UNESCO considers education and education for sustainability to be an integral part of culture and emphasizes the educational and socializing effects of culture. Unlike other international organizations, UNESCO highly values the educational effects of culture and the cultural nature of education. Due to this reciprocal interweaving of cultural and education, UNESCO’s understanding of education differs from concepts of education that are determined by utilitarian and economic interests. This contribution begins with some comments on the concept of education and the 2015 UNESCO publication “Rethinking Education”, without which education for sustainability cannot be implemented. I shall then present “Education for Sustainable Development” and the global education programme for the period up to 2030 as a challenge. Finally, I shall ask some critical questions about the implicit concept of the nature of the human being and the utopian nature of the goals for sustainable development.