Liverpool FC

The Red Way - a sustainable future; our greatest goal

Sustainability. It’s a word we hear mentioned a lot. Most people think it’s just about the environment... and while that’s definitely a big part of it, it’s actually about our society as a whole and how we can all act in ways that will protect the future. The Red Way is how we’re making a positive difference to sustainability by focusing on our people, our communities and our planet and using our voice for good to help the next generations of Reds.  Sustainability isn’t just about the big things, it’s about making the little changes and adjustments to our daily lives, that over time, will have the greatest impact. A sustainable future is our greatest goal. This is the Liverpool Way of doing things.

This is The Red Way.

Our People

When the people around us are thriving and live a more contented life, it really helps to support sustainability. So, with this important principle in mind, we do our best to ensure the people we work with have lots of opportunities to broaden their skills and knowledge and do great things for others.  

Whether it’s going to university or volunteering to help our communities, training to be a mental health first aider or learning more about how to keep our workplaces equal and diverse, we want those we work with every day to know that their contribution to our Club, our communities and our planet, makes a massive and positive difference.  

Development

As part of LFC’s training and development strategy we ensure all new starters are on-boarded and inducted with the knowledge and tools they need to get up and running in their first few weeks.  

The Club also offers colleagues access to an online learning platform containing over 12,000 resources and materials that can be utilised at any time, and from any location.

There are also a number of employees at the Club undertaking apprenticeships in areas such as MBA, Management & Leadership, Commercial, Digital and Technology. Roughly 7,000 training hours have been used by colleagues during 2020.  

In 2020, Skill-Share, an internal resource mobility scheme, was launched to support colleagues impacted by COVID to find alternative roles across the Club. As of December 2020, over 200 colleagues engaged with the programme, resulting in nearly 40,000 staff hours made available to support other departments and teams across LFC.  

In early 2021, an online career development portal will be launched. This will provide colleagues with transparency of the various roles across the Club and how each of us can develop our talents and skills for current or future roles.

Inclusion

LFC’s ambition is to be the most inclusive club in football – providing fair opportunities to as many different people as possible; welcoming and meeting their needs as best we can.

We’re committed to hiring great people who are representative of a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. Not just because it`s the right thing to do, but because we believe it makes our business stronger.

Those brands that actively embrace equality, diversity and inclusion are proven to have better prospects to be successful. They attract and retain the very best talent and enjoy the many benefits of building a diverse fan base.

LFC was the first club to achieve the Premier League Advanced Equality Standard and have recently regained this accreditation, being recognised for our efforts and commitment in continuing to drive our Diversity & Inclusion agenda across the club and externally.

The Club has also played an active part in shaping the Football Leadership Diversity Code and is one of the founding signatories in English Football, acting as a role model for other clubs to follow.

More information about the code can be found here.

Training and education are at the heart of driving change and the Club has rolled out virtual unconscious bias and allyship training for all employees across the business, including our Executive team. Furthermore, this training has been offered to our TV pundits and former players too.    

Please see our Red Together page for more information  

Health and Wellbeing

The Club’s 2021 wellbeing strategy will be focusing on initiatives across 5 pillars.

All employees have access to our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) counselling service, and the Club’s health & wellbeing platform. This site provides support, articles and programmes to support wellbeing and mental health to every person who works for the club.

To encourage our colleagues to be more active, we have a cycle to work scheme. Additionally, to ensure employees have their opportunity to play a part in cutting vehicle emissions, we offer an electric/ultra-low emission car scheme.  

We’re continuing to explore initiatives where we can reach out to people who are working from home and feeling remote from their colleagues. During lockdown, a new LFC Social group has been established. Members have dedicated time – alongside their day jobs – to put on virtual events to help keep the people they work with feel connected. 2020 events included activities such as live cook-alongs with our stadium chefs, a virtual pub quiz, and a Halloween Party for colleagues with children.  

Red Minds – our team of qualified Mental Health First Aiders – also hosts lunchtime socials where people can drop in for a chat and connect with colleagues from across different areas of LFC. Red Minds is also on hand if any of employees need a colleague to talk to or guidance on getting additional support for any kind of mental health issue.

Through our ‘New ways of working project’, different structures and methods are currently being explored with the intention of providing a positive balance – for both employees and the Club – to meet the challenges of home and office working in the short-to-medium term.

Helping our communities

Each full-time employee has four half-days made available to them to volunteer and give back to our communities.

The Club has strong relationships with local schools and universities. We work closely with these educational establishments to promote our student placement scheme, which includes an intern programme and work experience opportunities.

In September 2020, in conjunction with the Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor’s Office, the Club provided an opportunity for local charities and businesses to apply for funding to up-skill their workforce. As of December 2020, the Club has donated close to £50,000 of our Apprenticeship Levy to Anfield Sports and Community Centre and local business Home Baked Bakery. More information on this initiative is available here.

In 2021, the club intends to partner with the Liverpool FC Foundation and housing organisation The Regenda Group, to offer 30+ work placements. These placements will be offered in deprived neighbourhoods within the city of Liverpool and those hardest hit by the pandemic. Posts will be advertised with assistance from the Department for Work & Pensions.

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Our Communities

Community has never been more important to us. Understanding what’s happening where we live and the issues facing our neighbours forms a big part of creating a sustainable future. This approach allows us to create and support the right type of environment for individuals and communities to prosper.  

Through LFC’s Red Neighbours programme and the LFC Foundation we’re helping to tackle the problems that face people in our communities. Issues such as food poverty, social isolation, unemployment and education are some of those problems and we try to address each of them in a coordinated way; from food bank collections at our home games, to employability coaching, sport in the park and pensioner Christmas lunches. We know the difference that great support can make and how even the smallest of actions can deliver a sizable impact when aligned to a range of focused and managed initiatives.

You can find out more about our work within our communities here

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Our Planet

The impact we have on our planet is something we're all responsible for. As a football club with millions of followers around the world we are proud to take the issue seriously.

We appreciate that actions such as the management of our physical estate, the way we use water and energy and how we manage and recycle our waste will contribute to the health of our planet.

We take the same approach at locations such as Anfield as we'd do at home, eg, recycling cardboard, reusing cups, collecting water to keep our pitches healthy and making sure our gas and electricity supplies are derived from renewable sources.

And we do a lot more as well.

Climate

The club is a signatory to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework.

Long-term, the Club is working to achieve absolute zero carbon emissions in line with UK government legislation. In the short term, the Club has become carbon neutral for all our direct activities. We’ve achieved this by making sure our utilities are supplied by fully renewable energy for our electricity and gas supplies. For other fuel sources, carbon offsetting schemes have been introduced. In doing so, the Club has offset 435 tonnes of CO2 emissions via the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) reduction project and the planting of trees in parts of Northwest England. The policy has made a significant contribution to the offsetting of carbon emissions, thereby helping tackle climate change and creating habitats for wildlife both in urban and rural communities.

Through the club’s partnership with SC Johnson and their Goals for Change campaign, they are helping fans to understand what they can do to help create a more sustainable future, as well as placing recycling bins on the concourses at Anfield with the aim to recycle more than 500,000 plastic bottles into new Mr Muscle® packaging.

Waste and Water

The Club continuously reviews its operational processes to ensure landfill waste is avoided whenever possible. On matchdays, cardboard waste is baled onsite and glass is segregated before both are collected for recycling.

For matchday catering, biodegradable cutlery is used in place of plastic. Paper drinking straws, recyclable food containers and drinking cups are utilised. Draught beer is also served in reusable cups.

Working with our seat supplier, we have recycled 6500 plastic seats along with 6500 plastic seat backs – all replaced in the Lower Anfield Road Stand section during the period of lockdown.

Our kits are constructed with 100 per cent recycled polyester fabric which is made from recycled bottles thanks to our kit supplier, Nike’s ‘Move to Zero’ sustainability initiative.

At our AXA Training Centre, waste is divided into three key disposal streams – general waste, recycling and food. All of these are diverted from landfill. A food macerator is used within the main production kitchen to assist in the control and minimisation of all waste food.

At Anfield, waterless urinals have been installed. At the Academy and AXA Training Ground complex the installation of an additional water bore hole unit that provides natural rainwater for irrigating pitches across the entire training ground site.

Two closed-loop waste-to-water wash systems and oil water separators are used by the grounds maintenance teams to prevent possible contaminations leaking into local drain or water courses.

The Club is also involved in Sky’s Ocean Rescue campaign with the Premier League and Sky.

Biodiversity

Our team at Anfield operates a garden allotment the size of a football pitch, which provides a place to grow and harvest seasonal produce, including fruit, vegetables, and honey which is then eaten at the stadium. The facility is part of our farm-to-fork initiative for event hospitality, with any surplus produce being distributed to local food banks. At the Academy, over 900 trees, hedges, bushes, and wildflower plugs have been planted as well as raised vegetable beds. Additionally, there are bug houses, a hedgehog house, log piles, bird boxes and bird feeders to support inner city wildlife.  Additionally, all fish is sustainably sourced and all matchday retail outlets have converted to sustainable palm oil, complying with the global standards set by RSPO.

The multi-year partnership with Quorn – Liverpool FC’s Official Sustainable Protein Partner – promotes sustainable food choices for everyone. Quorn products are already on the menu for players at the AXA Training Centre and more vegan options are continuously being made available for fans on matchdays

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