Open Letter: “For career practices that integrate sustainability”: Launch event with Peter Plant (29/09/2026 10h CET)
Today’s ecological challenges and the many risks we face weigh more heavily than ever on the world’s habitability, and they are profoundly and lastingly transforming careers.
The concept of green guidance, first introduced by Peter Plant, is more relevant than ever. It emerges at the intersection of several developments: the ecological emergency, the transformation of jobs, and a growing awareness that career guidance and counseling can no longer be limited to “optimizing” individual employability.
Coming out of a summer in which everyone felt the many impacts of climate change, we can see several risks clearly: forgetting, denial, the marginalization of ecological issues, and greenwashing.
In our professional field, despite remarkable academic work and initiatives from professionals around the world, the actions actually implemented remain limited – often carried forward by individuals or committed groups with little influence.
The goal now is to continue and amplify awareness-raising efforts, but also to more broadly embed reflection on sustainable professional lives into policy decisions (national policies, European and international documents and frameworks).
While those working in careers education, information, advice and guidance are fully aware that their practices cannot continue unchanged, these practices operate within institutional frameworks that must themselves evolve.
That is the purpose of this open letter: “For guidance practices that integrate sustainability.” Initiated by the Lab Green Guidance and the community around Exploring Green Guidance, the letter has since been supported and signed by numerous researchers from the academic world internationally. It puts forward concrete proposals for integrating sustainability into professional practice, into professionalization processes, and into the design and evaluation of public policy.
You can sign the letter here.
Invitation to the launch event with Peter Plant
We are delighted to invite you to the launch event for this open letter. It will take place on Tuesday, September 29, from 10:00 to 11:30 AM, with Peter Plant in attendance. The event will be an opportunity both to clarify what green guidance means and to unpack the various points the letter raises and the proposals it puts forward.
After a brief presentation of Green Guidance by Peter Plant and the letter itself by André Chauvet (member of the team of authors), a round-table discussion will address the following questions:
- Why does this open letter feel important today? Which points would you particularly like to emphasize?
- What place can and should green guidance occupy today? How can we avoid the risk of simply “greening” the jobs – in itself often a form of greenwashing – without questioning the production and growth models that created the current situation?
- How can approaches to and practices of careers education, information, advice and guidance evolve to take these issues into account? What levers seem most relevant right now? Where should action be prioritized?
Speakers:
- Anne Chant, Chair of the NICE Foundation
- Romain Boitard, Advisor on Greening at the European Training Foundation
- Valérie Cohen-Scali, UNESCO Chair of Lifelong Guidance and Counseling
- Other guests to be confirmed
Date: September 29, 10:00–11:30 AM CET
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88035976010?pwd=VYFe3IdD1q1Uf6FThk56dmZrksdMIx.1
Registration: https://cloud.green-guidance.eu/apps/forms/s/nLKK4eeaP84e2FwHe6GAjQq6