Purpose: This study aims to assess the impact of sustainability pedagogies on students' sustainability consciousness (SC) in the online instructional settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-method, embedded research design was applied to conduct the research. The participants of the study were the pre-service teachers studying a course, namely, "Education for Sustainable Development" (ESD) in a public sector university of Pakistan. A total of 49 participants were divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group experienced ESD-pedagogies in online teaching-learning (educational) settings, whereas the control group was taught through a lecture-based approach in an online educational setting. The outcome of the research was measured in terms of a change in the pre-service teachers' SC. The qualitative data were collected from the experimental group only. The quantitative data were analyzed using paired sample "t"-test and independent sample "t"-test, whereas the qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings: The quantitative and qualitative data indicate that sustainability pedagogies (i.e. case studies, critical incidents, discussions, debates and problem-based teaching) enhanced pre-service teachers' SC in online educational settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value: The current research expands the discussion on the effectiveness of sustainability pedagogies in online educational settings in teacher education programs.