Education for Sustainable Development: The Iron Fist of Capitalism in the Era of Climate Emergency

Abstract

The realisation that climate tipping points may be triggered in the upcoming decades underscores the urgent need for transformative educational responses to the climate crisis that integrate scientific knowledge with socio-political dimensions. However, the consolidation of Education for Sustainable Development has gradually displaced Environmental Education (EE) from institutional and academic spaces, shifting the focus away from systemic critiques of the socio-economic drivers of the environmental crisis. Through a historical perspective on the consolidation of the paradigm of sustainable development, this article calls for an EE capable of addressing the root causes rather than the symptoms of anthropogenic climate change, contending that the survival of EE as an independent, counter-hegemonic field is essential for fostering transformative educational practices that confront climate emergency.