As early as 2016, in its Sustainability Policy Statement, Freie Universität Berlin committed itself to the "broad integration of sustainability content into the university curriculum" and to the implementation of the concept of "Education for Sustainable Development" (ESD). This commitment was reaffirmed in the Climate Emergency Declaration signed in December 2019 and in the 2021 Guiding Principles for Studies and Teaching.

Since the summer semester of 2016, the Sustainability & Energy Office has been evaluating all courses with regard to their relevance to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. This evaluation is based on all course titles and descriptions in the course catalog, combined with criteria for SDG relevance or focus (see graphic for definitions).

The evaluation of the 2023/2024 winter semester shows that 709, or 17.8 percent, of all 3,980 courses surveyed have a connection to at least one (and a maximum of three) SDGs. Of these, 3.8 percent (153) have an explicit sustainability focus – this is the first time such courses have been offered in accordance with the priority model of sustainability, which gives greater weight to ecological limits as a basis for societal action.

The Department of Geosciences offered the most courses with a sustainability focus (83), closely followed by the Department of Biology, Chemistry, and Pharmacy (78). The Department of Political and Social Sciences taught the most courses with SDG references (132), followed by the departments already mentioned above. The most frequently addressed SDG was SDG 10 (Combating Inequality and Discrimination), followed by SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) and SDG 4 (Quality Education).

The Sustainability & Energy Unit works continuously with various stakeholders at Freie Universität Berlin to increase the proportion of teaching and learning related to or focused on sustainability.