Qualitative education is one of the key contributors in achieving the goal of sustainability. Several studies mention that the sustainability curriculum and educators can play an immense role in developing awareness in practicing the concept of sustainability. Relatively there is no comprehensive study to typify the recent contributions of teacher education for sustainability. In this light, the aim of the study is to understand the progress of the research on teacher education for sustainability (TES) in terms of growth, evolution, influence and significant research themes. To achieve the aim of the study, 1782 documents indexed in the Scopus database over three decades starting from 1991 to 2020 were analyzed by using bibliometric analysis. The data are visualized in the paper by using VOSviewer and Tableau. Results show that there has been a significant increase in yearly publications and citations over the years, trending research papers, productive authors, institutions and countries and thematic areas of research. Most frequently published journal has a considerable cite score and quartile. Universities from Australia published the most. The most commonly published themes are education for sustainability, Agenda 21, sustainable development education, environmental education, and later the focus is shifted to teacher training, teachers, education, values, teaching and education policy, sustainability competencies. Future research should focus on blended learning, digital learning, other modern tools and techniques to achieve the goal of sustainable development as well as to address the issue of teaching sustainability during uncertainty conditions.

This article provides a practical example of the development of cross-border tourism and its link to achieving sustainable development goals. Greenways (GWs) are successful and recognized initiatives in Western Europe, but have recently also shown development trends in Eastern Europe, notably, in the Baltic Sea Region and Russia. These initiatives improve the quality of life and provide opportunities for sustainable economic activities for the local communities, especially in rural areas, adding value to their natural, cultural, historical and human heritage. The authors studied examples of best practice in scientific literature and practice, encouraging the development of cross-border tourism and GWs in Europe and Russia, in order to further adapt it to other continents. Analyzing the environmental, economic, social and institutional factors in the region and their role in sustainable development, the need for institutional regulation that would allow the development of a wider development of GWs is identified. Research results reveal sustainable development dilemmas of positive socioeconomic effects of GWs and negative environmental effects of increased flows of tourists. Focus groups and expert interviews allowed us to assess the level of various factors contributing to sustainable development and clarify the directions of the future research.

As a member of the European Union, Latvia is committed to climate neutrality by 2050. The credibility of this commitment depends on formal climate-neutrality targets, measurable indicators, clearly assigned responsibilities, and adequate financial resources. This study examines Latvia’s climate-neutrality governance across six sectors: energy and transport; waste; industry and construction; land use, land-use change, forestry; agriculture; and tourism. The analysis applies the authors` KPI–accountability–resources framework to assess the implementation readiness of national policy planning documents. To strengthen the international relevance of the study, we complement the Latvian analysis with a structured mapping of selected climate-neutrality measure passports in Estonia, Portugal and Romania. Rather than constituting a full comparative analysis, these cases illustrate how similar implementation challenges can be addressed through regulatory, financial, governance, infrastructure, and social or community-oriented instruments. The findings reveal substantial variation in implementation readiness across sectors. Waste policy demonstrates the highest degree of coherence between policy objectives, indicators, institutional responsibilities, and financial support mechanisms, while LULUCF and tourism exhibit significant implementation gaps that may hinder progress towards climate neutrality. Energy policy contains relatively clearer indicators, but transport decarbonisation remains less directly linked to emission-reduction outcomes and long-term financing. The comparative instrument mapping suggests that Latvia’s policy-readiness gaps stem not only from an incomplete policy mix required to translate climate ambition into effective implementation. The study advances climate-governance research by integrating a policy-readiness assessment with comparative policy-instrument mapping, providing a transferable approach for identifying implementation gaps and informing climate-neutrality governance reforms in small EU member states.