Purpose--To present the challenge of sustainable development, the way in which technology can address that challenge and the task of engineering education to train engineers for it. Design/methodology/approach--The paper describes briefly the history of the environmental and sustainability discourse in The Netherlands, as a densely populated country. It argues that technology should play a major role in SD, but that technological innovation is not enough. Technological systems renewal is a transdisciplinary activity involving relevant stakeholders and disciplines. "Needs" is the basic starting-point to innovate new systems of provision. The paper reviews relevant literature regarding future orientation of technology development. Based on it, goals for training of engineers are developed. Findings--The engineer has to meet a threefold challenge: providing new creative approaches on the one hand, and setting up and executing R&D programs that produce results, on the other; cooperating with other disciplines and lay stakeholders, on the one hand, and guarding disciplinary quality, on the other; bridging moralism and strategic pragmatism. Research limitations/implications--The paper is an introduction, i.e. it sketches the issues without dealing with them in detail. Practical implications--The paper draws in broad lines a road-map for the future of engineering education and sustainable development. The paper is a useful source for those engineering institutions that are formulating a strategy to introduce sustainable development. Originality/value--The paper goes beyond environmental engineering, not by just adding social and economic issues, but by developing an integrated framework for academic training of engineers. (Contains 1 figure and 3 notes.)