Due to the current climate crisis, growing social inequities, and continued exploitation of the environment and its inhabitants, there is an urgent need to incorporate education for sustainability (EfS) into mainstream education globally (Nolet, Teachers College Record 111:409–442, 2009; Santone, Educational Leadership 61:60–63, 2003; Sterling, Environmental Education Research 16:511–528, 2010). Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education isa growing educational approach that appears to share some common goals and pedagogies of EfS. The authors conducted a scoping literature review to examine the parallels between STEM education and EfS competencies in K-12 education. A total of 25 articles from 2013 to 2022 were reviewed, revealing emergent themes in the data. Many competencies fell under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) key competencies for sustainability (UNESCO, Education for Sustainable Development Goals Learning Objectives, 2017). This review revealed that the most common competencies in both educational initiatives are systems thinking, critical thinking, and collaborative skills. The findings of this systematic review inform future research regarding how these emergent competencies can be used to enable EfS to become more mainstream in K-12 STEM education classrooms and initial teacher education (ITE) programs in higher education, which would transfer skills into STEM careers.