Although Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a matter of global importance, the requirements and needs of people differ according to their regional circumstances. (Not only) in Germany--in keeping with the increasingly international focus of "output" evaluations--one dominant educational debate has centred on effective ways of mapping and understanding pupils' competencies. This article provides a Model of Competence for ESD in the formal education sector. This model aims to inform the organisation of teaching and to help assess the learning outcomes of pupils who have received instruction in issues relating to ESD. The competence model was developed and extended in connection with two German federal state innovation programmes which aimed to implement the concept of ESD in schools across the country.