RB Leipzig's sustainability model
The world is facing new challenges. Human behaviour is having a direct effect on the climate and on nature. More and more often we see inequality and misuse of resources in society, and demands for our world to remain habitable and peaceful for present and future generations are getting louder and louder.
A paradigm shift is necessary in order to enact sustainable change, including in sport. Sport’s, and in particular football’s reputation can make a significant contribution, set an example for the wider world and affect change in modern society.
RBL wishes to consciously take on this responsibility and has designed its commercial activity to be as sustainable and socially responsible as possible.
By bringing our ecological, social and economical behaviour into conjunction, we show our commitment to sustainability. We view responsible environmental and societal actions in the same light as economic success.
We want to be bold and consistent in our actions, which are detached from previous societal conventions, and we are very passionate about ensuring a sustainable future. This model sets the guidelines for our sustainable activities.
Social, ecological and economical responsibility go hand-in-hand. Sustainability and having a sustainable structure at our club are imperative for us to ensure long-term success on the pitch as well as in an economical sense.
Our motto: "Play. Care. Share."
Play.
Not just how we like to see things done on the pitch, this slogan also represents our proactive behaviour and actions - we approach things with dynamism, optimism and full of energy. The term ‘play’ also highlights the spirit with which our measures to promote sustainability are implemented – with authenticity, great pleasure and conviction.
Care.
We’re keeping everybody in mind here, both on and off the pitch. We want to be responsible and caring for our environment, our fans and our employees, both in the present day and keeping a particular eye on the future. Our commercial actions have also been co-ordinated in line with our pre-defined sustainability objectives.
Share.
Being sustainable is everyone’s responsibility. We would like to share our experiences and ideas with others and set a good example. We’re encouraging people to discover their potential by offering new ideas and a framework for personal involvement.
Sharing resources and knowledge with others is a central principle of a sustainable economic management.
How we define the term sustainability
We want to make the world more sustainable in areas in which we can have a direct or indirect influence. Our holistic approach to sustainability is more than just the responsibilities of individual departments. We make responsible business decisions which take our planet, the human race, and economic stability into consideration.
We’ve created a roadmap for our sustainability goals, which encompasses all relevant business departments of RB Leipzig.
Sustainability is a journey we’d like to embark on together with like-minded people – every step of the way. We’re aware that we may not perfectly achieve these goals, and we may not be able to find an immediate solution. We may even fail on one or two occasions, but we can accept that, because we’re hoping to develop new methods to achieve our overarching goals.
Our responsible actions align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN), with a particular focus on the following five goals:
Our most important action areas
Here at RB Leipzig, we focus on what we perceive as the most important sustainability issues, which can be distributed across three key areas of ecology, economy and social affairs (employees and society).
We view these three areas as our greatest chances to affect positive change, and so we have set concrete and strategic goals for each of these sections.
Ecology
For the environment:
Reduce football's ecological footprint and work towards a circular economy.
We’re reducing our environmental impact in all our commercial activity, both in our day-to-day operations as well as on matchdays. We’re trying to reduce our carbon footprint and waste, and we’re trying to recycle as much as possible.
Economy
For the club:
Ensure the long-term and sustainable development of our club.
Sporting success remains our most important goal. Here at RB Leipzig, we also stand for corporate responsibility, acting with integrity and for sustainability in sport. Economically, we always think holistically and for the long term. At our academy, the overall development of our youth players stands at the forefront of our objectives alongside sporting success.
Social
For the people of Leipzig and beyond:
Positive experiences for fans and our society.
We believe in a world in which we can all cooperate with one another in an open and peaceful manner, both inside and outside our stadium. We would like to ensure that ALL of our fans are able to enjoy positive experiences, regardless of age, nationality or gender. Our societal engagement aims to promote our community participation, togetherness and prosperity.
As a team:
Inspire and support our employees.
We’re convinced that our success on the pitch and in the world of sustainability is a result of teamwork. We see ourselves as a modern organisation which is continuously learning, and we embrace change management processes. As an employer, we support the personal development of every individual and offer an attractive and modern work environment.
An overview of our key sustainability action areas
We’re embarking on our journey to sustainability and taking things step-by-step. We’re aware that we may be unable to immediately achieve all of our objectives, or do so perfectly.
We’re using our roadmap to follow our sustainability goals, and the roadmap concentrates on nine key sustainability issues. We see these as our best chance to affect positive change.
Ecology:
- Waste and recycling
- Energy and CO2 emissions
- Water
Economy:
- Developing our youth teams and sporting success
- Sustainable activity and partnerships
- Acting with integrity
Social:
- Employee development
- Modern working environments
- Fans and social responsibility
Responsibility and dialogue
All of the business departments of RB Leipzig – executive board, employees, players, coaching staff – are connected via our aspiration to help shape a viable future.
Sustainability is a process of change. It demands many new and structural transformations in our beliefs and actions as well as a clear positioning on all strategic and operative levels.
Therefore, we have created structures which allow us to act sustainably across all departments. Our sustainability initiatives are the responsibility of a dedicated department who will report directly to the executive board. The sustainability team develops and controls the strategic direction of our roadmap, but also supports the implementation of our sustainability goals together with each individual department.
As a football club, RBL works in an industry of multi-faceted, sometimes even opposing opinions of varying interest groups. We listen to the opinions of our central interest groups via regular communication through various media, evaluate them and then incorporate them into our strategic considerations.
- Enquiries:
sustainability@redbulls.com