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The engineering profession has been highlighted in the context of a growing need for professionals capable of addressing the pressing challenges of sustainability. The purpose of this study is to present innovative experiences in engineering education for sustainable development in Brazil. This research was conducted in three stages: first, innovative initiatives were mapped through document research, literature review, grey literature, and the press; second, 37 academics who created and/or participated in these initiatives were interviewed, including professors, program coordinators, department heads, engineering school directors, and university chancellors; and third, the initiatives were analyzed and discussed with a team of specialists. The initiatives can be categorized into two types: innovative actions, projects, and structures (i.e., isolated actions, institutional projects, and institutional structure) and engineering programs with innovative characteristics (i.e., innovative curricula and pedagogical approaches, and new organizational paradigms to support engineering schools). Key characteristics, conceptual foundations, examples, and contributions to the sustainable development goals are discussed for each type of initiative. Emerging topics related to engineering education for sustainable development were identified and related to real cases. A shift towards a sustainability paradigm in engineering education is dependent on university top management commitment and can be accelerated by integrating initiatives at multiple levels of the university system. [Display omitted] • Innovative EESD initiatives in Brazilian universities are mapped. • Interviewees held key positions in the main Brazilian engineering schools. • Contributions from EESD initiatives to achieve SDGs are discussed. • Emerging EESD-related topics are identified and linked to real cases. • A systems perspective on innovative EESD initiatives is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Multilevel Perspective on Sustainable Transitions (MLP) has been widely used to explain different patterns of technological, societal, cultural and normative transitions in an integrated and systemic way. This framework has been used to analyze individual transportation based on internal combustion engine automobiles and to develop niches that can challenge the existing dominant regimes in favor of more sustainable urban mobility systems. In a recent and relevant work, Markard et al. (2012) thoroughly discussed MLP, highlighting gaps and research opportunities. One such gap is that much of the research developed using this framework was conducted primarily using European scenarios, omitting various aspects of regional or country diversity, or the role of firm strategies failed to be considered. Therefore, we propose to analyze and compare Brazilian and German case studies regarding sustainable urban mobility transitions. To accomplish this goal, we analyze the diffusion level and different characteristics that explain the current development level of four niches: electro mobility, car sharing schemes, intermodal transportation, and innovation in public transportation. Using the multiple case study method, we compare the sustainable mobility initiatives and innovations undertaken by two German automotive companies in Brazil and in Germany. The results of the research conducted with both companies show that mobility initiatives in Brazil remain very limited. Manufacturers remain much more concerned with selling traditional products (in a much faster growth market than in Germany) than with initiating more aggressive strategies oriented to mobility. Even in their mother countries, mobility innovations can be considered moderate. Our main conclusions are that mobility initiatives in Germany and in Brazil are very different for a number of reasons, such as different pre-existing infrastructures to support new mobility initiatives, public pressure for mobility solutions, different growth patterns concerning car sales and different institutional and legal conditions regarding public and private participation in mobility issues. Therefore, the MLP framework would generate different trajectories and outcomes; in addition, firm strategies should be considered in the framework, particularly in a sector such as the automotive industry, in which firms have considerable influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]