What is being sustained in education for sustainable development (ESD)? Drawing on biopolitical theory, this article puts forth the hypothesis that it is in fact the very life-chance gulf that separates wealthy "sustainable" mass consumers from poor "sustainable" subsistence-level populations. Hence, in sharp contrast to the cosmopolitan buzz that characterizes the international policy discourse on ESD, it is argued that ESD feeds into the global life-chance divide as it prepares different populations for entirely different lives and lifestyles. In previous research that has dealt with global aspects of ESD, a dividing line can be drawn between scholars who emphasize tendencies towards neoliberal homogenization and those who highlight contingency, local re-articulations and spaces of contestation. This paper offers a third theoretical position that while sharing a deep unease with global neoliberal government is primarily concerned with its "will to divide". As a corollary of this biopolitical perspective, the paper makes a case for critical empirical research that can lay bare the cracks and contradictions in the grand narrative of ESD as a cosmopolitan ethical enterprise.