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The private sector and
education for sustainable development
John Fien, Professor of Sustainability, RMIT University, Australia and
Rupert Maclean, Professor of International Education, Hong Kong Institute of Education
T
o be effective, education for sustainable development
(ESD) requires the participation of all sectors of society.
Much work is being done around the world to integrate
sustainable development into formal education, especially at the
pre-school, primary and secondary school levels, in technical and
vocational education, and in universities and teacher education.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governments and the
mass media also play important roles in promoting general
public awareness and understanding of sustainable development.
Very important also is the development of training programmes
to ensure that all sectors of society have the skills necessary to
perform their work in a sustainable manner.
Ensuring that a company’s staff and those of suppliers understand
and are able to apply principles of sustainable development in the
workplace is of direct relevance to the private sector. Indeed, many
initiatives undertaken by businesses and their partners in the area of
sustainable development and corporate social responsibility contrib-
ute considerably to education, training and capacity-building for
sustainable development.
This is generally done through one or more of four approaches:
• Corporate training programmes for employees, to provide them
with the capacity to achieve corporate sustainability goals
• Supply-chain focused corporate training programmes to ensure
capacity to achieve corporate sustainability goals
• ESD programmes for the communities that form the
constituencies for businesses
• Corporate support for ESD in schools, technical and vocational
education colleges and universities.
Research by UNESCO’s Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational
Innovation for Development (APEID) has identified leading inter-
national examples of companies across all industry sectors engaging
in innovative projects across these four approaches as they seek to
use education and training to achieve various sustainable develop-
ment goals, such as overcoming poverty, promoting gender equality,
protecting the environment, tackling rural development and advanc-
ing cultural diversity and human rights.
1
These examples include:
Approach 1: Corporate training programmes for employees, to
provide them with the capacity to achieve corporate
sustainability goals
Munich Re
: Environmental management is central to the induction
of new staff at Munich Re, especially as staff numbers at the firm’s
Munich headquarters have risen by more than 40 per cent since
2000. Right from the start of their careers with Munich
Re, trainee insurance specialists are familiarized with
various aspects of sustainability to create long-term
awareness and to enable them to use this knowl-
edge and insight in underwriting. In addition, a total
of more than 300 representatives from Munich Re’s
client companies have participated in a ‘Knowledge in
Dialogue’ programme, which includes sharing knowl-
edge about environmental protection, environmental
risks and prevention strategies.
Air France-KLM
: All new cabin crew and those seeking
promotion to supervisory roles receive training on
sustainable development issues, which are integrated
into key professional curricula. Also, in South Africa,
Air France-KLM has launched an HIV/AIDS aware-
ness and intervention programme built around peer
education and provision of information and skills with
regards to HIV/AIDS to employees at all levels.
MyTravel Northern Europe:
In 1996 launched a ‘100
Steps Towards a Good Environment’ programme at
its in-house hotel chain, Sunwing Resorts. If a hotel
decides to implement the programme, all key personnel
– maintenance, service staff, management, etc. – must
undergo training on sustainable development issues.
Approach 2: Supply-chain focused corporate
training programmes to ensure capacity to achieve
corporate sustainability goals
Toyota
collaborates with the Coordinating Committee
for Automotive Repair (CCAR) to host a website
called CCAR-GreenLink, which provides dealers
with environmental information and compliance
assistance related to requirements for the storage
and disposal of their waste materials, ways to imple-
ment their own waste management programmes and
other advice to help them operate their businesses in
an environmentally responsible manner. Additional
support is provided through a telephone hotline and
newsletters.
Reebok
organizes training workshops in its worldwide
network of factories on issues such as strengthening
compliance with standards for non-discrimination,