The realisation that education may, in part, have contributed to non-sustainable environmental practices warrants rethinking about what learners experience at school. One approach could involve the promotion of education for sustainable development (ESD). This study analysed the opportunities to integrate ESD presented by the chemistry component of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) for physical sciences in South Africa. Environmental issues were used as an entry point for the analysis. The ESD conceptual framework for the study includes five pillars, i.e. social, economic, environmental, citizen skills and pedagogies pillars. An interpretive document analysis approach, using content analysis methods, constituted the study design. The document analysis revealed that the transformative nature of the general aims of the South African National Curriculum Statement is sympathetic to the inclusion of ESD. The contemporary environmental issues contained in the chemistry component of the syllabus present opportunities for integrating the social, citizen skills, pedagogical and, to a lesser extent, economic pillars of sustainable development into teaching and learning. One salient opportunity to promote ESD integrates the environmental and pedagogical pillars of sustainable development education through the application of green chemistry principles in practical work. It could not be established how instilling values and behaviours for sustainable development to achieve citizen skills could be incorporated into assessment practices. The study makes some recommendations and raises implications for further research.