Following the Treaty of Amsterdam, the principle of sustainable development has been enshrined as one of the key aims of the European Union. Since the mid-1980s the environment, and subsequently sustainable development, have been pivotal elements of the Foundation’s work programmes. During the period 1997-2000, the particular priority of the Foundation was to develop activities to assist the social partners and policy makers involved in this area at European level and also to address the specific needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The current report is the principal publication to emerge from the project on Professional Education and Training for Sustainable Development relating to SMEs (1997-2000) which was a continuation of research managed by J?rn Pedersen in the previous work programme (1993-1997). The authors examine the situation of environmental and sustainable development training and education provision in the European Union in what is a synthesis of the main themes to emerge from national reports covering nine member states completed in 1998-2000.