This landscape report provides an overview of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) practice across the higher education sector in Ireland. It draws together publicly available institutional strategies, HEA Performance Framework Agreements 2024–2028, Climate Action Roadmaps and ESD to 2030 progress reports to outline current approaches to embedding ESD.
Structured as a series of institutional case studies, the report highlights how ESD is being addressed across teaching and learning, research, engagement and whole-institution practice, and identifies opportunities for collaboration and shared learning across the sector.
Benefit of this resource and how to make the best use of it
– Helps higher education institutions benchmark their own ESD activity against sector-wide approaches
– Supports academic and professional staff in identifying transferable practices and models for embedding ESD
– Informs institutional leaders and policy-makers about current patterns of ESD integration across the sector
– Provides a shared evidence base to support collaboration, dialogue and collective action on ESD
– Assists institutions in aligning local initiatives with national policy priorities, including ESD to 2030 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
This work is licensed under a CC BY-SA license, allowing adaptation and sharing with proper attribution, provided derivative works use the same license.
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Kelly, M. (2026). Education for sustainable development in higher education in ireland: a landscape report. National Resource Hub (Ireland). Retrieved from: https://hub.teachingandlearning.ie/resource/education-for-sustainable-development-in-higher-education-in-ireland-a-landscape-report/ License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA).
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