In educational settings, educators' individual perceptions of theories and concepts (e.g. about teaching and learning) are crucial for their professional performance. Thus, regarding education for sustainable development (ESD), it is vital to focus on teacher educators' (TEs') perceptions of this concept. As ESD is a comparatively young and dynamic field of research, not all academic lecturers are familiar with it. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that they all have a well-founded or similar understanding of it. In this study, we surveyed TEs' perceptions of ESD and provided further insight into the understanding and application of ESD in teacher education, thereby contributing to the professional development of TEs in the context of ESD. We characterised the presented perceptions as subjective theories and used the research programme subjective theories (RPST) procedure to describe them. We found that aspects of instrumental and emancipatory ESD and transformative learning were mixed in the subjective theories. Moreover, the TEs in our study presented learning objectives and methods that could be assigned to the key competencies of ESD in higher education. Our results serve to describe TEs more precisely and thus enrich the basis for their involvement in ESD implementation processes and suitable support services.