ESG

DPG Media is a broad media company with many brands and business units. Sustainability, therefore, requires commitment from all departments. Our Sustainability Champions are the colleagues who actively lead the company toward a greener future. This network of media professionals includes representatives from every business unit.

“It’s up to them, together with the ESG team, to set the course, ensure practical implementation and make future-proof and sustainable agreements with suppliers,” says Paul Vereijken, ESG manager at DPG Media.

More than 90% of emissions are generated by our suppliers. Vereijken: “Taking green steps is therefore something we do in close cooperation with our partners.”

Stijn Van Den Acker, Facility Manager for Belgium & the Netherlands, has a clear mission: within five years, all offices must be energy efficient. With dozens of properties spread across two countries, this is an ambitious but necessary goal. “We want to be as sustainable as possible in all ways; as a large media company, we feel that we need to lead by example in this area.” 

Whereas the focus used to be on a building’s location and appeal, the requirements are now more stringent. Stijn: “Offices should be close to public transport, have at least energy label A+ and use local green electricity. Without these features, locations don’t qualify.”

In addition, the BREEAM requirements (an international method of determining building sustainability) apply to both the building and office management. “You can have sustainable buildings, but if the heating and lights are left on at night and the windows are open, you’re not really getting anywhere,” says Stijn. DPG Media aims to achieve in-use BREEAM certification by 2025, which means that everything is monitored in detail: from energy consumption and recycling paper towels in toilets to sustainable catering.

“In Flemish restaurants, for example, waste is weighed and monitored with a camera, providing an insight into over-purchasing,” the facility manager says. “We also work with local farmers whenever possible, promoting a healthy diet. This is how we encourage sustainable choices.”

In early 2024, the gas tap was permanently shut off and the Amsterdam Amstel print shop fully transitioned to a heat pump. After a second boiler had failed, it became time to switch to a renewable energy solution. “We went from 450,000 m³ to an annual gas consumption of zero,” says Marcel Bestevaar, technician at the print shop.

“We had been thinking about such a sustainable solution for some time, but for many fitters it was still unknown territory.” Installing the heat pump, including piping and programming, took several months.

“And that’s not all,” he continues. “There are also two new compressors, devices that produce compressed air to run machines. They generate a lot of heat, which we capture and then use for tap water within the company. As a result, we no longer use gas at all.” 

What’s more, excess heat is produced. “We’re currently looking into efficiently reusing this heat.”

This year, in addition to the regular annual report, DPG Media is also publishing an annual journalism report. This is intended to show how we go about our journalism and to take accountability for our role in society. In the annual journalism report, the editors-in-chief of our news publications are given the opportunity to reflect on a journalistic dilemma and discuss highlights and innovations they’re proud of. We also present figures that serve as health indicators of our journalism.

Editors-in-chief are increasingly taking public accountability for their methods. As they should, says Erik van Gruijthuijsen, general director of publishing at DPG Media. “Journalism is under a magnifying glass and every question deserves an answer. Editorial teams are sometimes reluctant to share the impact they make with their daily coverage, or what dilemmas they have to overcome. That’s why we’ve asked our editors-in-chief to do exactly that, in an annual journalism report. Because the whole world can know that within the editorial walls of DPG Media’s publications, we’re not only self-critical, but also proud.’’ 

The annual journalism report covers the 2024 year for sixteen news publications: thirteen in the Netherlands, three in Belgium. 

To develop future inclusive leadership, an intensive one-and-a-half-year training programme for talent started in 2023. The group consisted of 32 women and 25 men with high growth potential, from Belgium and the Netherlands. Working in such a diverse group allowed participants to experience the benefits of inclusion firsthand.

Through timely investments in the layers below the executive level, DPG Media hopes to retain talent, ultimately making this executive level more inclusive. After all, an organisation doesn’t grow more diverse overnight.

Aurelie Van Parijs, business development specialist digital, immediately noticed that it was a mixed and motivated group from all corners of the organisation, which yielded surprising insights. “When ten people look at an issue, all ten of them will have a different perspective. Down the line, these different perspectives are necessary for making informed decisions that affect the entire organisation.”

The programme consisted of twelve plenary gatherings lasting several days. In between, everyone could participate in training sessions and work on personal development. Bas Tijhaar, chief digital & deputy editor-in-chief of de Stentor: “Especially in the beginning, people used their own discipline as a point of departure in what they thought and said. As a result, opinions were diametrically opposed at times. But as the programme went on, we noticed that we understood each other better and better, and the gap became smaller and smaller.” Aurelie adds: “You also felt that we were no longer just looking at our own picture, but at the bigger one: how can we make the whole of DPG Media better?”

For Aurelie, the programme has yielded a good internal network. “Given the size of the company, this is very valuable. The talent community really is a connecting factor.” Bas: “I already felt at home at the Stentor, and now I feel even more at home at DPG Media.”

Given the advent of AI and ChatGPT, it’s safe to say no job will be the same in ten years’ time. “Maybe even in five years’ time,” says Christa van Veldhuizen, manager of HR, Talent & Development. Together with her team, she ensures that employees and, by extension, the company can keep up with this digital wave.

Christa explains that they launched an awareness campaign called Digitaal zijn we allemaal (We’re all digital) in 2024. “We’re showing employees what this revolution means to their own work, even if for many it still feels like something distant.” According to Christa, some people love everything that’s going on right now, whereas others try to ignore it. “But you can’t escape it, everyone has to get themselves in gear.”

How do employees know what skills they’ll need to have in five years’ time? “That’s something we help them with. For example, we offer tailor-made training and learning paths on our internal learning platforms Academy, which is open to all employees, and De Campus, which is specifically intended for journalists. For each part of the company, we look at where we are, where we want to go and how we need to evolve to get there?”

Getting 5,500 employees to support this change is a challenge. “At Academy and De Campus, we’re not the solution, but a tool. Training is one thing, but we need to make that digital shift together by actually applying it in our work. Of course, there are departments that are far ahead in digital terms, and others where things are going a bit slower.”

From AI in advertising to copywriting, there are training courses for all disciplines. “We even see waiting lists for training on things like prompting. So employees are getting more and more into it, thankfully.”

In October 2024, DPG Media decided to stop selling ads on its Dutch news apps through third-party platforms and focus entirely on its own DPG Network. Bert Verschelde, director of Privacy at DPG Media, provides more context: “The DPG Network offers a trusted, transparent and secure advertising system in which user privacy is paramount.”

“Managing users’ data is a big responsibility. It should be done with the utmost care,” the privacy expert says. “At DPG Media, therefore, the ‘Las Vegas promise’ is a key guiding principle in data strategy: what happens at DPG Media stays at DPG Media. The decision to sell advertising space within Dutch news apps only through our own platforms is an important new step in the right direction.” 

Bert stresses that user data is never sold externally. “Your data is protected within DPG Media. For example, DPG Media gives residential advertisers the opportunity to target people who have read articles on moving tips. But the advertiser doesn’t find out their identities, nor can the data be used elsewhere.”

Privacy is a fundamental right and Bert explains that DPG Media wants to be transparent about how data is used. “Users are free to decide how their data can be used, and always stay in control. In the privacy settings menu of each of the apps and through the footer of web pages, they’re able to decide how their data can be used.”

As a local media company, DPG Media is taking on international tech giants that collect huge amounts of detailed user data all over the internet, including far beyond the boundaries of their own services. To secure the future of journalism, DPG Media must be able to cater to advertisers effectively and correctly. “That’s where data plays an important role, to target audiences in a targeted and measurable way. DPG Media remains committed to handling the matter with due care, with our privacy team closely monitoring things at all times.”