PENNY DEL includes sustainability criteria in license review
The German Ice Hockey League (PENNY DEL) is including sustainability criteria in its license review for the first time for the 2024/25 season. All clubs in the league unanimously agreed to this at the shareholders' meeting on March 11, 2023.
It is thus stipulated that each club must demonstrate a commitment to sustainability in its articles of association. In addition to a sustainability officer qualified according to the league company's specifications, all clubs have committed to measuring their own carbon footprint and updating it every two years thereafter. In addition, each club is required to develop a reduction path that is aligned with the league office's goal of reducing its own footprint by 50 percent by 2030 and aiming for complete climate neutrality by 2040. Any deviations from this goal must be justified.
"We already worked intensively on the topic of sustainability last year and anchored a commission in the shareholder agreement. The inclusion in the license test is the next consistent as well as logical step. All clubs are aware of the importance of this topic. This is shown by the fact that there was no dissenting vote. At the same time, in addition to our own measures, we want to use the PENNY DEL as a platform to activate our fans and partners for these issues," says Gernot Tripcke, Managing Director of the PENNY DEL.
With the "DEL4" sustainability strategy, the league and the Sustainability Commission laid a foundation back in November 2022 that encompasses four core topics:
- DEL4 Fair Play
- DEL4 Youth
- DEL4 All
- DEL4 Nature
All information on "DEL4" is available at www.del4.de
"The business model of each individual club no longer works as it used to. It is all the more important that we continue to work very ambitiously on these issues. This is being done in very close coordination with each other, because we really want to take all stakeholders along with us on this path. I am therefore also extremely pleased about the unity among the shareholders," says Matthias Binder, Managing Director of Adler Mannheim and Chairman of the Sustainability Commission.
