DNS Belgium receives highest UN sustainability recognition for the second time in a row

In July last year, the Leuven-based organisation even presented its approach to sustainability at a UN summit in New York. Now, three years after first receiving the title, it is the first organisation in Belgium to convince an international jury for a second time. The jury considers both the organisation’s own efforts and how it encourages sustainable change among its partners, across the wider sector and beyond.

Adriana Wilmots, Sustainability Team Lead at Voka-KvK Vlaams-Brabant:

“Receiving this recognition once is already a significant achievement. Convincing an international jury again three years later takes that achievement a step further. DNS Belgium is the first organisation to do so, taking the lead both in our region and across Belgium. It shows that sustainable business practices are something the organisation has worked on consistently for ten years, rather than a one-off project. We also look beyond what an organisation does itself to how it involves suppliers, partners and the sector as a whole.”

From discarded laptops to less dependence on American technology

At DNS Belgium, sustainability goes beyond reducing its environmental footprint. The Leuven-based organisation helped establish Digital for Youth, which gives discarded laptops a second life with vulnerable young people. Since its launch, 30,000 laptops have been distributed to schools and youth organisations.

A safer internet is also high on the agenda. Through campaigns such as ‘Samen veilig online’ (Dutch & French), DNS Belgium helps older people and those around them recognise online scams and talk openly about them. The organisation also works with Belgian authorities and domain registries abroad to tackle domain name abuse.

At the same time, DNS Belgium aims to reduce its dependence on non-European tech companies. It is therefore working towards a move to European cloud infrastructure, to gain more control over the technology behind our Belgian internet addresses and reduce its vulnerability to geopolitical tensions.

Sophie Dings, Sustainability Manager at DNS Belgium:

“As the organisation behind .be domain names, we want to fulfil our important role as sustainably as possible. For DNS Belgium, sustainability goes hand in hand with social responsibility. We consider both our own impact as an organisation and the contribution our activities can make to a safe, inclusive and forward-looking digital society. Being the first organisation in Belgium to renew our SDG Ambassadorship is a welcome recognition of our efforts. At the same time, we want to continue taking a leading role and inspire other organisations, both within and beyond our sector, to operate more sustainably.”

About the SDGs

Voka-KvK Vlaams-Brabant works with CIFAL Brussels, the local hub of UNITAR, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, to award UNITAR certificates and guide organisations through the certification process. This enables participating companies to receive United Nations recognition for investing in building knowledge, implementing the SDGs and communicating about them. The Sustainable Development Goals are 17 sustainability goals adopted by the UN in 2015. They form the global action plan to combat poverty, reduce inequality and protect the planet and its people.

There are three levels of sustainability certification that companies can achieve in succession: SDG Pioneer, SDG Champion and SDG Ambassador. A company that systematically embeds sustainability in its operations through the SDGs can call itself an SDG Pioneer. Companies that subsequently carry out a pilot project focused on transition become SDG Champions. Those that go further by also acting as a role model throughout the value chain, and can demonstrate this to an international jury, can call themselves SDG Ambassadors.

DNS Belgium

Say ‘.be’ and you say DNS Belgium. For more than 25 years, the organisation has made sure that a single keystroke takes you straight to the right Belgian website. When you type in a domain name, your browser looks up the corresponding IP address . Think of it as a phone book for the internet. Today, DNS Belgium does this for more than one and a half million .be domain names, while also keeping everything running securely.