Educating for Sustainability: Advances and Challenges in Environmental Education
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 29 September 2025
Special Issue Editors
Interests: environmental education; education for sustainable development; environmental ethics; inorganic materials for solar energy conversion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Nowadays, humanity faces the unprecedented risks of producing abrupt or irreversible environmental changes at the planetary level. Nine planetary boundaries are proposed: climatic change, strospheric ozone depletion, biosphere integrity, land-system change, freshwater change, biogeochemical flows, ocean acidification, atmospheric ozone loading, and novel entities; all of these factors will allow humanity to develop and thrive for generations to come. The boundaries are interconnected processes in the complex Earth system, and the most recent update finds that six of the nine planetary boundaries have been exceeded. Significant changes do not occur overnight: the boundaries together indicate an important turning point after which humans and ecosystems are at risk. In this context, education plays a pivotal role by addressing the challenges posed by planetary boundaries overcoming. It should cover the interconnectedness of the Earth’s systems and the impact of human activities, fostering a sense of responsibility and encouraging transformations in consumption patterns and daily practices. Understanding system complexity needs critical thinking and skills necessary to evaluate information and make informed decisions in different situations. Education inspires innovation, fostering the culture of curiosity and problem-solving, fostering responsibility, and promoting a sense of global citizenship. In this context, environmental education is not only about ecological systems, it is also closely intertwined with education for sustainable development, working together to equip individuals with the knowledge, skills and values required to address challenges posed by planetary boundaries. This Special Issue will provide an opportunity to share the most recent research and project results to empower individuals to become responsible and engaged citizens who can contribute to a more sustainable future by focusing education at different levels, ranging from education policy and curriculum development to innovative teaching strategies and methods in daily educational activities.
We invite you to contribute to this Special Issue with an eye on the future generations and their safe, healthy and good quality of life on this planet!
Prof. Dr. Dana Perniu
Dr. Corina Cace
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- environmental education
- education for sustainability
- planetary boundaries
- innovative teaching
- complexity
- problem solving
- environmental ethics
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.
