The oldest university in central Europe, Charles University was founded on 7 April 1348 by Charles IV, then Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia. The Charles University Environment Center, CUEC as a part of the Charles University. was founded in 1992. It conducts environmental research; provides environmental expertise and information for students, the staff of the University and for general public. CUEC collaborates with the parliamentarian bodies, state administration, non-governmental organizations and many academic and research institutions in the country and abroad. Center keeps close contact with work of international bodies, OECD and EEA in particular.  

Pursuant to the University Act (no. 111/1998 Coll.) and the Charles University Regulations, the Environment Center is a “special institution” within Charles University in Prague: it is not a Faculty and reports directly to the Rector. It was established by the Rector’s Organisational Provision No. 5847/91-I/3 dated 25 November 1991 (following discussion of the University Academic Senate), effective as of 1 January 1992.

The Center is governed by its own Regulations; the Center’s tasks include advisory and expert support to the Rector and other representatives of the University, acquisition, processing and mediation of information concerning issues of the environment and sustainable development relevant to study programmes, lifelong education, and teaching taking place at the University Faculties and other bodies, as well as other universities and colleges. The Center is expected to initiate the establishment of study programmes and courses, collaborate on their accreditation and find topics for bachelors’, masters’, doctorate, and dissertation papers and, where needed, participate in teaching and other pedagogical work of the University Faculties. The Center is expected to conduct scientific and research work independently and also collaborate in this respect with other institutions within the University as well as other expert institutes in the Czech Republic and abroad. The Center is expected to share its results continuously with the general and expert public via suitable dissemination channels, including electronic publishing, and use its capacity to be a resource center for queries, consultations, and expert opinions in the areas of the environment and sustainable development.

Since its establishment, the Center has been headed by Prof. Bedřich Moldan; the Deputy Director is Tomáš Hák, Gabriela Vacková is the secretary. Markéta Sychrovská is in charge of the Center’s economic affairs.

The Center is divided into three Departments and the Library:

 Department of Environmental Education, headed by  Jiří Dlouhý;

 Department of Environmental Sustainability Indicators, headed by  Tomáš Hák;

 Department of Environmental Economics and Sociology, headed by  Milan Ščasný;

 Masaryk Library of Social Sciences in Jinonice, headed by Alena Matuszková.