Climate protection

CO2-NEUTRAL FOOTBALL MADE IN WOLFSBURG

Delay was yesterday. Increasingly extreme natural and weather events in recent years make it clear: businesses, politics and civil society must act now, and together, to ideally limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. VfL has already shown the way. By signing the “Sports for Climate Action” and climate protection agreement as "race to zero"-partner of the United Nations, VfL is the first European football club in top leagues to publicly commit to the systematic reduction of its CO2 emissions.

Managing director Michael Meeskeexplains what this means: “We need more than just a memorandum of understanding. We want tobring alive climate protection at the club authentically and honestly, andestablish benchmarks for the whole league. This is important becausewe can only achieve the transition to CO2-neutral football if we worktogether. To do this, we need a clear and fair target, against which the contribution of the club and the sector as a whole can be measured.”

  • Objectives

    We Act! – This is the credo of VfL's climate strategy. It means that VfL aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible and remove emissions from the atmosphere through additional nature conservation projects. Therefore, a 55% reduction in emissions is targeted over the next five years.

    In 2020, VfL Wolfsburg worked together with external experts to completely revise its climate targets, and develop a reduction roadmap for CO2 emissions based on scientifically-based targets. The reduction roadmap is based on the methods issued by the Science Based Targets Initiative, and defines a set of concrete steps to be implemented to dramatically decrease the greenhouse gases emitted by the club. VfL wishes to comply with the stipulations of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, and therefore help restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees.  For the reduction, VfL has set a binding path: starting from the 2017/2018 season, total greenhouse gas emissions are to shrink by 6.45 percent annually. This results in a reduction of about 55 percent by 2030. VfL can achieve this if all processes are gradually switched to CO2-saving solutions. The club also aims to use the available resources as efficiently as possible. Therefore, VfL complements its approach with nature conservation projects for CO2 storage in the region and surrounding areas.

    Der VfL Wolfsburg möchte seine CO2-Emissionen bis 2030 prozentual reduzieren, um das 1,5 Grad-Ziel zu erreichen..
  • UN-Initiative Race to Zero

    By signing the “Sports for Climate Action” climate protection agreement and as "race to zero"-partner of the United Nations, VfL Wolfsburg again highlights the pioneering role it plays in environmental and climate protection. This agreement contains a clear commitment to the systematic reduction of the CO2-emissions of its sports operations, as well as raising the awareness of its target groups. Top professional football in particular, as a source of inspiration for dedication and involvement, plays an important part in the development of society, and therefore bears a special level of responsibility. The joint commitment to “Sports for Climate Action” is therefore also an important signal for the re-orientation of the sport at an international level.

    Logo von Global Climate Action.

    “FOOTBALL HAS ENORMOUS POWER TO INSPIRE THE WHOLE OF SOCIETY”

    Interview with Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu, head of “Sports for Climate Action” at the United Nations.

    • What responsibilities do you ascribe to football associations in terms of climate protection?
      Xhaferi-Salihu: Football is such a beautiful game and close to heart for so many of us. Very few things in the world have such a big, global and socially diverse community as those playing and watching football. As such, it has a remarkable potential to drive change by addressing its climate impact and advocating for climate action towards athletes and fans. Professional associations will have a larger footprint, more resources and are in a better position to lead the way for a sustainable way of running football. They can pass on lessons learned to the upcoming generation and empower them with tools and knowledge for the football of the future. First, there needs to be a genuine commitment that the organisation will take a serious and a holistic approach to addressing its climate impact. That it will carefully plan how they build, run and maintain stadiums and focus on areas such as energy, water, transport, food, services & products and waste to identify ways to be increasingly more efficient and sustainable.

    Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu

    • The main target groups of football associations are fans and spectators. Their travel activity is the cause of a large part of CO2 emissions attributed to it. How can spectators be persuaded to change their mobility behaviour? How can VfL Wolfsburg contribute to this?
      Xhaferi-Salihu: Transport is a crucial element in the fight against climate change. Sports can be catalysis of change for this sector by increasing the demand for low carbon transport, by encouraging spectators to take low-emission travel choices such as bikes, electric vehicles or use of public transport. For example, Kombiticket is an interesting offer in this regard but for international events there is also a lot of value in exploring longer term strategies such as how to reduce long-distance air travel and incentivize more of local and regional spectators. VfL Wolfsburg could for example consider campaigns to educate spectators in using sustainable transport but also connect with key stakeholders involved in football to work collectively and introduce approaches on both local and national level so that low carbon transport becomes a norm and all football clubs take a consistent and universal approach for travel to matches. Finally, after reduction measures, one can compensate unavoidable emissions generated by travel through credible offsetting schemes.

    • Where do you see football in ten years? Can there be climate neutral match days?
      Xhaferi-Salihu: Unfortunately, never has there been a greater disconnect between the need for action and reality. Football can lead the way, create a legacy and empower everyone to demand more from governments and others. In ten years, if we are to keep the planet safe, I hope football will be mature in delivering climate neutral matches and Cups and working with sponsors and service providers who have also committed to transforming to net zero. In fact, I see spectators helping their favorite teams and clubs succeed in their climate neutral journey. The phrase “you can change the world” has been around for many generations, but never has there been a generation that can make it come true like this one. For me and for many others, football can change the world.

  • Footprint: progress in climate protection

    VfL Wolfsburg has measured its greenhouse gas emissions every two years for the last ten years, and has set itself ambitious targets for reducing these emissions, as well as continually further developing these measures. VfL Wolfsburg-Fußball GmbH has the CO2 footprint of its activities analysed every two years to measure the progress it is making, and to control the measures it implements.

    Eine Grafik des VfL Wolfsburg zum CO2-Fußabdruck 2023/2024 auf Englisch.

    The total amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the club in the 2023/2024 season (Scope 1, 2, and 3) amounts to 11,030.34 tons of CO2e. This is almost 16 percent (15.71%) less than in the 2017/2018 season (13,086 tons of CO2e). In Scopes 1 and 2, GHG emissions were even reduced by approximately 44 percent. The largest share of emissions in the 2023/2024 season was again due to spectator mobility at home games. Other main drivers of the footprint's emissions are purchased goods and services (catering, merchandising) and district heating consumption. Together with fan mobility, these three emission sources account for almost 68 percent of the total footprint. Compared to the previous year, mobility emissions from the vehicle fleet, business travel, and transport & distribution, as well as energy-related emissions from stationary combustion, have decreased. However, emissions from district heating have slightly increased, partly due to the inclusion of the consumption of a new functional building in the calculation for the first time.

  • Measures

    One of the important pillars in the climate strategy is avoiding greenhouse gas emissions in the first place. For VfL Wolfsburg, this means, on the one hand, procuring renewable energy: the power is already being provided 100 per cent by renewable sources since 2011. The regional “Moving Together” partner LSW Energie also offers to supply its fans with VfL green power. On the other hand, generating the power ourselves also plays a role: to this end, a photovoltaic and a solar thermal system were installed on the roof of the new VfL-Football.Academy buildings, which were constructed according to the sustainable building concept to supply the building with power and warm water. To optimize the control of district heating, as well as electricity and water consumption, VfL has installed new smart meters throughout the entire premises.

     

    With a series of additional concrete steps, the club's greenhouse gas emissions have been further reduced. For instance, VfL Wolfsburg has comprehensively switched its lighting to LED bulbs. The electric charging infrastructure is being gradually expanded, and both professionals and employees are increasingly using company cars from Volkswagen's fully electric ID. family. This contributes to climate-friendly mobility.

    An analysis of the club’s emissions footprint shows that the area of transportation remains the largest variable overall. Sporting success increases travel activity. For VfL, this not only means transport for teams and club employees, but also for fans and media representatives. However, the club cannot directly influence their CO2 emissions. Instead, it can provide incentives for climate-conscious (travel) practices. For this reason, VfL Wolfsburg has decided to cooperate with the company "ummadum." Together with the fans, the aim is to make mobility to the stadium more climate-friendly. The ummadum app helps with this. Users can join the VfL community there – traveling to and from home games by bike, on foot, in a carpool, or by public transport, thereby not only contributing to climate-friendly mobility in the long term but also directly participating in a raffle. Every time an activity to or from the stadium is documented via the app, users automatically take part in a challenge and increase their chances of winning attractive prizes. The home challenge offers prizes such as VIP tickets, meet & greets, match-worn jerseys, a weekend with a Volkswagen ID. Buzz, and much more. In short, climate-friendly travel is worthwhile for everyone!

    Transparency is another enormously important factor in achieving the set climate goals together. On the path to emission reduction, VfL has already reached several milestones. Today, fans can already view CO2 values for numerous products in the public catering area. This makes the Wolves once again a first mover in the Bundesliga. When buying their beloved stadium sausage or other foods at the kiosk, VfL fans can see at a glance how many emissions were caused. This is made possible by CO2 labels on the product, showing whether a dish has a low, medium, or high climate impact. The values are calculated based on numerous factors such as energy use in production and transport routes.

    The club also provides ways to reduce the ecological footprint in its online shop. With the "Green Trail" label, VfL marks all sustainable items in the Wolves shop. They work with textile seals such as the Oeko-Tex 100 Standard, the Green Button, or the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). Additionally, they offer cotton products in organic quality that meet ecological and social criteria in production. The Green Trail stands for the path VfL Wolfsburg wants to leave behind, aiming to gradually reduce the ecological footprint, starting with the use of sustainable materials, compliance with ecological and social standards, and resource-saving packaging. The entire club is working, where possible, on new solutions to make processes and products more climate- and environmentally friendly.