The impulse for this publication was a lecture series at the Leuphana University Lüneburg in the winter semester 2010-11: Education for Sustainable Development – impulses from other European countries. Researchers from Austria and
Switzerland, Great Britain, France, Poland, Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands described how the challenge of Education for Sustainable Development is understood in their countries. They were invited to contribute an in-depth analysis to this volume. The hosts of this lecture series have depicted their view of the German experience. Together a portrait of European educational policy and practice for a sustainable development emerges. It is not however meant as a description of previous efforts but as a snapshot of a process that urgently needs to be accelerated.