Sport Positive Leagues

Ranking top flight clubs on their environmental sustainability initiatves

Menu

Borussia Mönchengladbach 2022/23

By

Policy and Commitment

  • ‘Foal Responsibility’ is a page on the club’s website which lists Borussia’s social and ecological responsibilities. https://www.borussia.de/de/nachhaltigkeit/fohlenverantwortung
  • A selection of environmental measures can be found on the club’s website here https://www.borussia.de/de/nachhaltigkeit/umwelt-und-ressourcen
  • Borussia has set itself the goal of reducing its emissions in scopes 1 and 2 by 42 percent and in scope 3 by 25 percent by the end of the 2029/30 season. By 2050 the aim is to reduce emissions in all three scopes by 90%.
  • In 2021, Borussia set up the “Climate Foals” working group and had their own CO2 footprint calculated.
  • Since 2011, Borussia has been taking part in “Go Green”, Deutsche Post AG’s CO2 compensation project for letter mail.
  • Committed to Green Goal certification since 2011.
  • The club holds a ZNU sustainability certification.

Clean/Renewable Energy

  • The club uses 100% green electricity in cooperation with NEW AG.
  • Water powered electricity in use for the whole club owned venues, stadium, administration buildings, shops, museum, hotel etc.
  • Over the course of 2023, the club will install a total of 3,800 square meters of photovoltaic areas in BORUSSIA-PARK in two phases. The PV systems will be installed on the “Borussia-8-Grad” hotel building as well as the FohlenStall, the FohlenCampus and other hall roofs. After completion of the second phase, the club will be able to produce up to 400,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year by itself.
  • The club is looking into the possibility of building a covered carport roof with solar panels for car park 13. This area alone could supply the electricity for the base load of BORUSSIA-PARK.
  • There are plans to separate the turf heating on the training ground from the previous gas-fired heating system and to switch to heat generation from renewable energies via an air heat pump.

Energy Efficiency

  • At BORUSSIA-PARK, all ventilation and electrical systems come under a building management system.
  • All lights in BORUSSIA-PARK that are used for more than 3,000 operating hours a year have been converted to energy-saving LEDs.
  • Two combined heat and power plants, two condensing boilers and four gas-powered air heat pumps helps Borussia to generate and consume energy with the greatest possible efficiency.
  • Last winter, the 13 lighting units for the stadium lawn, was only in operation for 18 instead of 24 hours which saved 600,000 kWh of energy,
  • By adjusting training times to two hours later, the club’s turf heating system was used less often than before during the cold months as the sun freed the lawn from frost.
  • The “Greenkeeper” controls the pitch heating system via a mobile app.
  • Borussia’s stadium is only lit up in green on match days.
  • In the corridors of the office, the motion detectors are equipped with external twilight switches. For hallways that are already bright enough due to daylight, the motion detector is not activated, and the lamps remain off.
  • In each department, one employee is responsible for ensuring that devices such as copiers or coffee machines are completely switched off after work and that windows are not left open.

Sustainable Transport

  • A mobility concept for fan travel to home games was written as part of the club’s sustainability criteria. Before the 2023/24 season, a comprehensive survey of fan mobility to home games will be conducted. The mobility concept will be updated following the results of the survey.
  • With a matchday ticket, fans can travel to the stadium by bus and train in the entire Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR). In addition, there are the shuttle buses from the club’s partner NEW. The combination ticket also includes the Aachen area (AVV).
  • On match days, up to 100 NEW (Niederrhein Energie und Wasser) shuttle buses await passengers at Rheydt and Mönchengladbach main stations, taking them to the stadium and back to the station after the final whistle.
  • There are 1,000 bike stands behind the north curve for fans that cycle to the stadium.
  • There are 20 EV charging points for electric cars at BORUSSIA-PARK.
  • Of Borussia’s CO2 emissions for the 2019/20 season, fan and visitor mobility accounted for 47% of emissions.
  • A new CO2 footprint (ecological footprint) is being determined for the current Bundesliga season 2022/23 in order to have up-to-date data on fan mobility again, among other things.
  • A new building “Borussia-8-Grad” on-site at BORUSSIA-PARK has the possibility to connect e-bikes and 20 charging stations for e-cars.
  • Employees have the option of leasing bicycles or e-bikes from the club. In 2022, a total of 72 bicycles were leased by 52 employees.
  • A so-called “decision tree” has been introduced for team travel. Based on this and external influences, decisions are made about team travel to away games.

Single Use Plastic Reduction/Removal

  • Single use plastic reduction is conducted and monitored through organizational and (procedural) technical measures.
  • Reusable cups in stadium catering at BORRUSIA-PARK.
  • Switched to paper plates for currywurst or French fries.
  • Season tickets and membership cards made from woodcut products.

Waste Management

  • Continuously determines and monitors the amount of waste and tries to reduce this through organisational and (procedural) technical measures. The percentage of waste diversion is unknown.
  • Borussia Mönchengladbach collects different parts of waste such as paper, plastics and residual waste. This waste is consistently separated.
  • In agreement with Remagen, sausages will no longer be delivered in cartons, but in so-called E2 packs. An E2-Satte is a deposit box that can be used again and again, so that almost 1,872 square meters of cardboard can be saved per season.
  • Leftover baked goods are picked up again by Borussia’s partner, the Kamps bakery. Within the framework of legal regulations, these are passed on to a feed company, which uses them to produce animal feed and thus find sustainable use.
  • The club is creating a digital alternative of the printed member magazine with the aim that 50% of members opt for the resource-saving digital variant, so that up to 12 million liters of water and 18 tons of CO2 can be saved per year in paper production.

Water Efficiency

  • Borussia sprinkles the pitches at BORUSSIA-PARK with up to 35,000,000 litres (35,000 cubic meters) of water from its own deep well on the club premises. The water seeps back onto the BORUSSIA-PARK site and is thus fed back into the groundwater cycle.
  • The club is looking into the possibility of whether the surface water from the stadium roof, which is already collected in a seepage basin, can be used to irrigate the pitches.
  • At half time on match days, the 420 urinals are automatically flushed every three minutes, but only every ten minutes during the actual game. This saves around 100,000 litres of water per match day.
  • Fittings in the wash basins have a cycle that saves water. When the trigger is activated, the water jet runs for four seconds and then stops automatically. The changeover to non-contact fittings, which are also equipped with aerators, is currently also taking place in the VIP areas. These so-called aerators slow down the water jet by adding air.

Plant based/low carbon food

  • Vegetarian/vegan alternatives can be found throughout the stadium.
  • Plant-based food is offered in the stadium at the permanently installed kiosks, as well as the pizza stand. Vegan burgers are available at the fish stands.
  • Meat substitute products are now being offered for the first time in cooperation with Remagen. Both the crispy nuggets and the sauce served with them are 100% vegan.
  • Food on offer in the VIP catering changes every match day, but here too meat-free alternatives are always on offer.
  • Employees can eat vegetarian/vegan products at the “FohlenSportsbar” at the stadium including a vegan curry with broccoli, lentils, tofu and basmati rice. These options are also available to fans and visitors on days when there are no home games.
  • Borussia also relies primarily on regional providers. For example, the bratwurst, the top seller at the stadium kiosks, comes from Hardy Remagen GmbH & Co. KG. The company based in Hürth is Borussia’s cooperation partner for all sausage products and other groceries and is less than an hour’s drive from BORUSSIA-PARK.
  • All drinks, whether beer, Coca-Cola or mineral water, whether for the VIP or the kiosk area, are delivered by “trinkkontor”, a regional drinks wholesaler, in one delivery process. This avoids any repeated visits by different suppliers.
  • Food comes from the club’s sponsorship partners and are delivered to the Mönchengladbach trade centre. The groceries are collected and then transported to BORUSSIA-PARK which is just 1,500 meters away as the crow flies.
  • No catering is currently offered at the training ground.

Biodiversity

  • There has been a 350 square meter flower meadow on the BORUSSIA-PARK site since 2020, which will be expanded this year at two locations by a total of 570 square meters.
  • In 2023 part of the lawn behind the north curve will be converted into a flower meadow, which will then have a size of around 600 square meters.
  • Plants have been introduced on roofs of the FohlenCampus and FohlenStall.

Education

  • Through Ecological Experience Days, Nachwuchsleistungszentrum (NLZ) players (Academy Players) are introduced to various environment-related topics such as food waste and the correct use of ecological resources.
  • Borussia offer activities in its Kids Club such as visiting a forester and learning about bees, to strengthen ecological understanding from an early age.

Communication and Engagement

Additional information

Information sourced directly from Borussia Mönchengladbach staff, website and third party websites

Information updated May 15 2023