For human rights and environmental protection along the supply chain: Non-professional side Babelsberg 03 is a recent member in the German initiative for a binding supply chain law

SV Babelsberg 03 is the first football club in Germany to join the Supply Chain Law initiative. The alliance of over 100 civil society organizations demands that the German government legally commit German companies to the worldwide observance of human rights and environmental standards.

„The decision to join the initiative was easy for us because our club also purchases and sells goods from suppliers that we have produced in various countries around the world. We don’t want this to lead to human rights violations or environmental destruction. The legitimate concern of the initiative therefore also concerns our association“, says Thoralf Höntze, board member of the SV Babelsberg 03.

The initiative Supply Chain Law stands up for a world in which companies respect human rights and avoid environmental destruction – also abroad. The current corona crisis also clearly shows that companies do not meet their responsibilities sufficiently voluntarily. This makes it all the more urgent that we now need a supply chain law! Companies that cause or accept damage to people and the environment in their supply chains must be held liable. Unscrupulous business practices must no longer be allowed to pay off. That is why the government must act now and thus implement its promise from the coalition agreement.

Babelsberg 03 stands behind the initiative supply chain law and sees the demands in line with the association’s own concept „Green Stadium“, which is also intensively concerned with the areas of nutrition and merchandising, for example.

At present the club produces its own merchandising articles in the textile sector exclusively on Stanley & Stella, which distribute fairly and sustainably produced goods. In addition, they always try to have our textiles refined within a radius of max. 30 kilometers. Away from this concept, they see football with its range and media attention, as a responsibe actor to address this topic.

Among the alliance organizations of the Supply Chain Law Initiative is also cum ratione gGmbH, which compared the fan stores of the Bundesliga clubs in terms of sustainability and fair production. The 1st FC Union Berlin, as the leader in this somewhat alternative ranking, already has around 100 fairly produced fan textiles in its range. Since only the Bundesliga clubs were analyzed in the study, Babelsberg 03 is not included in the ranking. The initiators inside of the study were however so convinced of the concept of the association that they took up the SV Babelsberg 03 without further ado as lighthouse project into their report.

This news release was taken from the orginal version of the club’s German homepage: https://babelsberg03.de/blog/2020/09/18/fuer-menschenrechte-und-umweltschutz-entlang-der-lieferketten-babelsberg-03-ist-juengstes-mitglied-in-der-initiative-lieferkettengesetz/