Professional associations: their role in promoting sustainable development in Australia

Professional associations have a strong influence on what is covered in the curricula of universities, especially that of professional degrees. They also provide members with professional development throughout their careers. Professional associations have the potential to facilitate development of sustainability competency in the workforce in many professions. A survey of professional associations in Australia indicated that by the end of the 2000s, few were facilitating sustainability, either through their input to university curricula, or through professional development. The experiences of a few associations that do facilitate sustainability can be used to build a strategy for enlisting other professional associations to facilitate sustainability competency amongst their members.