The Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy at the Central European University is an international center of excellence in environmental and sustainability research and teaching with a focus on interdisciplinary and critical scholarship in energy transitions and climate change; environmental and resource governance; environmental justice, politics and humanities; resource management and pollution control; and sustainable management of socio-ecological systems. We produce and disseminate knowledge informing policy and practice to support open, democratic and environmentally sustainable societies. We offer Master’s and PhD education to future professionals and academics from around the world. Through cooperation with networks of scholars and practitioners worldwide, we serve as a platform for the exchange of novel ideas addressing key environmental and sustainability challenges in our focus areas.

The department has educated close to one thousand people from over 80 countries who are now working in academia, international organizations, governments, NGOs and businesses around the world. We offer both one- and two-year Master of Science programs. The 1-year Master’s Program in Environmental Sciences and Policy, established in 1994, is delivered entirely at CEU. A 2-year Master's in Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management (MESPOM) is an Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters Degree jointly delivered by CEU along with Lund University in Sweden, the University of Manchester in the UK and the University of the Aegean in Greece, with the University of Saskatchewan in Canada and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, US. It is supported by the European Commission through the Erasmus + program. The Doctoral program educates future scholars in the department's areas of expertise providing fully funded PhD positions.