Societal developments necessitate the continuing development of higher education, as labor markets are in full swing and professions are shifting in orientation or sometimes disappear completely. Therefore, a concomitant goal of higher education should be to help students develop metacognitive skills and domain-specific knowledge and skills. For many years, competence-based education and problem-based learning have dominated higher education. In this article, an overview of the principles and development of these concepts is given. Subsequently, based on self-regulation theory, approaches to learning and the demands of our society to learn how to face wicked problems, a sustainable approach to teaching and learning are outlined in this conceptual article. The multiple layers from which a sustainable learning environment should be built provide guidance for instructors during the design of their educational practice. Practical implications for educators to approach the transition to sustainable learning environments are given in the form of questions that can shape the dialogue on sustainable education.