Report of the Working Group on the Teaching of Ethics of the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST)

The teaching of ethics can play a decisive role in the work for sustainability. Ethical values are the principal factor in social cohesion and, at the same time, the most effective agent of change and transformation. Some steps have already been taken towards the teaching of ethics by the United Nations. At the world conference on sustainable development in Johannesburg 2002, the world leaders reaffirmed the need for sustainable education. UNESCO was designated the lead agency for the promotion of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development starting in 2005 (United Nations 2002).