Abstract
This chapter presents a brief overview of the current education for sustainable development (ESD) scene in the global, regional and national context, and outlines ESD principles and policies relevant for educators' professional development in European higher education. It is concerned with the specifics of ESD in HE focusing on frameworks, strategies, institutional policies and conditions for individual initiatives at the bottom-up level.
The roles of key actors and platforms advancing ESD policy in the EU and globally are also discussed. Global ESD actions and strategies such as the UN Decade on ESD, the Global Action Programme or the UNECE Strategy on ESD have helped to shape ESD responses by higher education institutions, providing a policy framework which can guide the implementation of ESD in national and regional policies, as well as in universities.
As higher education institutions do not depend on national policies, being relatively autonomous in many areas of their operations, it is very important to hold discussions over educational theories, practices and initiatives which can support ESD transition at this level.