Policy and Commitment
- VfBfairplay covers VfB Stuttgart’s economic, ecological and social initiatives of the club. More information can be found on the website here: https://www.vfb.de/de/1893/club/vfbfairplay/
- In December 2022, VfB Stuttgart published the data from its first CO2 balance sheet and set itself the goal of continuously reducing its ecological footprint: https://www.vfb.de/de/vfb/aktuell/neues/vfbfairplay/2223/kontinuierlich-den-ecologische-fussabdruck-verbessern/
- A total of three focus topics form part of the sustainability strategy of VfB Stuttgart – “People”, “environmental and climate protection” and “mobility and traffic”.
- VfB successfully completed the “sustainClub” sustainability certification in 2021 and received a silver certificate. The next sustainClub certification is scheduled for June 2023 and VfB has publicly announced its goal of moving up to the gold standard certificate.
- For the reporting period from July 1st, 2019 to June 30th, 2020, VfB Stuttgart had its first greenhouse gas balance drawn up according to the GHG (Scope 1, Scope 2, Scope 3) by DEKRA Assurance Services GmbH.
Clean/Renewable Energy
- A photovoltaic system made up of 118 solar modules on the youth academy generates approx. 35 MWh/year, which the club can use entirely for its own consumption.
- In the summer of 2023, VfB will set up a photovoltaic system on the Mercedes-Benz Arena with around 300 MWh/year and a photovoltaic system in the athletics hall with around 48 MWh/year.
- VfB Stuttgart obtains the remaining electricity from an electricity provider in Baden-Württemberg, with a share of 60.2% from renewable energies.
Energy Efficiency
- In July 2022, VfB Stuttgart set up an internal “Energy” working group to define potential savings and derive measures that lead to a reduction in energy consumption.
- In the Untertürkheimer curve, where there is a higher basic heat requirement due to the SCHARRena and the VfB business area, a combined heat and power plant (CHP) with an electrical output of 50 kW and a thermal output of 80 kW was installed.
- The stadium’s floodlights were completely converted to energy-efficient LED technology.
- A more energy-efficient sound system will be used from summer 2023.
- The VfB coat of arms at the club centre, the “Mercedes-Benz Arena” lettering on the arena and the VfB Fan Centre are no longer illuminated.
- The association reduces electricity consumption during the day by turning off interior lights in entrance areas and office corridors that receive sufficient natural light.
- At night, there is a night reduction for the heating in the offices, the meeting rooms of the club centre and the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
- Transit areas in which nobody has to stay for a long time are only basic heated.
- Employees were made aware of the need to use resources sustainably.
Sustainable Transport
- VfB created a ‘Climate and environmentally friendly mobility concept’.
- VfB has set up a working group on the subject of mobility and transport which is largely responsible for the creation of the mobility concept.
- Data on employee mobility is collected as part of an annual survey. The majority of employees travel by motor vehicle or car, with the journey for more than half of all employees being less than 30 km. More than 40% of the workforce uses public transport or bicycles.
- Fan mobility surveys are conducted at different times. Modes of transport that supporters use when travelling to home games are; Car (40.85%), Local Public Transport (46.75%), Train/Long-Distance Train (7.19%), By Foot (3.43%), Bike/E-Bike (1.55%) and Other (2.51%).
- Since September 2021, VfB offers all permanent employees the option of bike leasing.
- VfB has installed six electric vehicle charging stations with 12 charging points on the P3 car park in front of the Club Centre and four additional charging points in the underground car park or on the player parking lot.
- The club published travel guidelines for all employees in 2021 which encourages the use of public transport whenever possible.
- Going forward, guidelines for team travel will apply.
- VfB supports all permanent employees with a monthly individual mobility budget or travel allowance for public transport from place of residence to place of work.
- Around the Mercedes-Benz Arena ,there are parking spaces for around 110 bicycles.
- In the P5 car park (access via Martin-Schrenk-Weg) there are 400 free and monitored bicycle parking spaces available on match days.
- A bike check was available to visitors at the home game of VfB Stuttgart against FC Schalke 04 on September 3rd, 2022.
- VfB is looking into expanding bicycle parking facilities for employees.
- Through a VVS-Kombi Ticket, fans can travel free of charge by bus and train to home games in the Mercedes-Benz Arena with their matchday ticket.
- In addition to the VVS-Kombi-Ticket, VfB is the first club in the Bundesliga to reward the environmentally conscious arrival and departure of its fans at home games. Using the ummadum app, fans who travel by carpool, on foot, by bike or by public transport can document their means of transport in the app and receive a five percent discount in the VfB fan shop for each home game, which can be redeemed at the end of the season. Fans can get a maximum of 40 percent discount.
- For fans who arrive and leave for all remaining home games of the season to the Mercedes-Benz Arena in an environmentally conscious way and document this within the ummadum app, two VIP tickets, including VfB Pre-Game Pass, will also be raffled for a VfB home game in the 2023/2024 season.
- VfB calculated the Greenhouse Gas Emissions of the trips of the licensed player department for the past 2021/2022 season. The emissions of the team trips amount to: 83 [t CO2e] and were composed of: Bus travel: 7t CO2e, Air travel: 76 t CO2e, flights to: Berlin (3x), Leipzig, Dortmund (2x), Mönchengladbach, Cologne (2x), Paderborn, Marbella
Single Use Plastic Reduction/Removal
- Reusable cups are used in the public area of the Mercedes-Benz Arena. The reusable cups should also be used in the business area of the stadium by the time of the European Championship in 2024, so that there will no longer be any single-use plastic cups.
- Compostable food cups and cutlery made from recycled paper are used in public catering.
- Reusable tableware is used in both the VIP area and public area.
- In the public area, only reusable cups are used and all other products such as serviettes, wooden sticks, plates, etc. are made from recycled materials. Outer packaging is also made of paper or bagasse.
- Home and away shirts are made with 100 percent recycled polyester.
- VfB uses paper instead of plastic bags.
Waste Management
- VfB has created a ‘Sustainable waste management concept’.
- Percentage of waste diverted from landfill is not yet known.
- Employees are provided with information on the correct handling of organic waste, recyclables, paper and residual waste.
- Club caterer Aramark works with ReFood who replaces food waste containers in a flexible disposal cycle and uses the organic residues to produce environmentally friendly energy.
- Waste at the Mercedez-Benz Arena is separated into mixed municipal commercial waste, mixed waste paper, mixed film, glass, compostable garden waste, mixed waste, electronics, lighting.
- Used textiles are collected separately and also donated to charity at the end of the season.
- Waste in the VIP Area of the Mercedes-Benz Arena is separated into residual waste, cardboard, fat, food and glass. Cardboard is used to manufacture recycled paper, newsprint and other products such as boxes. Food waste from Aramark is recycled in biogas plants, used fats in biodiesel plants and glass is separated into designated containers.
- In the VIP area, portioned sizes are used when serving food which avoids excessive food waste.
- The VfB stadium magazine “stadionaktuell” is also available as a digital version
- The employees’ payslips are only sent digitally.
- VfB ‘team masks’ in the fan shop have been made from old jerseys.
- The Mercedes-Benz Arena is currently being renovated ahead of Euro 2024 and the focal point of the renovation is the grandstand. When demolishing the grandstand, the aim was to recycle concrete. After demolition and pre-sorting, the material went to a nearby recycling centre, where the material was reprocessed and then turned back into concrete for the new grandstand.
- At the stadium, a paper town recycling service through ‘Tork Paper Circle’ aims to reduce paper towel waste by 20%.
- In March 2022, VfB Stuttgart played in a special jersey made from recycled textiles:
Water Efficiency
- Waterless urinals can be found everywhere apart from the grandstand and VIP areas.
- Pressure sensors have been installed by public sinks.
- Gray water use in toilets is partly also used for lawn irrigation (currently defective).
- There is a weather station, for watering the lawn efficiently, depending on the weather conditions.
Plant based/low carbon food
- VfB Stuttgart offers vegetarian and vegan dishes both in the public area and in the business area of the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
- In the VIP area, 40% of the food is regionally sourced and 35-40% of the dishes are vegetarian/vegan. Vegan options include rice noodle salad and red lentil daal.
- 58% of groceries for public areas comes from the region.
- Approximately 23% of the food in the public area is vegetarian/vegan. Vegan option is a Chili sin Carne.
- Players and employees of VfB Stuttgart have the opportunity to get both vegetarian and vegan dishes in the club’s own canteen.
Biodiversity
- In February 2020, VfB Stuttgart was the first professional football club to join Naturschutzbund Deutschland e.V (NABU) entrepreneurial initiative and has been supporting their climate and species protection projects since 2021.
- In 2023, together with NABU, VfB will create a biodiversity area of 150 square meters on the club premises with native wild flowers, nesting opportunities for insects and a nature trail for environmental education.
- In 2023, VfB will organise employee planting campaigns to further promote greening on the club premises and to promote biodiversity.
- Since 2021, has carried out tree planting campaigns with the local NABU partner Cranes Conservation Volunteers (CCV). VfB supports the climate protection measures at the Setima Escarpment at Lake Ol’Bolossat in Kenya.
Education
- At the VfB learning centre, pupils and young adults learn about “Sustainability in football using the example of VfB” which also includes the focus on the environment and climate protection.
- In cooperation with NABU Stuttgart and the Nature Conservation Youth Baden-Württemberg, the VfB developed the “football and nature conservation camp” which combines sport and environmental protection. The camp takes place up to twice a year during the school holidays.
Communication and Engagement
- VfBfairplay covers VfB Stuttgart’s economic, ecological and social initiatives of the club. More information can be found on the website here: https://www.vfb.de/de/1893/club/vfbfairplay/
- VfB Stuttgart has created its first sustainability report for 2022.
- On World Clean Up Day 2022, VfB took part in a large-scale garbage collection campaign between the train station in Bad Cannstatt, the Mercedes-Benz Arena and the club centre.
- A guarded bicycle parking lot and a bike check were available to visitors at the home game of VfB Stuttgart against FC Schalke 04 on September 3rd, 2022. The “By bike to the stadium” campaign offered fans a guarded bicycle parking lot with 400 spaces in car park P9. Fans could also take advantage of a free bike check. All fans who used the bicycle parking lot received a thank you and the chance to win one of five signed VfB Stuttgart jerseys. The action day was a joint project of VfB Stuttgart, the RadKULTUR BW initiative of the Ministry of Transport and the state capital of Stuttgart.
- Energy consumption reduction measures have been shared with employees, building services, sports and greenkeeping teams.
- VfB has set itself the goal of reducing energy consumption by 15-20% and informed all employees on the intranet at the end of September 2022, whilst also asking them to participate.
- In August 2022, VfB encouraged supporters to partake in ‘NABU’s insect summer’ to raise awareness of the importance of insects for the pollination of plants.
- Every May, VfB employees take part in a three-week ‘City Cycling’ campaign.
Additional information
Information sourced directly from VfB Stuttgart staff, website and third party websites
Information updated May 15 2023
