Dietmar Hopp: "We need to fight to protect the climate"

Germany is one of the richest countries on the planet. Our prosperity is based on hard work, good education, ingenuity and many resources. The latter appeared to be inexhaustible until the second half of the 20th century. We therefore used them and laid claim to water, land, raw materials and our atmosphere. This model is not sustainable anymore.

Our attempt to maintain our prosperity via this same approach is a consequential mistake. We know today that the climate crisis and the loss of natural habitats is the greatest threat to our livelihoods, to future generations and therefore also to peace, freedom and prosperity.

Even though the groundwork must be laid by politicians, it is incumbent upon all of us to accept responsibility ourselves. In particular, this applies to those in the strongest position in our society – those who can make a big impact through their decisions and reach many people. And that brings me on to sport and the Bundesliga.

We enjoy a privileged position in our society: football generates emotions, unites people all over the world and ties them to their favourite club on an emotional level. This creates considerable revenue opportunities for commercial sport. Using these opportunities solely to benefit a competitive team fails to acknowledge football's own role in society. The goal must therefore be not to define success solely in terms of league position, but to always align it with those for whom we play this sport: fans, society and future generations, whom we want to win over as fans and whom we also have to help to protect.

With regard to the climate crisis, this means that if there is a CO₂ footprint associated with our core business – for example, through energy consumption in the stadium, travel, the movement of our many thousands of supporters – then it is also our responsibility to deal with it.

I'm convinced that we have to earn the special status sport enjoys in our society through our actions on this issue. From my point of view, this means that in a few years the Bundesliga should be climate-neutral or even climate-positive.

We need a means of measuring carbon footprint that is binding and comparable. We need clear and ambitious reduction targets, and the remainder should be offset by meaningful projects.

It is important to us at TSG Hoffenheim that we play a particularly active role in climate protection. As one of the first supporters of the "Alliance for Development and Climate", we have been "climate-neutral" in key fields of action since 2019. We are currently working on binding reduction targets, have launched the "Sports for Future" initiative together with others and offer our spectators the opportunity to make a positive contribution to a reforestation project in Uganda by purchasing a so-called climate ticket.

That way everyone can contribute: members and fans, the clubs and the entire Bundesliga.

We must take this opportunity.