Teaching sustainability: notes from France

Abstract

Given that economics shapes how we conceptualise environmental issues and design policies, economics education is crucial; and given the current crisis in economics education, our limited capacity to design effective policies should be worrisome. Our goal in this paper is to first analyse how sustainability is addressed at the French bachelor level; then we provide a pluralistic approach to sustainability, upon which an ambitiously effective curriculum can be built. The question is not to present a course framework - that is the professor's responsibility, but to show how pluralism can combine rigour with critical thinking within the context of sustainability.