Concerns have been expressed about the United Nations University's (UNU) Regional Centres of Expertise on education for sustainable development (RCE) initiative. While many have discussed RCE's contribution to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), there has been no attempt to contextualise the RCE initiative in relation to similar, high-profile UN initiatives such as the Global Compact (GC) and UNESCO's World Heritage List, and to delineate the potential and limitations of RCE as a scheme to encourage recognition of "good practices" and an institutional mechanism to address sustainable development. With a view to refining and advancing the RCE initiative conceptually and operationally, this article addresses some of the key issues that have been raised regarding the RCE programme. By comparing it to the World Heritage List and GC, the article clarifies the nature of designation of local networks as RCEs and offers suggestions on how to ensure the quality and validity of the RCE initiative in the long run. (Contains 1 table, 1 figure, and 7 notes.)