About Us
Sustainability Education for Europe (SEFE) is a new pan-European initiative to increase and improve sustainability education in primary and secondary schools across Europe. Our goal is to give the European youth access to knowledge on climate change, biodiversity, and the environment as a part of their ordinary formal education.
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SEFE is an entirely volunteer-run initiative. We are predominately a policy and lobbying focused initiative. Our aim is to move governments to take more action on sustainability education. In line with this, we are not directly active in educating youths. Instead, we focus on making policy suggestions on sustainability curriculums and connecting stakeholders to one another.
The next generation deserves an education that sets them up for success.
At SEFE, we aim to make that happen.
Our Mission
Our aim is to increase and improve sustainability education in primary and secondary schools across Europe. We are a community of educators, policy experts, and sustainability enthusiasts, who carry out policy research on national curricula and best practices in sustainability education. On the basis of our research, we publish policy briefs and make suggestions on ways that governments and educational institutions can implement and improve sustainability curriculums throughout Europe.
We aim to raise awareness around the importance of sustainability education in Europe. Our advocacy work is based on our policy research and the best practices we see in education. The goal of our advocacy work is to move governments and educational institutions to incorporate sustainability into their core curricula, and also to allocate more funds and resources to this.
To foster innovation and collaboration in sustainability education, we are working to create an interactive community platform for different stakeholders to meet and exchange experiences and ideas.
Our Vision
We believe education has the power to set the next generations up for success. It is therefore at the core of our work to advocate for a better future through better education. We believe education is the best investment a government can make, and that well-educated and well-informed citizens are key to tackling the climate crisis.
Our goal is to give the European youth access to knowledge on climate change, biodiversity, and the environment as a part of their ordinary formal education. To achieve this, we believe that there needs to be more research and awareness around the role education plays in the climate crisis. We also believe that governments need to allocate more funds and resources to sustainability education.
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We are a citizens' initiative and a community of changemakers, who believe we can use our voices – and our democratic rights and powers – to help build a better future for our children and the coming generations. It is our vision to be a driver of change and innovation in sustainability education across Europe and beyond.
About Our Founder
Christine Nikander started "Sustainability Education for Europe" (SEFE) in January 2023. The idea for SEFE was born a year after Christine attended a course on human-centered design and social innovation at the Columbia Entrepreneurship Design Studio in New York.
Having guest lectured on environmental law, circular economy, and the just transition to University students, Christine noticed the enthusiasm and eagerness that students had to understand their roles in tackling the climate crisis. She also noticed the lack of teaching and resources currently provided to students. SEFE builds on this experience and aims to give students across Europe access to sustainability education already at an early age.
