
3. Promote basic skills and cross-cutting, generic green skills to enable
workers to meet the new and emerging skills needs
• Promote basic skills (e.g. literacy, numeracy) as the foundation of flexibility,
employability and further learning throughout life.
• Increase the capacity of education and training systems and institutions to
provide basic skills for all and to enhance the national skills base.
• Cultivate key competencies required to facilitate the transition to sustainability,
such as entrepreneurship and risk management skills.
o Enhance education for entrepreneurship skills to promote the
launch of new enterprises and self-employment directly and
indirectly related to the green economy.
o Provide entrepreneurship training and business coaching for young
people and adults to start up green businesses in conjunction with
microfinance projects in developing countries.

4. Enhance policy coherence and coordinated implementation of

education and training for sustainable development
• Increase the reputation and attractiveness of
key sectors to be greened such as waste
management, recycling and agriculture, by
improving the working conditions in these
sectors.
• Integrate skills development into national
environmental and development
strategies.
• Design education and training
responses in collaboration with
relevant ministries to address national,
regional or local demand.
• Design and implement ESD policies
through interministerial and
intersectoral approaches that also
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involve the private sector, civil

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society, local communities and

O/S.C

the scientific community.

NESC ©U
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
The United Nations declared 2005-2014 as the UN
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
(DESD). As lead agency for the DESD, UNESCO helps
Member States to integrate sustainable development
into their education planning, policy and practice.

The UNESCO International Centre for Technical

and Vocational Education and Training (UNEVOC)
The UNESCO International Centre for Technical and
Vocational Education and Training (UNESCO-UNEVOC)
assists Member States in greening TVET with special
attention to TVET teacher education, curriculum
development, learning resource development and
enhancing multi-stakeholder partnerships to integrate
ESD in TVET.

ED/PSD/ESD/2012/PI/4
www.unesco.org/education
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