Insights from our roundtable meetings in Ireland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Convening cross-sector conversations about sustainability
Earlier this term, we convened roundtables bringing together senior representatives from post-16 education organisations, government departments, awarding bodies, sector agencies, industry partners, and student organisations in Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The aim was to explore how further and higher education can accelerate progress towards net zero and embed sustainability across leadership, learning, research and operations.
Designed to enable open, cross-sector dialogue, the roundtables created space to identify where policy and practice can be better aligned and to explore practical actions that support whole-institution approaches to sustainability. The meetings also formed part of our five nations commitment. This commitment aims to ensure our work across the UK and Ireland is equitable, place-based, and responsive to the distinct contexts, opportunities and challenges within each national system.
Our briefings synthesise key themes, challenges and opportunities from each discussion, while respecting Chatham House Rule, and set out recommendations to further embed sustainability at the heart of post-16 education to policymakers, industry sector bodies and institutions.
Roundtable highlights
Ireland: Embedding sustainability into institutional leadership
The roundtable highlighted the growing strategic recognition of sustainability across the tertiary sector, while emphasising the need for deeper integration into governance, finance, curriculum design, risk management, and culture.
Key insights included:
- Institutions are moving from estates-focused activity toward whole-organisation approaches, supported by clearer leadership accountability and shared frameworks.
- Stronger collaboration across government departments, education providers, education and training boards (ETBs), industry, and networks (including EAUC, An Taisce Green Campus, and SDSN Ireland) is essential to build long-term resilience.
- There is growing appetite to strengthen national policy alignment, support leadership capacity-building, and expand sustainability competencies and experiential learning across all programmes.
The discussion underscored the opportunity to position Ireland’s further and higher education sector as a catalyst for a just and inclusive transition, supported by multi-year funding, coordinated skills strategies, and sector-wide leadership tools.
Wales: Bridging policy and practice under the Well-being of Future Generations Act
Wales’ internationally recognised Well-being of Future Generations Act provided a powerful backdrop for the roundtable, which focused on embedding the Act more meaningfully across post-16 leadership, governance, curriculum, and qualifications.
Major themes included:
- The need to enhance institutional confidence and capability to apply the Act’s five ways of working as practical decision-making tools.
- Greater alignment between sustainability, skills, economic development, and net-zero strategies, supported by consistent policy and funding frameworks.
- Strengthening educator professional development, shared language, and curriculum auditing to embed sustainability and future-focused skills across disciplines.
- A call for deeper collaboration between government, awarding bodies, professional statutory and regulatory bodies (PSRBs), and institutions to anticipate workforce needs and support a just transition for communities across Wales.
The roundtable stressed that Wales is well placed to lead globally on education for sustainable development (ESD) and green skills, but long-term, cross-sector coordination will be essential.
Northern Ireland: Building climate leadership through collaboration, skills and evidence
The Northern Ireland roundtable explored the enabling conditions needed for tertiary institutions to help deliver the region’s climate ambitions, particularly within a complex policy landscape now re-energised following the restoration of the Assembly.
Key insights included:
- Strong recognition of the sector’s progress to date, paired with the need for whole-institution approaches that extend beyond estates into governance, teaching, research, procurement, and civic engagement.
- A more coordinated skills and workforce strategy is required across different relevant government departments, awarding bodies, and industry to prepare for emerging opportunities in areas such as renewable energy, sustainable land management, and the circular economy.
- Northern Ireland’s scale and strong culture of collaboration position it as a natural ‘test bed’ for joined-up, community-led climate solutions.
- Strengthening data, applied research, and cross-sector partnerships will be critical to evidence-based decision-making and inclusive climate action.
Participants emphasised the importance of leveraging Northern Ireland’s unique networks, social cohesion, and industrial profile to drive a just and prosperous transition.
What’s next?
This work marks an important step in our ongoing work to support coordinated, systemic sustainability action across all nations of the UK and Ireland.
Over the coming months, we will:
- Share insights across networks to support policy development, institutional planning, and leadership practice.
- Facilitate continued cross-sector dialogue through future events and collaborative forums.
- Develop tools, resources, and capacity-building programmes aligned with the needs identified in each national discussion.
We warmly invites stakeholders across tertiary education, government, and industry to continue engaging with this work.
Related documents
| 10th December 2025 | |
| News | |
| EAUC Administrator |
