Out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), six are specifically related to resource conservation and environmental protection, according to draught guidelines and curriculum framework provided by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for environment education at the undergraduate level.

According to UGC Chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 emphasises the importance of making environmental education a significant component of curricula and raising environmental knowledge and sensitivity towards its conservation and sustainable development.

He further explained, NEP encourages all higher education institutions (HEIs) to adopt flexible and innovative curricula that must include credit-based courses and projects in the areas of community engagement and service, environmental education, and value-based education in order to achieve a holistic and multidisciplinary education.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 and the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 both brought attention to the worldwide environmental crisis. In 2015, United Nations members accepted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which provides a “blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.”

He continued by saying that due to ongoing problems like pollution, forest loss, solid waste disposal, environmental degradation, worries about national security and economic productivity, global warming, ozone layer depletion, and biodiversity loss, everyone is now aware of environmental challenges.

UGC had earlier in 2003 released a core module syllabus for the undergraduate-level requirement of Environmental Studies in compliance with directives from the Supreme Court of India.

The UGC also developed an 8 unit module syllabus for the Ability Enhancement Compulsory Course (AECC-Environmental Studies) under the Choice Based Credit System in 2017. (CBCS).