Charles Hopkins
UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education towards Sustainability at York University
Holding the first UNESCO Chair focused on education for sustainable development (ESD), Charles Hopkins has been a global leader in ESD since the 1980s. He has worked closely with UNESCO, the United Nations University, and education ministries worldwide, helping shape key ESD frameworks, including Agenda 21 and several UNESCO ESD Declarations, while pioneering efforts to integrate sustainability as a core purpose of education. He presented to the Brundtland Commission and co-authored Chapter 36 in Agenda 21, the first United Nations implementation plan for a more sustainable future, coming out of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
Internationally, Charles has a long relationship with education and sustainability, chairing the writing and adoption processes of several UNESCO ESD Declarations. In his role, he has coordinated two global research networks, each active in more than 50 countries. Hopkins has lectured and presented papers in more than 80 countries and serves as co-director of the Asia-Pacific Institute on ESD in Beijing, China. His extensive publications and lectures span topics, such as quality education, global citizenship education, and education for a sustainable future.
Charles has been awarded three honorary doctorates and seven honorary professorships spanning Europe, Latin America and Asia. He is a fellow of the Salzburg Global Citizenship Alliance in Austria and the Sejahtera Center for Humanity and Sustainability in Malaysia.