The main task of the Advisory Committee for Sustainability & Climate Protection is the strategic advancement of sustainability management at Freie Universität Berlin. It is supplemented and supported by several topic-related working groups.

The impetus for the establishment of the committee originated from the initiative of the student assembly in June 2019. Both the Executive Board of Freie Universität and the Academic Senate subsequently initiated the formation of this body. It replaced the central steering committee for sustainability, which was active since 2016.

The committee advises the university leadership on the strategy and focus of sustainability activities in accordance with the Declaration on the State of Climate Emergency and the Sustainability Mission Statement adopted in 2016.

The activities of the Advisory Committee and its members are aimed at continuously improving structural conditions for sustainability and climate protection-oriented activities in all areas of the university. The committee works on the basis of the transparency guidelines of the Academic Senate. It represents all status groups of the university and is composed of representatives from students, science and administration as well as university committees.

The committee is chaired by Professor Verena Blechinger-Talcott, Vice President for International Affairs, who is also responsible for sustainability in research and teaching. The steering committee is supported and complemented by working groups on the following topics

•   Teaching
•   Research
•   Campus (with different subgroups)
•   Participation & Communication
•   Libraries & Sustainability
•   Biodiversity
•   Climate/Carbon Neutrality 

The working groups regularly report to the steering committee on the status of their respective discussions and decisions. Furthermore, they provide the members with their expertise in an advisory capacity on specialist issues. The working groups meet once to four times a year. The meetings of the steering committee are coordinated by the Unit for Sustainability and Energy Management. They take place two to three times a year.