ABN AMRO help’s hockey clubs become more sustainable

How

With the support of a number of stakeholders (including three pilot hockey clubs), ABN AMRO has developed a prototype for improving the sustainability of hockey clubs – a blueprint for what a healthy club will look like in 2025. This document will serve as a guide to help clubs reach this goal in the next five years.

In the coming months, the bank will organise intake meetings with each hockey club to take stock of the current situation so it has a baseline picture of where they are now. These meetings will kick off a programme designed to make partner clubs sustainable by 2025. The bank will then draw up a customised advisory report for each club, including smaller and possibly larger steps.

ABN AMRO is garnering knowledge and solutions that will make it easier for these clubs to achieve their sustainability goals. This input will be posted online in the hockey portal, an online tool we make available to our the clubs we sponsor. This is also where solutions to various sustainability issues are presented in the form of a menu.

The solutions presented in the advisory report will be added to the hockey portal, making it easier for the clubs to select the right solution to tricky problems the first time.

Prototype

Hockey clubs have increasingly become tightly managed organisations run by experienced officers – yet most club managers do this as a hobby, and there is often a shortage of time and money. The bank’s partner clubs can use the prototype to help them become sustainable by 2025. To get an idea of the upcoming changes, we have defined five domains: Mobility, Energy, Hospitality, Materials, and Building and Grounds. The expected developments in each domain are described briefly below. 

Mobility

A sustainable partner club actively uses technology and common sense to address logistical challenges intelligently – more cycling, less driving, smaller parking lots. 

Materials

In this domain, sustainability refers mainly to circular thinking. The goal is to reduce the use of (new) resources and to re-use materials – basically, to use resources economically and to invest in sustainable quality. 

Building and Grounds

Construction technologies are developing rapidly, and sustainable materials are quickly becoming more readily available. Tried and tested technologies are expected to be available in just a few years. Circular construction will be the norm. 

Hospitality

Food waste will be eliminated thanks to innovative catering concepts, no unnecessary waste and wholesale packaging. A sustainable clubhouse will be a pleasant place to be and will have special rooms that can be used for different purposes. 

Energy

Hockey clubs are bursting with energy! Like top athletes, a sustainable partner club uses its energy sustainably – it peaks when possible and otherwise uses it economically. This obviously also goes for power, gas and water. 

A sustainable partner club is a vision rather than a collection of activities. Our ambition is to have the club’s management and its members be aware that they have a big influence on the club’s environmental footprint – from a small first step to a large-scale renovation.