This study is a critical inquiry on how teacher education programmes respond to the contemporary Anthropocene era and associated challenges. Theoretically, the study is framed within critical inquiry framework. Data is generated through comparative analysis of four teacher education programmes in South Africa and Sweden: University of Gothenburg, Karlstad University, University of the Witwatersrand and University of Limpopo. The analysis is anchored around these four aspects: essence of the programme, views of knowledge, goals and learning outcomes and core competence emphasised. Although there are some varieties, findings indicate that across the four programmes, there is an emphasis on: mastery of content, subject specialisation, theoretical knowledge, teaching methods/didactical competence, assessment and leadership competence. While these knowledge and skill areas remain vital, we argue that there is an inevitable need to challenge and even demystify education at large, and teacher education in particular, in today's precarious Anthropocene era. Given impending catastrophe, we argue that it is high time for teacher education to pose and address these existential questions pertaining to Anthropocene and prepare teacher trainees accordingly.