The FU Berlin has been dealing with aspects of sustainable development in research and teaching for decades. Examples include the Environmental Policy Research Center, founded in 1986, which is still dedicated to questions of ecological modernization, resource conservation, and climate protection, and the Institute Futur, founded in 2000, which deals intensively with the topic of education for sustainable development.

All subjects make research contributions to sustainable development. The focus is on the four departments of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Political and Social Sciences, Geosciences, and Education and Psychology. Of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the research projects most frequently addressed the goal of health, life on land, peace, justice and strong institutions as well as climate protection measures, which are also found more frequently than average.