The honorary awards recognize prominent national and international actors who are committed to ecological and social issues and who fight for positive change. They give the topic of sustainability a broad attention.
From Annie Lennox (2008) to Joachim Gauck (2019): The DNP's honorary award winners reach people who do not deal with sustainability issues on a daily basis. And they create media interest that also reaches the other award winners. Everyone came to Düsseldorf in person - special events were given to Prince Charles and Ban Ki-mon.
The Prince of Wales accepted the DNP Prize of Honour on April 29, 2009. He came to Berlin at the invitation of the German Sustainability Award Foundation, accompanied by his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall. The Foundation hosted a festive dinner in his honor for 150 distinguished guests in the Schlütersaal of the German Historical Museum.
The first patron of the German Sustainability Award in 2008 was the then acting Federal President Prof. Horst Köhler. Subsequently, Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel took over the patronage for several years. This was followed by numerous politicians who supported the award with speeches and words of greeting. The patron of the tenth anniversary in 2017 was Federal President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier.