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Embedding Sustainability in Teaching
A report published in 2024 by Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS) found that 81% of students would like to see sustainable development actively incorporated and promoted through all courses.*
19 November 2022
At UCL, we have the opportunity and responsibility to teach our students—the future leaders of the world—how to solve global challenges and make impactful contributions to their communities. Employers increasingly recognise that graduates with a background in sustainable education bring essential skills and perspectives crucial for addressing today's global issues.
UCL has a rich tradition of delivering Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), which is reflected across our diverse curriculum, including medicine, engineering, business, and art. ESD forms a central part of UCL's Sustainability Strategy (2019-24) and our soon-to-be-launched Sustainability Plan (2024-34). Our objective is for UCL to work in partnership with the Students' Union to offer all students the opportunity to gain a sustainable education through the welcome period, formal curriculum, co-curricular activities, and career support.
ESD is defined by UNESCO (2025) as:
The process of empowering people with the knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and behaviors to live in a way that is good for the environment, economy, and society. It encourages people to make smart, responsible choices that help create a better future for everyone."
How to embed ESD in your teaching
Use our resources to help embed Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into the curriculum.
- Access our ESD teaching toolkit
This toolkit aims to support staff from all faculties and disciplines to develop educational experiences that empower and enable UCL students to become leaders and activators in the global transition.
- Join our ESD Network
The UCL ESD Steering Group has set up the ESD Network for academics working on embedding sustainability into the curriculum, to support each other and to share resources.
The Network has an online TEAMS area for sharing best practice, along with monthly sandpits, lunch and learn sessions, and termly presentations.
- Take our Free Online ESD Course
Created by UCL IOE researchers, and funded by Sustainable UCL, this free online short course provides educators with an introduction to key ideas and practices related to education, learning and sustainable development, including issues such as climate change.
It runs over 3 weeks. It should take approximately 3 hours per week to complete the activities. It is open for enrolment on-demand at any time.
Through online discussions and activities, you can engage with diverse perspectives and practices from around the world and also explore current international policy.
The course is intended for both educators in higher education as well as teachers in schools, so that participants can talk to one another about their practice and share ideas with peers about how education for sustainable development might link across various levels of education. Participants will also have an opportunity to reflect on how their learning from the course can be applied to their practice.
- View our ESD Network Resources Hub
This space supports teaching staff and students in reviewing curricula and integrating ESD into learning and teaching. Here, you'll find toolkits, best practices, and course materials developed by our community and the wider HE sector to advance UCL’s commitment to embedding ESD into the formal curriculum.
Whether you're exploring innovative pedagogies or fostering interdisciplinary collaborations, this hub facilitates meaningful engagement. As a growing resource, it is continuously updated as new materials are developed.
- Contribute a case study
We are collecting case studies from teaching staff on how they embed sustainability into their teaching, to help share best practices across the university.
Sustainable Teaching in action
View some of the many examples of how our central teams and faculties are embedding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into the curriculum. If you would like us to include an example, please contact us at sustainableucl@ucl.ac.uk.
- SU Sustainable Futures Induction
A new online induction, 'Sustainable Futures', has been developed and is launching in September 2025. This induction is a collaborative effort between the UCL Student's Union and academics from the UCL Institute of Education.
The induction aims to guide students in considering the knowledge, skills, and values needed to support more sustainable futures, both during their time at UCL and beyond. It is designed to be completed in just 30-45 minutes and will be mandatory for all student reps.
- UCL Grand Challenges
In collaboration with students who want to make a difference, the UCL Grand Challenges team is working to embed five Grand Challenges across the university, creating opportunities for undergraduates and postgraduates to reflect, innovate, and collaborate.
The Grand Challenges are: Climate Crisis, Data-empowered Societies, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Justice and Equity, and Cultural Understanding.
From Innovation Labs to elective modules, the UCL Grand Challenges team supports UCL students in embracing a challenge-led interdisciplinary approach to learning. This equips them with the knowledge, skills, and ambition to seek sustainable and inclusive solutions to the world’s most urgent local, national, and global issu
- SU Community Research Initiative
The UCL Student's Union Community Research Initiative (CRIS) brings people together across the student-community divide to explore the possibility of co-designing research through:
- Community engaged master's dissertations
- Research volunteering
- A Pro Bono Research Consultancy Service
- A Community Hatchery - for grassroots organisation
- UCL Anthropocene
The UCL Anthropocene is a virtual school which assembles projects, people, courses, and events from across the social sciences, arts, humanities, life, environmental, and health sciences to articulate and address the problems that the Anthropocene poses for our collective future.
- Engineering Sciences
The UCL Engineering School's 'How to Change the World' initiative is a unique, hands-on training programme designed to equip rising engineering talent with the skills needed to develop creative and technically robust solutions to 21st-century challenges.
UCL Mechanical Engineering have a comprehensive plan for integrating structured sustainability education throughout all modules. They are in the first stages of implementation, with the first sections being introduced to students this academic year. The project is called ‘Engineering a Sustainable Future’ and a case study will be shared after the project is implemented.
The UCL School of Management's Sustainability Lab is a new student-led and student-operated initiative that aims to provide a collaborative, sustainability-focused platform for students and industry partners to tackle grand business challenges and build an impactful link between academia and industry.
UCL’s Integrated Engineering Programme has been embedding responsible innovation and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into its curriculum for over a decade. The Design and Professional Skills courses within the programme focus' on critical areas like communication, ethics, teamwork, sustainability, and project management.
A key component, Scenarios, are week-long team projects where lectures pause for students to tackle real-world engineering challenges collaboratively. These Scenarios provide invaluable hands-on experience and insights into engineering practices.
Current efforts focus on incorporating responsible innovation themes, including ethics, sustainability, risk management, and inclusivity, guided by scenario leads’ expertise.
- IOE
The UCL Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education is leading research into climate change and sustainability education which shapes the development of outstanding, free professional development for all teachers and school leaders.
- Social and Historical Sciences
The Department of Polical Science
Students and staff collaborated to embed sustainability education into the curriculum.
The Politics of Nature module demonstrates the deep interconnection between nature and politics. It takes students beyond the classroom, offering immersive experiences in nature, designed to inspire hope and resilience in the face of climate anxiety
> Find out more through the UCL uncovering politics podcast, Prof Cathy Elliott's chapter, Hope in the garden, and blog on outdoor learning.
- Brain Sciences
The UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences (PALS) launched the Psychology of Climate Change module in 2022-23.
- Laws
The Centre for Law and the Environment acts as a focal point for the study of environmental law at UCL on a wide range of themes, including environmental governance and regulation at domestic, EU and international levels; environmental justice; sustainability; and the increasingly significant issues of energy, climate change, and natural resources.
- Medical Sciences
UCL Medical School has demonstrated a strong commitment to sustainability and is ranked the second-leading medical school in the UK for sustainability in medical education for two consecutive years, according to the Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC). This student-driven initiative evaluates medical schools on their integration of climate change and planetary health into their curricula.
> View how the Medical School is embedding ESD into the curriculum here.
- Bartlett (Built Environment)
The Bartlett has retained its global #1 ranking for the third year in a row in the QS Architecture and Built Environment World University Rankings by Subject 2025. The Bartlett focusses on a broad and diverse range of global challenges, united by their mission to build a better, more sustainable world through architecture, planning, construction, sustainable resources, urban design and development, big data and technology, policy, economics, culture and heritage.
- Life Sciences
The People and Nature Lab is pivotal in training the next generation of thought leaders and practitioners to be at the cutting edge of solutions for a sustainable future.
- Mathematical & Physical Sciences
Chemistry Professor Andrea Sella gives students projects which will solve real world problems.
- Population Health Sciences
UCL ranks third in the world for public health in global rankings. The Faculty Dean, explains that they pride themselves on their commitment to world-class education and research, contributing to global efforts to tackle pressing issues impacting us all, from health inequalities, healthcare management, pandemic prevention, climate-change to disease.
- Arts and Humanities
UCL's Slade School of Fine Art has set up a research site and visual reading group with a focus on material that addresses the climate emergency through both historical and contemporary art practice.
Case Studies
Events
* Sustainability Skills Survey 2023-24
