The consumption and production systems impact economies, the environment, and societies significantly worldwide and in all sectors. Apart from the significant environmental degradation, the high levels of resource use and the waste and pollution associated with both production and consumption phases of the lifecycle, including resource extraction, the production of intermediate inputs, distribution, marketing, use, waste disposal and re-use of products and services are paralleled by inefficient, polluting, and ultimately costly phases of development. These vary from the traditional decision-making and policies to scarcity, volatility, and pricing levels unaffordable for our economy’s manufacturing base. Impacts of consumption and production patterns reflect the ability of many economies and societies to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Based on the perceived need to drive markets in the direction of innovation and sustainability, thereby enabling the transition to a green economy, The special issue “The role of Education and UN Sustainable Development Goals – How Sustainability Education influence consumption and production systems and contribute to achieving sustainable development goals” is proposed as part of the journal “Discover Sustainability”.

The Topical Collection has two main focuses. Firstly, it welcomes submissions based on scholarly research, analyses, and reflections on how sustainability education affects consumption and production systems. Secondly, it invites scholars to introduce and discuss innovations, tools, and instruments to evaluate teaching and learning and pedagogical approaches, different disciplinary practices that can be integrated to deliver transdisciplinarity education, transition design research framework – from research to practice and practice to research, collaborative research, transnational research, and the mechanisms of systems that are external to the education system but are related to, the role of career counselling for the marginalised communities as a socio-economic and environmental mechanism for challenging and transforming current education inequality for sustainable development in the context of climate change, covid19, 4IR, and SDG’s, all in context of how we can harness innovation in Sustainability Education, and overcome the challenges of sustainable consumption and production, in a way that the achievement of the SDGs is not compromised. There is a vast awareness that through effective collaboration and communication and sharing experiences and insights, the world may be better able to cope with real-world challenges.

This Topical Collection of “Discover Sustainability” expects to contribute to this process and support efforts to promote the implementation of the SDGs in Education to better cope with the challenges of sustainable consumption and production.

Keywords: Innovation; Sustainability; Education; Transdisciplinarity; Manufacturing; Consumption; Production; Systems-thinking; Technologies; Sectors