Climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource use are often talked about as separate topics. In reality, they behave more like a chain reaction: change one part of the system, and something else inevitably shifts with it.
The European Commission’s GreenComp framework identifies systems thinking as a core sustainability competence, emphasizing the ability to understand how environmental, social, economic, and technological elements interact within and across systems, rather than treating problems as stand-alone issues.
In practice, this means that effective sustainability work requires:
• Seeing connections instead of silos
• Anticipating unintended consequences
• Bridging science, policy, technology, and societal realities
This system’s perspective underpins how the ECOLUTION Project approaches sustainability education: preparing future professionals to work with complexity, not against it, and to design responses that reflect how sustainability challenges actually unfold in the real world.
Funding Agency: EACEA – European Education and Culture Executive Agency
Learn more about ECOLUTION: https://www.ecolutionmsc.eu/
101140050 — ECOLUTION — ERASMUS-EDU-2023-PI-ALL-INNO
Disclaimer: Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
