Our paper traces the history and progressive development of environmental education and education for sustainable development (ESD) in Sweden and Denmark. Our main focus is on work in primary and lower secondary schools as part of a search for trends of international interest related to the conceptualisation and practice of environmental education and ESD in both countries, as well as the role and significance of democratic perspectives to their development. Traditionally, Sweden has a more centralised approach to change compared to a more decentralised approach in Denmark. Accordingly, the interplay between the State, the individual and private initiatives has differed over the past half-century, and this has given rise to interesting effects on the development of environmental education as well as ESD. The discussion of their development in Sweden draws on historical, political and organisational perspectives, while for Denmark, we focus on how these perspectives relate to a series of challenges; for example, the epistemological challenge of the development of environmental education that resulted in "the new generation of environmental education", and the effects of taking an action competence approach to environmental education. In both countries the links between the development of environmental education and ESD and the discourse of environmental protection and democracy are highlighted, as are the interplays between the State's agenda on education, the actions of research institutions, and the provision of in-service teacher training. Sweden has become a world leader in initiatives for ESD promotion and joint efforts to spur innovations and clarification of ESD, while Denmark has mainly put its efforts into developing science education, and in this regard, has sacrificed the development of ESD.