“Sustainable Futures”: Collaborating on Education for a Sustainable and Net-Zero Economy Through Inter-Disciplinary and Enterprise-Informed Curriculum Development and Delivery

Sustainable Futures is a sustainability education initiative focused on supporting climate action, environmental sustainability, and achieving net zero in industry and enterprise. The Sustainable Futures community, collaborative environment and educational programmes aim to empower current and future leaders to act and lead the transition to a sustainable, net zero and nature-positive future across multiple sectors. This paper will share learnings from our inter-institutional, inter-disciplinary and enterprise-informed education ethos. Reflecting the complex nature of sustainability challenges, the Sustainable Futures programmes and curriculums bring together complementary sustainability expertise nationally and combine environmental engineering, environmental science, business, and management disciplines. Enterprise-informed curriculum development is achieved through skills mapping and national surveys corroborated by focus groups and enterprise-engagement days within the Sustainable Futures Lab. New and emerging digital technologies are accelerating the delivery of online sustainability education that is scalable, inclusive, and equitable. As such, we outline how virtual learning platforms combined with state-of-the-art online pedagogical approaches are enabling the delivery of innovative Sustainable Futures online educational programmes with geographically inclusive student participation and enhanced learning.