Standards, certifications and awards
As part of our sustainable development, we believe that it is not enough to simply certify our own responsible actions ourselves.
Independent audits and the use of established standards and certifications are therefore an essential part of our structured sustainability management. Among other things, they enable us to consolidate essential processes such as target definition, measurability, monitoring, and reporting of relevant data and content, and to firmly anchor sustainability at the strategic management level.
In addition, Borussia Dortmund is obliged to meet sustainability criteria as part of the DFL licensing process. As a listed football club, Borussia Dortmund must also report on non-financial information in its annual reports.
A corresponding overview is provided below.
Standards and certifications
Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA and its subsidiaries received certification in accordance with the internationally recognized ISO 14001 standard for environmental management systems for the first time in 2024.
This represents another important step for BVB toward more professional management and continuous improvement of its own environmental performance. In addition, the implementation of the system will enable the club to reduce its environmental risks, make processes more efficient, and demonstrate legal compliance.
Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA and its subsidiaries received certification in accordance with the internationally recognized ISO 50001 standard for energy management systems for the first time in 2025.
This marked another important step for BVB toward more professional control and continuous improvement of its energy consumption. In addition, the club's timely implementation of the system also complies with the requirements of the Energy Efficiency Act, which came into force in July 2025.
This measure is another significant building block in placing its own daily activities on an increasingly responsible footing. In line with this, Borussia Dortmund also had its environmental management system certified according to ISO 14001 last year. This enables BVB to reduce its environmental risks, make processes more efficient, and demonstrate legal compliance.
Both certifications also contribute to Borussia Dortmund's comprehensive strategy for holistic decarbonization. With concrete measures and defined goals, such as achieving CO2 neutrality in Scope 1 and 2 by 2040, BVB is working consistently to gradually make its corporate footprint more positive.
Borussia Dortmund has been certified according to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) since 2025.
A few years ago, BVB began using organic cotton in some of its merchandising collections. The initial impetus for this came from the “From the Field to the Fan Shop” cooperation project, in which certified organic cotton from India is grown under fair working conditions and then processed into the collection.
The Global Organic Textile Standard is recognized as the world's leading standard for the processing of textiles made from organically produced natural fibers. GOTS-certified textiles offer reliable assurance of more sustainable raw material harvesting and environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing.
In 2021, Borussia Dortmund became the first Bundesliga club to join the United Nations Global Compact, the world's largest initiative for sustainable and responsible corporate governance. By joining, BVB has committed itself to the ten principles of the UN Global Compact on human rights, labor standards, environmental protection, and anti-corruption, as well as to the United Nations' global sustainability goals.
The UN Global Compact supports companies through learning and dialogue formats to act responsibly and promote solutions to global challenges. More than 18,500 companies and organizations worldwide have already signed the Global Compact.
On its path to achieving a long-term and continuous reduction in its carbon footprint, Borussia Dortmund took another important step in 2024 by becoming the first Bundesliga club to have its ambitious CO₂ emission reduction targets validated by the internationally recognized Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) in accordance with the Paris Climate Agreement. This agreement aims primarily to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The targets submitted by BVB are reviewed by the independent initiative of WWF, UN Global Compact, World Resources Institute, and CDP according to scientifically sound and current specifications and criteria.
As a highly influential player, Borussia Dortmund wants to have a substantial and positive impact on the environment and people as part of its own sustainability strategy. In terms of the environment, the focus is on three core goals, which are backed by concrete milestones, activities, and measures:
- Achieve carbon neutrality
- Improve water efficiency
- Promote the circular economy
In 2022, the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga became the first major professional football leagues to incorporate mandatory sustainability guidelines into their licensing regulations for the 2023/2024 season.
With this decision, the clubs are continuing along the path they embarked upon in December 2021. At that time, they included a clear commitment to sustainability in all its dimensions (ecological, economic, social) in the preamble to the DFL e.V. statutes and also decided that sustainability criteria should become an integral part of the licensing process.
The aim is to achieve continuous development in the area of sustainability, also on the basis of the guidelines and the individual clubs' commitments: from establishing and expanding basic structures to extending effective, measurable measures.
The sustainability criteria are audited as part of the licensing procedure in cooperation with an external service provider.
The CSR Directive Implementation Act (CSR-RUG) is the German implementation of the European CSR Directive (NFRD) and requires certain large companies and financial institutions to publish non-financial reporting in their management report or as a separate sustainability report.
This reporting includes, among other things, environmental information, social information, employee information, human rights, anti-corruption, and diversity in the supervisory board and management.
As a capital market-oriented company with an annual average of more than 500 employees, Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA was also subject to this legal reporting obligation and published its first structured sustainability report for the 2016/2017 season.
In the wake of the World Holocaust Forum in 2020, Borussia Dortmund decided to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, thereby making an important contribution to the fight against antisemitism. Upon signing the declaration on October 8, 2020, Hans-Joachim Watzke stated:
“With our diverse projects, ranging from readings and workshops to annual educational trips to various memorial sites, we reach many BVB fans, employees, partners, and sponsors. Adopting the working definition of antisemitism is a further step in our work.”
Awards
In the annual ranking by the Financial Times and Statista, BVB was included in the prestigious “Europe's Climate Leaders” list for the first time in 2025 – making it the only European professional soccer club represented in the list.
The list for 2025 included a total of 600 companies. The starting point was a long list of around 2,000 companies. The survey focused on European companies that achieved the greatest reduction in their Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emission intensity over a period of five years (for this edition, between 2018 and 2023). To be included in the list, companies must meet an important threshold: the intensity of their core emissions must be reduced by more than three percent annually.
Borussia Dortmund achieved this on the basis of its long-standing commitment to climate protection and the wide range of measures it has taken in line with its own ecological responsibility. The focus is primarily on increasing energy efficiency and continuously reducing emissions within the individual, BVB-specific decarbonization strategy. This includes, among other things, the current installation of the largest PV system on a stadium roof in Germany in collaboration with sustainability partner RWE.
At the beginning of 2024, Borussia Dortmund was once again recognized in the special categories “Best Total Performance” and “Environmental Performance” as part of the annual GSBS Sustainability Performance Rating.
For several years now, the independent London-based non-profit organization GSBS (Global Sustainability Benchmark in Sports) has been examining how sustainably professional sports clubs, associations, and federations operate. Based on a scientific approach to data evaluation, the team, which consists of international members, analyzes the sustainability performance of numerous renowned sports organizations on an annual basis.
As in the previous two years, Borussia Dortmund once again achieved two top positions for its sustainability management in the 2023 assessment period. BVB shared first place (with Formula E) in the special category “Best Total Performance” with 81 percentage points and took sole first place in the “Environmental Performance” category with 77 percentage points.
At the beginning of 2025, the market research, analysis, and certification institute EUPD Research honored BVB with the ESG Transparency Award at an awards ceremony for its transparent and outstanding achievements in sustainability reporting.
Marieke Philippi (Head of Corporate Responsibility) accepted the award on behalf of the black and yellow at the event in Petersberg, Königswinter.
The jury based its assessment on the sustainability report for the 2023/2024 season. After completing its evaluation of the report, the institute honored BVB and its substantial presentation and communication of all strategic measures and progress in the areas of environment, social affairs, and corporate governance with the two ratings “Excellence Class” (91%) and “Leading Company.”
Football matches at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK often write special stories – one of them at the beginning of February 2023. Sebastien Haller scored the 3-1 goal for the Black and Yellows against Freiburg with a header, his first goal in a BVB jersey after overcoming testicular cancer. But even before Haller's emotional moment, an unusual bulge in the center circle caused worldwide confusion.
There was an important message behind it: as part of our “Eingriff ist die beste Verteidigung” campaign, we used World Cancer Day to draw attention to the early detection and treatment of testicular cancer with a symbolic representation of a testicular tumor, accompanying the campaign with educational measures throughout the entire match day.
After the season was over, we were particularly proud that this important issue had received increased attention. We were also delighted to win awards for our campaign at various national and international creative competitions, including two gold awards at this year's Art Directors Club (ADC) Awards and bronze at the internationally renowned Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Every year, these awards recognize particularly excellent creative communication and work that has been inspiring, groundbreaking, and exceptional in its field. Special thanks go to the agency Accenture Song, which came up with this great idea.
