The history of the department dates back to 1991 and coincides with the proclamation of Independence of Ukraine. This year, the Ministry of Education of Ukraine gave permission to organize the recruitment of students majoring in "Ecology and Environmental Protection" at the Department of Processes and Apparatus of Chemical Production. The choice of the department was not accidental. The course of processes and devices, which was read by the teachers of the department, is closely connected with the problems of purification of gaseous, liquid and solid media. The department had a highly qualified teaching staff, including 7 doctors of technical sciences (head of the department Gumnytsky Y. M., professors Axelrud G. A., Semenyshyn E. M., Dubinin A. I., Mazyak Z. Y., Khanyk Y. M. , Kalinovska O. P., associate professors, candidates of technical sciences Yurym M. F., Krekhovetsky O. M., Gavrishkevich L. M., Stepanov V. D., Basiy V. I.) Large volume of scientific - research work of the department was also related to environmental issues (intensification of suspension separation processes, processing of sulfur ore flotation tailings, sorption processes, encapsulation and extraction of components from encapsulated particles, intensification of dissolution and extraction processes).
The organization and conduct of student enrollment in the specialty of EONS required an increase in the number of teachers. The department is replenished with new teachers. Among which Sc.D. Malovanyy M. S. (first part-time, and later as a full-time professor), Petrushka I. M., Popovych O. R., Nagursky O. A., Malyk Y. O., Atamanyuk V. M, Duleba V. P., Ilkiv I. M.) The department was renamed the Department of Chemical Engineering and Industrial Ecology.
The department existed in this composition until 2002, when according to the order of the Rector of the National University "Lviv Polytechnic" prof. Rudavsky Y. K. it was divided into two departments: chemical engineering and ecology and environmental protection. The teaching staff, territory, and equipment were divided. The Department of EONS was headed by Sc. D., Prof. Malovanyy M. S. The staff of the department accepted mainly graduates of the department Candidates of Sciences Dereiko Kh. O., Odnorig Z. S., Yatchyshyn Y. Y., Sabadash V. V., Guglych S. I., Wenger L. O., Lyuta O. V. In 2011 the department was renamed "Applied Ecology and Sustainable Environmental Management", and in 2013 - "Ecology and Sustainable Environmental Management".
Associate Professor of the Department Dyachok V. V. defended his doctoral dissertation in 2011, as well as associate professor Sabadash V. V. defended her doctoral dissertation in 2019. Currently, the department has 4 doctors of science (Malovany M. S., Gumnytsky Y. M., Dyachok V. V., Sabadash V. V.). In 2013, doctoral dissertations were defended by associate professors of the department Petrushka I. M. (now heads the Department of Environmental Safety and Environmental Protection) and Nagursky O. A. (now heads the Department of Civil Security).
In 2002 - 2020 the staff of the department was replenished with teachers of other departments and specialties, which allowed to expand the range of environmental issues that the department deals with, in particular to start the scientific direction of biological treatment of pollution. Among the teachers who joined the ranks of the department at this time, it should be noted CScTech., Assoc. Zakharko Y. M., CScChem., Assoc. Berezyuk D. O., CScBiol., Assoc. Rusin I. B., Wenger L. O., Vronska N. Yu., Tymchuk I. S. and Slyusar V. T.
The team of teaching and support staff is managed by a long-term head of laboratory Pih O. G. in the staff of which Strepko M. P., Svyantko I. M., Marakhovska A. O., Svidova L. S., Kanda M. I., Storoshchuk U. I., Kvasnytsia R. V., Kvartsiyan O. S. work. Employees of the department are participants of many international conferences, and the department of ESEM constantly holds international conferences and congresses.
The department has postgraduate and doctoral studies. Since 2002, i.e. since the establishment of the Department of ESEM, 7 doctoral, 25 candidate dissertations and 3 doctors of philosophy have been defended.
The Department of ESEM conducts educational and scientific work with students. Since 2007, the department annually, together with the State Department of Environmental Protection in Lviv region, holds international student conferences "Environmental Protection. Sustainable environmental management ".
The department has a computer class, specialized laboratories for general ecology, wastewater treatment, gas treatment, solid waste disposal, renewable energy sources, agroecology, scientific laboratories