There will be three core concepts which form the Foundation Topics. These are Perspectives, Systems and Sustainability. The aim is to teach the foundation topics at the start of the course as they infuse the rest of the course. 

Each of the topics includes additional HL level material then there are three HL lenses. These are separate topics that can be used to infuse the other topics. These lenses are Environmental Law, Environmental Economics and Environmental Ethics.

The designated number of hours for practical activities has been raised from 30 hours to 50 hours. This includes 10 hours for the Internal Assessment and 10 hours for the new Collaborative Sciences Project (was Group 4 Project) and which is now compulsory for ESS students.

The emphasis on skills for an interdisciplinary subject means that students will develop many skills that may be familiar from different disciplines.

There will continue to be two papers in ESS.

Paper 1 continues to be a case study with a resource booklet. This will be extended for HL.

Paper 2 continues to contain Section A with short answer questions and Section B with essay questions with parts a, b and c but there is differentiation between SL and HL.

The internal assessment remains an individual investigation, however, collaboration will be permitted in the collection of data.