In the global setting of promotion of sustainable development, education is one of the priorities to make progress in the culture of sustainability, according the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (200614). Sustainable development demands a holistic approach: education for sustainable development is related to other programs and other concerns of education. It is all about rethinking educational policies, programmes and pedagogical practice, in order to enable education to play its role in developing the capabilities of all members of society. So as to work together and build a sustainable future. That means tertiary education plays an essential role in the research world, as well as in the training of specialists in each field of knowledge. A crucial factor, when working in sustainability culture, is the university education of future professionals: engineers, educators, economists, urban planners, journalists, managers and administrators, etc. All of them must be educated, in each of their fields, in environmental and sustainable values and criteria, in order to consider their professional activities with a sustainability approach.

One of the most active precedents related to this subject is the Estratègia Catalana d’Educació Ambiental (Catalan Strategy for Environmental Education), started by the Department de Medi Ambient i Habitatge (Department of Environment and Housing) of the Catalan Government. This process, which is open to the whole society to participate (citizens, economic and social agents and the authorities), promoted the individual and collective pro-environmental action as a civic and ethic value, unifying the actions of each group. The main goal of this process was the improvement of environmental education in Catalonia, under the same guidelines and trends used in the latest world meetings held on Environment. This strategy would allow us to understand the state of the environmental education in Catalonia. It would also allow setting, with a sustainability approach, some strategic guidelines for action, as well as actions that enable the improvement of the situation of environmental education in some social sectors. This is important for the future development of that same society (Autonomous Government, Local Government, Communication, Business, Education, Open Spaces, Non-Governmental Organizations and Voluntary Work, University and research).

In 2003, and thanks to the support of the Departament d’Universitats, Recerca i Societat de la Informació (Department for Universities, Research and Society of the Information), the Curricular Environmentalization Web of Higher Education (ACEU) was created. It was integrated by research groups of education in sustainability, belonging to some of the Catalan Public Universities. In particular, Universitat de Girona (Girona University), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Polytechnic University of Catalonia) and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Autonomous University of Barcelona). From the work completed in these past two years, the Department of Environment and Housing of the Catalan Government has published a book called “The Curricular Environmentalization in University Studies: for an Education towards Sustainability”. The goal of this document is to become a reference in the curricular environmentalisation process of Tertiary Education institutions. The groups involved in the ACEU Network sees the need for giving continuity and a bigger sphere of application for the generated knowledge. This implies the creation of a new Network, more participative and capable of involving other educational institutions, businesses and other administrations, etc.