The jury selected the "German-Indian Sustainability and Climate Change Dialogue" from more than 50 projects from various fields and disciplines with innovative ideas and excellent solutions to global challenges. According to the jury's decision, the project is an outstanding academic contribution to "Education for Sustainable Development." The State Secretary for Economics, Technology, and Women, Almuth Nehring-Venus, and the State Secretary for Science and Research, Dr. Hans-Gerhard Husung, presented the first "Education for Sustainable Development" Award to three projects.

The German-Indian Sustainability and Climate Change Dialogue program, initiated in 2008 by the Environmental Policy Research Centre at Freie Universität Berlin, organizes the exchange of graduate students between Freie Universität Berlin and its Indian partner, TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) in New Delhi. The program brings together decision makers from business, politics, science, and society in India and Germany in workshops and conferences and promotes discussion on the challenges and opportunities of climate change and sustainable development. One goal is to identify and utilize potential areas for cooperation. In 2009 eight students from Freie Universität were able to travel to India. In return, four Indian students and two Indian doctoral students visited the Environmental Policy Research Centre of Freie Universität Berlin for research purposes.