| Inter-relation competence | The ability to apply empathy, to communicate and to collaborate | “Managing through influencing and negotiation” (Williams, 2002) |
| “Work collaboratively with individuals and organisations” (Nurius, 2017) |
| “Communication and relationship management” (Stefl, 2008) |
| “Awareness of others and one’s interactions with them” (Valley et al., 2020) |
| “Identifying, mapping, facilitating and managing the collaboration between external stakeholder in operationalizing a circular business model” (Sumter, 2020) |
| Normative competence | To be able to identify moral issues and to make good moral judgments based on ethical norms | “Assessing and improving the sustainability of social ecological systems based on values and principles” (Dentoni et al., 2012) |
| “Understanding and reflecting on values” (Leslie et al., 2018) |
| “Ability to work with professional and ethical responsibility” (Malheiro et al., 2019) |
| “Understanding of and inability to resolve common ethical issues and challenges” (Sawleshwarkar and Negin, 2017) |
| “Value-led professionalism” (Ogden et al., 2021) |
| Domain-specific competence | To have the knowledge, skills and method in a specific field | “Disciplinary competency” (Mulder, 2017; Demssie et al., 2019) |
| “Having an understanding or knowledge about the addressed field of education” (Stefl, 2008; Uhlenbrook and Jong, 2012; Sang et al., 2018; Valverde, 2018) |
| “Content knowledge” (Roy et al., 2020) |
| Intrapersonal competence | To self-manage and self-reflect, to understand one’s own thinking, norms and values leading to inclusive goal-oriented actions | “Self-management and career competency” (Mulder, 2017) |
| “Self-learning competency” (Demssie et al., 2019) |
| “Self-knowledge and regulation” (Coleman, 2018) |
| “Awareness of self” (Valley et al., 2020) |
| “Scan and engage the internal environment” (Brown, 2012) |
| “Self-knowledge competencies” (Ortiz-Marcos et al., 2020) |
| “Embracing openness, diversity and tolerate ambiguity” (Dentoni et al., 2012; Glasser and Hirsh, 2016; Rieckmann, 2012) |
| Transformative competence | The ability based on critical, forward and strategic thinking, to be actively involved and to put plans into action | “Actively involving in responsible actions to improve the sustainability of social ecological systems” (Dentoni et al., 2012) |
| “The ability to inspire individual and organisational excellence, to create and attain a shared vision and to successfully manage change to attain the organisation's strategic ends and successful performance” (Stefl, 2008) |
| “The ability to collectively envision, develop, implement and assess transformative interventions for sustainability” (Evans, 2019) |
| “Strategies for dismantling inequity” (Valley, 2020) |
| Functional competence | To be competent in activities, which are not directly connected to the individual’s qualification, but necessary to deliver his or her job successfully | “Operational planning” (Schellhammer, 2016) and “organisational competencies” (Ortiz-Marcos et al., 2020) |
| “Communication and use of media” (Rieckmann, 2012) |
| “The effective use of written and modern communication technologies” (Ogden et al., 2021) |
| “Ability to perform a range of work work-based tasks” (Uhlenbrook and Jong, 2012) |
| Advanced methods competence | To be able to stretch beyond traditional methods and procedures of problem solving including transdisciplinarity and creativity | “Ability to apply knowledge creatively to solve problem” (Malheiro et al., 2019) |
| “Analytic evaluation/measurement competency” (Flynn, 2014) |
| “Transdisciplinary competence” as the ability to apply it as a tool and skill to work with experts from other disciplines and beyond disciplines into real-world cases (Demssie et al., 2019) |
| Nature and life competence | To understand how life on the planet developed and the ability to consider the planet’s boundaries and the link to key political issues in the process | “To understand the dynamics of working in a global context” (Nurius, 2017) |
| “The identification with all life” (Glasser and Hirsh, 2016) |
| “Ability to consider economic, environmental and sustainability constraints” (Malheiro et al., 2019) |
| “Awareness of systems and oppression” (Valley et al., 2020) |
| Systemic competence | To understand complex systems, to apply appropriate modeling methods and to analyse future scenarios | “Systems thinking” (Dentoni et al., 2012; Wiek et al., 2011; Brown, 2012; Palaima and Skaržauskienė, 2010; Rieckmann, 2012; Demssie et al., 2019; Giangrande et al., 2019; Roy et al., 2020) |
| “Systemic competency” (Biberhofer et al., 2019) |
| “Systems awareness, thinking and contribution” (Ogden et al., 2021) |