Sustainability education at Lund University

We aim to provide all of our students with perspectives on sustainability that are relevant to their subject. Solving sustainability crises requires a variety of perspectives, and we believe that each academic field has a crucial role to play.
As Sweden's most comprehensive university, we offer a diverse education in sustainability, covering different aspects. Many of our courses are part of structured degree programmes, but our students can also take stand-alone courses or design their own programme.
All our regular courses and programmes use ECTS credits, with 1.5 credits corresponding to one week of full-time study.
Note that the course and programme links on this page may take you to content on webpages outside this website (lunduniversity.lu.se), e.g. the Swedish counterpart of this website – lu.se – faculty and department websites, and joint programme websites. The linked content may be in English or Swedish.
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Contact information
Ann Ã…kerman
Coordinator at ÃÛ¶¹ÊÓÆµ Sustainability Forum
ann [dot] akerman [at] lucsus [dot] lu [dot] se (ann[dot]akerman[at]lucsus[dot]lu[dot]se)
Telephone: +46 (0)46 222 80 81
Featured programmes
The programmes below cover a wide range of subjects and interests. Most of them are interdisciplinary.
Programmes taught in English:
- Environmental Management and Policy
- Environmental Studies and Sustainability Studies
- Human Rights Studies
- Public Health
- Performing Arts as Critical Practice
Programmes taught in Swedish:
New Master's programme
The following new programme will provide tools and strategies to tackle climate change together with society. It will start in autumn 2025.
X-courses
X-courses are short, flexible, credit-bearing courses. Several of them focus on sustainability or cover important aspects of sustainability.
The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) offers the popular and highly acclaimed Greening the Economy series of seven courses:
- Circular Economy: Sustainable Materials Management
- Cities, Climate and Change: Pathways and Opportunities
- Cities and Consumption: Urban Sustainability and the Sharing Economy
- Greening the Economy: Lessons from Scandinavia
- Greening the Economy: Sustainable Cities
- Urban Nature: Connecting Cities, Sustainability and Innovations
- Urban Climate Governance: Towards 1.5° Celsius Alignment
Another of our MOOCs introduces key terms and concepts in sustainability science that are relevant to everyone, regardless of their work or field of interest:
Note that MOOCs cannot be included in a formal degree at ÃÛ¶¹ÊÓÆµ.
Our courses and programmes are categorised below according to their focus on environmental or societal impacts. However, many cover both dimensions.
Offerings focused on environmental impact
Our programmes and courses with a particular focus on environmental impact are listed below.
Degree programmes, environmental impact
All programmes listed below lead to a Bachelor's degree (180 ECTS), a Master's degree (120 ECTS) or a professional degree (300 ECTS).
Master's programmes taught in English (2 years, 120 ECTS)
- Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation
- Energy-efficient and Environmental Building Design
- Sustainable Energy Engineering
- Sustainable Urban Design
- Water Resources Engineering
Bachelor's programmes taught in Swedish (3 years, 180 ECTS)
Professional degrees taught in Swedish (5 years, 300 ECTS)
Bachelor's programmes taught in Swedish (3 years, 180 ECTS)
Master's programmes taught in English (2 years, 120 ECTS)
Bachelor's programmes taught in English (3 years, 180 ECTS)
Master's programmes taught in English (2 years, 120 ECTS)
Bachelor's programmes taught in English (3 years, 180 ECTS)
Master's programmes taught in English (2 years, 120 ECTS)
- Applied Computational Science, Environmental Science
- Biology, Aquatic Ecology
- Biology, Conservation Biology
- Geographical Information Systems
- Geology
- Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, General
Bachelor's programmes taught in Swedish (3 years, 180 ECTS)
Master's programmes taught in Swedish (1 or 2 years, 60 or 120 ECTS)
Courses, environmental impact
The courses listed below range from 4 to 15 ECTS credits. Some may require specific prior knowledge.
Courses taught in English
Courses taught in English
Courses taught in Swedish
Courses taught in Swedish
Courses taught in English
- Computational Science: Introduction to Modelling of Climate System
- Environmental Science: Risk Assessment in Environment and Public Health
- GIS and Biodiversity
- GIS and Climate Change
- Physical Geography: the Climate System
- Quaternary Geology: Global Environmental Change from a Geological Perspective
- Quaternary Geology: Marine Geology and Environmental Change
Courses taught in Swedish
Offerings focused on societal impact
Our programmes and courses with a particular focus on societal impact are listed below.
Degree programmes, societal impact
All programmes listed below lead to a Bachelor's degree (180 ECTS) or a Master's degree (60 or 120 ECTS).
Master's programmes taught in English (1 years, 60 ECTS)
Master's programmes taught in English (2 years, 120 ETCS)
Master's programmes taught in English (2 years, 120 ETCS)
- Human Rights Studies
- Media and Communication Studies
- Visual Culture (offered every other year)
Visual Culture, fact sheet (PDF 249 kB, new tab)
Master's programmes taught in English (2 years, 120 ETCS)
Bachelor's programmes taught in English (3 years, 180 ETCS)
Master's programmes taught in English (2 years, 120 ETCS)
- Climate Change and Society
- Development Studies, Master's
- Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science
- Global Studies
- Human Geography
- International Development and Management
- Service Management, Sustainable Service Management
- Social Studies of Gender
A new Master's programme, Climate Change and Society, will start in 2025. More information will be published as it becomes available.
Master's programmes taught in Swedish (2 years, 120 ETCS)
Courses, societal impact
The courses listed below range from 3 to 30 ECTS credits. Some may require specific prior knowledge.
Courses taught in English
- Business Administration: Global Business Responsibility
- Business Administration: Re-imagining Money for a Sustainable Future
- Business Law: Corporate Taxation and Sustainability
- Economic History: Growth, Stagnation and Inequality in Africa
- Economic History: Climate Crises and Energy Transitions – Past and Present
- Economics: Health Economics
- Economics: Public Economics and the Welfare State
- Entrepreneurship: Social Innovation – a Strategy for Sustainability
Courses taught in Swedish
Courses taught in English
- Gender, Disasters and Climate Risk
Courses taught in English
Courses taught in Swedish
Courses taught in English
- Aesthetics of Crisis: Health and Well-being
- Contemporary South-East Asia – Political Developments and Societal Issues
- Critical Animal Studies – Animals in Society, Culture and the Media
- Gastronomy: Sustainable Eating
- History of the Holocaust
- Journalistic Tools and Media Ethics – Online Opportunities and Risks in Times of Crisis
- One World, One Language
- One World, One Morality
- Social AI Through the Looking Glass
- Social Movements in East and South-East Asia
Courses taught in Swedish
Courses taught in English
Courses taught in Swedish
Courses taught in English
- Effects of Air Pollution on Climate, Health and Green Transition – Addressing Complex Issues at the Interface of Technology and Medicine
- Global Health and Human Rights
- Health Systems in a Global Perspective: Methods and Applications
- Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Global Health
- Sustainability and Global Health
Courses taught in Swedish
Courses taught in English
- Energy Transitions and Sustainability
- Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science: Economy and Sustainability
- Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science: Methods and Tools – from Knowledge to Action
- Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science: Politics of Sustainability
- The Fashion Market: Fashion Communication and Sustainability
- Gender Studies: Gender in a Global World
- Geographies of Sustainability
- Human Ecology: Culture, Economy and Ecology
- Human Ecology: Political Ecology, Crisis and Identity
- Human Geography: The Contemporary Geography of African Development I
- Human Geography: The Contemporary Geography of African Development II
- Human Geography: Landscape and Political Ecology
- Introduction to Sustainability
- Political Science: Environmental and Planetary Politics
- The Role of Volunteering in Crisis and War
- Social Movements and Sustainability
- Sociology: Managing Sustainability, Society and Collective Behaviour
- Sociology: Sociological Perspectives on Sustainability Transitions
- Sustainability and Inner Transformation
- Sustainability and Popular Culture