From pseudo to real sustainability: Ecopedagogy in business and management education

This chapter discusses how Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Sustainable Development Goals (ESDG) place heavy emphasis on economic and social aspects of sustainability, with less importance given to environmental sustainability. It is argued that ESDG foregrounds sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth but rarely addresses industrial expansion that jeopardises the opportunity to resolve environmental crises. Within ESDGs, business education still teaches students that Profit (and not the Planet upon People are dependent), is the ultimate bottom line. By contrast, some earlier forms of environmental education, namely the Belgrade charter developed by UNESCO (1975), and more recently ecopedagogy, recognize the limits to growth and emphasize environmental integrity as a foundation for both social and economic activity in its pedagogical approaches. This chapter surveys critical scholarship that exposes sustainable development and the “triple Ps” of People, Profit, and Planet, as oxymoronic because they erroneously foster the illusion of combining economic growth, social justice, and environmental protection without the need to reduce consumption drastically. This chapter emphasizes the need to the re-orientate pseudo-sustainability of ESDG towards the real sustainability of Ecopedagogy. This shift is considered in the context of business education away from SDGs-guided curriculum towards critical pedagogical teaching methods that emphasize transformative business models based on degrowth, circular economy, and steady-state economy.