Milestone in professional sports: Graz99ers set active example for climate protection with carbon-neutral home

The preparations took almost a year. Now the Graz99ers can announce a milestone in professional sports!

The Moser Medical Graz99ers will be the first club in the history of professional ice hockey to set an active example for climate protection with CO2-neutral home game days from the 2021/22 season. For the first time, every home game of the Graz-based ICEHL club will be climate-friendly.

The goal is to compensate for over 420 tons of CO2, a large part of the CO2 emissions resulting from the transport of fans, players and staff to and from the game. The operation of the ice preparation plant only accounts for 16% of the CO2 balance.

The background of the cooperation between the forestry company Franz Mayer-Melnhof-Saurau and the Graz99ers is the creation of awareness for climate protection and the reduction of their own CO2 footprint among players, officials, fans and the public. The agreement with the forestry company has been signed for three years.

Through a joint initial reforestation project with the Styrian forestry company, 2000 trees will be planted annually to compensate for emissions. Franz Mayr-Melnhof-Saurau will plant non-forest areas in Styria with suitable tree species and ensure ecologically exemplary and sustainable management.

“Of course, we are especially pleased that we have found a Styrian partner because we can now realize the CO2 compensation locally in Styria,” said Bernd Vollmann, general manager of the Moser Medical Graz99ers.

Franz Mayr-Melnhof-Saurau, owner of the eponymous forestry company, said: “We are an innovative company that actively works on solutions for current and future challenges, thus bridging the gap between innovation and tradition.”

Furthermore, in addition to the large package of measures in the area of “CO2 compensation on match days,” another package of measures, namely “creating environmental awareness,” will be implemented into the structure of the Moser Medical Graz99ers, beginning with this season.

Thus, the club presents numerous measures to protect the environment and therefore works solution-oriented on the future of ice hockey and its awareness.

In addition to energy-saving motion detectors in the stadium, which reduce electricity consumption in the north wing by almost 50%, there are also measures in the catering, VIP and spectator areas, which should lead to an environmentally conscious use of resources.

The most important points at a glance:

• plastic-free VIP club
• reusable drinking cups for viewers
• no PET bottles in the club, including offices and the players’ dressing room
• porcelain cups instead of plastic cups in the players’ dressing room
• water dispenser in the players’ dressing room
• use of mostly regional products in the VIP club
• waste oil will be integrated into the bio-diesel cycle
• use of mostly regional products within the public catering
• strict waste separation in and around the stadium
• recycling of broken hockey sticks
• expansion of sustainable merchandise products in the fan shop

Furthermore, beyond these points more priorities will be set to actively reduce CO2 emissions:

• in this season: 3 hybrid and 1 electric vehicle in the club’s carpool, expansion of the Graz99ers fleet by 3 e-cars per season
• expansion of attractiveness for fan travel by public transport
• the €1 ticket for travelling to and from the game.

The goal of the Moser Medical Graz99ers is to achieve an effect in climate protection and the awareness by the fans through the CO2-neutral game day as well as through apparent small changes in the daily routine.

At the same time, we continue to work on the expansion of measures and targeted actions to be and remain ambassadors in Austrian professional sports.

Energie Steiermark and Holding Graz are our loyal partners who support us with this project.