The well-being of humans and planet is in the hands of humankind and our capability to change our thinking and actions. Education is one of the key drivers in this transformation by enabling students to develop their sustainability competences and transforming sustainability practices.

Sustainability competences are a controversial topic in environmental education research. The history of both concepts, sustainability and competence, connects to economic growth as a desirable goal and to EU and OECD financial policies (Heikkinen & Kukkonen 2019; Tervasmäki, Okkolin & Kauppinen 2020; Vare 2022). The main problem in this view is the assumption of decoupling between economic growth and sustainable development; in other words, the general belief that the economy can grow while reducing negative environmental impacts such as resource depletion, pollution, and global warming. However, in our pragmatic view, the concept of sustainability competence can be used without this assumption, emphasizing the well-being of all the life forms on the planet. In this study, sustainability is defined as acknowledging the needs of humans as well as more-than-human entities on the planet, within the frame of planetary boundaries, now and in the future.

The concept of competence refers to the ability to act or do something successfully (MOT Oxford Dictionary of English). Based on this definition, sustainability competences can be defined as the ability to act with due regard for planetary boundaries, ensuring that actions and decisions contribute to the long-term health and balance of our ecosystems. In this study, sustainability competences are divided into three dimensions: individual competences, collective competences, and technical-material competences. As a starting point, the European sustainability competence framework GreenComp (EC & JRC 2022) was used to outline the individual competences. It consists of 12 competences organized into four areas: Embodying sustainability values (including valuing sustainability, supporting fairness, and promoting nature); Embracing complexity in sustainability (systems thinking, critical thinking, and problem framing); Envisioning sustainable futures (futures literacy, adaptability, and exploratory thinking); and Acting for sustainability (political agency, collective action, and individual initiative).

Collective competences refer to the innate quality of an organism or system, or the organization’s ability to act on a given issue as a community, in a collective way (see Vare, Rieckmann & Lausselet 2022). Collective competences can be divided into three areas, regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive competences, deriving from institutional theory (Scott, 2001, Nokkala & al. 2024).

In this study, technical-material competences are defined as the capability of an institution to avoid or minimize the environmental load, or even improve the environment, through technical means or improvements of infrastructures. Technical-material competences can be conceptualized through eight environmental areas and key performance indicators (KPIs): energy, water, waste, indoor air quality, transport, green spaces, green procurement, and carbon footprint (Lizana & al. 2021). Increasing technical-material sustainability competences often result in measurable changes in the environmental performance of schools and universities.

To advance the sustainability transition in education, competence frameworks, theorizations of organizational activities, or lists of environmental indicators should be reflected in the practices of schools and institutions. In this presentation, we ask what kind of sustainability competences are needed for the sustainability transition of education in different contexts and educational practices. The answer is formulated as a Roadmap for sustainability competences. Based on experiences in schools and universities, the Roadmap presents a pragmatic vision of the key sustainability competences and how to promote them in the everyday life of educational institutions. The Roadmap can help educational institutions to move forward toward a sustainable future.

The data were collected during an international ECF4CLIM project (A European Competence Framework for a Low Carbon Economy and Sustainability through Education 2021-2025) and its interventions in thirteen demonstration sites consisting of Finnish, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian primary and secondary schools and universities. At the beginning of the project, 31 workshops with 500 participants and an online eDelphi discussion with 68 participants were organized to collect crowdsourced data, with all project countries represented. The crowdsourcing process aimed to engender a collective meaning-making process, in terms of education for sustainability. The data consists of written notes and comments from participants, and recordings and researchers’ summaries from the workshops. An initial Sustainability Roadmap was designed based on qualitative analysis of all collected data, a literature review, and an expert assessment (Heikkinen & al. 2022). This initial data is used also when designing the final Roadmap for sustainability competences. Through an innovative hybrid participatory process, strongly based on participatory action research, each of the thirteen demonstration sites co-designed and co-implemented 3-11 interventions best suited for their context. During these interventions, the initial Roadmap design was tested. In participatory and iterative project teams and meetings, participants from the demonstration sites, including students, teachers, and administration, developed their interventions and assessed how the elements of the Roadmap were realized. The intervention and meeting reports from the demonstration sites include reflections on the initial Roadmap and the challenges and possibilities encountered during the project. The reports were analyzed through thematic analysis and revising the initial Sustainability Roadmap based on the results. In addition to the crowdsourcing data and intervention reports, secondary data from researchers’ notes and project meetings were used in the analysis. Throughout the project, comments from practitioners at the demonstration sites were collected. At the project's general assembly in May 2025, participants from all project levels will collaborate on a Sustainability Roadmap to make it relevant in education for promoting sustainability in practice.

The GreenComp focuses mainly on individual competences. Our analysis suggests that collective competences are crucial for the development of both individual and technical-material competences. On the other hand, changes in technical-material competences require both individual and collective competences inside and outside the organization. Collective competences change through individual efforts and technical-material possibilities, illuminating their interconnectedness. Best practices enhancing the sustainability of educational institutions, minimizing environmental impact, and maximizing student learning, require attention to all competence dimensions. The context is relevant when improving competences: needs and opportunities for change vary between educational levels, academic disciplines, and countries. The interventions show a variety of ways to promote sustainability competences. Some common characteristics between different contexts can be found, though. Following the structure of GreenComp and our initial Roadmap, the general elements of promoting sustainability competences in education are engagement (related to Embodying sustainability values), connections (Embracing complexity in sustainability), change (Envisioning sustainable futures), and actualization (Acting for sustainability). The engagement of teachers, administration, and external stakeholders was crucial for effectively implementing educational sustainability projects. Their commitment to sustainability depended not only on their attitudes but also on organizational and institutional factors. Connections are important: the teachers or the students couldn't make the changes by themselves but needed cooperation with the administration, service providers, or businesses. Also connecting different school subjects with the intervention activities promoted transformation towards more holistic visions of sustainability challenges. Making the change itself demanded adaptability and having a vision of a better future. Creativity was needed when planning the change in practice together. The actualization of the change required time for discussions and the action itself, and in every demonstration site, scarce time resources were a barrier. We will also present the final Roadmap for Sustainability Competences, which we are finalizing through the spring and summer of 2025.

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