The approach of environmental professional competence and its importance in Higher Education arises as a response to the environmental problems of today. The objective of this analysis with a philosophical and sociological perspective is to identify the need to train professionals with environmental competence, capable of evaluating positive and negative environmental impacts arising from the design and construction of civil works, with the presentation of solutions for prevention, mitigation, remediation, and compensation to decrease, mitigate and avoid negative impact on the environment, oriented towards sustainable development, from a cognitive and humanistic approach, with environmental ethics and professional ways of acting. The historical presentation of the environmental education and the term competencies are made through the analysis of different conceptualizations over time to build the definition of professional environmental competence and establish its importance as a fundamental pillar in higher education with an emphasis on civil engineering. Action plans related to teacher training and the transversal inclusion of environmental professional competence are proposed, through individual or group research projects, end-of-degree projects with the inclusion of a section that evaluates the environmental impacts generated by the project, practices pre-professionals and community practices.
