The Institute of Environmental Research and Sustainable Development (IERSD) is one of the five institutes that constitute the National Observatory of Athens (NOA).

In 1998, the Institute's name has changed from Institute of Meteorology and Physics of the Atmospheric Environment (IMPAE) to Institute of Environmental Research and Sustainable Development (IERSD), in order to encompass its new objectives and activities.

The NOA, the oldest research center in Greece, was founded in 1842 and started operating in 1846 the Institute of Meteorology, when the first meteorological observations began.
Since 1858, the IERSD has been operating a complete first-class meteorological station.
Up until 1931, the IERSD was the main meteorological establishment in the country, operating almost all the existing network of meteorological stations.
In 1932, the operation of all stations was undertaken by the newly founded Hellenic National Meteorological Service (HNMS), but all the meteorological records, until 1931, remained in the IERSD.
The IERSD was the first organisation that started a systematic study of the urban pollution in Athens. The first automatic measurements of pollutant concentrations were taken in 1980.
IERSD also established the only station in Greece devoted to atmospheric electricity measurement and research, in 1965-69.

Since 2001, the management and most research offices of IERSD have relocated on the hill of Koufos, nearby Penteli mountain, about 15Km from the center of Athens (Latitude: 38° 3' N, Lontitude: 23° 52' E, and 495m above MSL). A few research offices of IERSD are still located on the hill of Nymphs (Thissio area), opposite Acropolis and near the Athens city center (Latitude: 37° 58' N, Lontitude: 23° 43' E, and 107m above MSL). The meteorological station of the IERSD still remains at Thissio site to maintain consistency with the time series of measurements since late 1800.