Resources

What is ESD?

Education for Sustainable Development refers to the practice of teaching for sustainability and covers a wide range of topics that consider how learners and learning relate to the community and environment in which they operate.

'Sustainable development focuses on improving the quality of life for all of the Earth's citizens without increasing the use of natural resources beyond the capacity of the environment to supply them indefinitely.' SDGateway.net

The Higher Education Academy's Education for Sustainable Development Project aims to 'help institutions and subject communities develop curricula and pedagogy that will give students the skills and knowledge to live and work sustainably'. The project website contains a wide range of sustainability resources as well as news, events, projects, publications relating to ESD. The website also contains links to the ESD work being carried out by other HEA Subject Centres throughtout the country, as well as information on the National Work carried out by the project and it's partners.

The HEA ESD Project has published a report on First-year student attitudes towards, and skills in, sustainable development.

Those interested in sustainability issues in higher education can join Sustainability in Higher Education Developers (SHED), the Higher Education Academy's network for higher and further education staff across the UK. The SHED Network aims to contribute to whole institution transformation, helping education become more relevant to the challenges of the twenty-first century. Communication in the group occurs through a dedicated mailing list (SHED Share), an open access online database of practitioners and meetings at national conferences.

The HEA Subject Centre for Bioscience has produced a series of six 'How to...' fact sheets that cover ways in which teaching can be made more sustainable.

The Centre for Sustainable Futures is based at the University of Plymouth. It's website contains publications, newsletters, videos and conference outcomes on ESD.

The Forum for the Future is a charity that works with leaders from business and the public sector to create a green, fair and prosperous world.

StudentForce for Sustainability is a charity that focuses on young people and graduates working and learning to boost their employability, as well as the sustainability of communities and employers.

The Journal of Sustainability Education is a free online journal which serves as a forum for academics and practitioners to share, critique, and promote research, practices, and initiatives that foster the integration of economic, ecological, and social-cultural dimensions of sustainability within formal and non-formal educational contexts.

The Journal of Sustainable Finance and Investment is an inter-disciplinary, peer-reviewed journal focusing on environmental, social and governance principles as formulated in managed investment, banking, project finance, and philanthropy.

Beginning in 2010, the HEFCE-funded initiative 'Leading sustainable development in higher education' is supporting eleven sustainable development projects in the higher education sector.

In 2011 UNESCO also launched the National Journeys Towards Education for Sustainable Development, a publications series that aims at documenting the way societies engage in learning and education to address the sustainability challenges of our time.

Postgraduate Courses in Business and Sustainability

Ashridge Masters in Sustainability and Responsibility (AMSR)

The Green Tourism Business Scheme provides certification for tourism businesses in the UK.

The Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development is made up of eight research groups comprising Impact Assessment, Spatial Planning, Urban Design, Architectural Humanities, Low Carbon Building, Technology, Construction and Project Management and Real Estate and Land Policy.

The Brunel Research in Enterprise, Innovation, Sustainability and Ethics (BRESE) research centre is a vehicle for interdisciplinary research into enterprise, innovation, sustainability and ethics. It's website contains information about the research programmes and projects it is engaged in as well as information on it's PhD opportunities and consultancy service.

Greenleaf Publishing publish books on sustainable business and CSR, including the journals Accountability Forum, Journal of Corporate Citizenship and Greener Management International.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development's website has a selection of case studies that aims to communicate sustainable development practices using the work of the WBCSD's working groups as its platform and source.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index tracks the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide.

The Employable Graduates for Responsible Employers project was funded by the Higher Education Academy in 2007 and examined the links between employability and sustainability in the graduate job market.

The July 2007 issue of HLST's LINK periodical had Curriculum Development for Sustainability as it's theme and featured a range of articles including studies of corporate sustainability.

Sustainable Business Development by David L. Rainey (Cambridge, 2006) 'provides comprehensive and practical analysis of what sustainable business development (SBD) is and how companies can use it to make a significant difference'. The book also contains case studies of major companies such as Nokia, IBM and BMW.

Principles of Responsible Management Education PRME

The website of Muhammad Yunus features a wealth of resources on social business, including videos.

The Do Lectures website contains 20 minute videos of people who run ethical businesses such as Uffe Elbæk.

Triodos Bank offers sustainable banking and runs the Triodos Women in Sustainable Business Awards. For other examples of sustainable banking see the JAK Members Bank and the Totnes Economics and Livelihoods Group.

Zeri.org has recently published a report 'The Blue Economy' that shares a large number of new open source sustainable business models.

Ethicalconsumer.org provides information on CSR and Sustainable Businesses. Its frequently updated reports rank companies against each other via ethical criteria.

The Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society (BRASS) exists to understand, promote and "mainstream" the key issues of sustainability, accountability and social responsiveness, through research into key business relationships.