Sustainability report DNS Belgium 2024

Our ecological, social and governance impact

The boxes below contain links to pages where our measures and actions are described in more detail for each theme. 

About DNS Belgium and this report (B1, C1) 

This is DNS Belgium vzw's annual sustainability report. We report in accordance with VSME, the voluntary sustainability reporting standard for non-listed SMEs, covering the period from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024.

The VSME standard serves as the standard for SMEs to communicate transparently about their sustainability efforts in the context of the European Commission’s Corporate Social Responsibility Directive. In addition to the basic module, we've elected to include the extended module with additional sustainability indicators. And we've gone beyond these indicators by consciously choosing to include the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. In this way we want to promote our role as an SDG Ambassador.

In 2024, DNS Belgium was established at the Ubicenter, Philipssite 5/13 in Heverlee, Belgium. All of our staff work at this location. This report has been drawn up on an individual basis. The organisation has no interests in other (subsidiary) companies that need to be reported. No disclosures have been omitted.

This report was published in Leuven on 26 November 2025 by our sustainability manager. It is based on the sustainability strategy, the financial report, the participation and audit report of the Voka Sustainable Business Charter. We thus contribute to achieving SDG 12 (Responsible consumption and production), target 12.6 (Encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle). This report was drawn up in the period August – November 2025. Do you have any questions about this report? Or feedback? Contact our sustainability coordinator via support@dnsbelgium.be. 

About DNS Belgium and our sustainability approach (B1, B2, C1, C2) 

As a Belgian not-for-profit organisation, we are committed to a digital and sustainable society and want to strengthen trust in the internet for Belgium and its citizens. Through the management of our domain name extensions (.be, .brussels and .vlaanderen), we promote both the potential of the internet and confidence in its use within Belgium. In all our actions the security and quality of domain name usage, and by extension the internet, come first and in doing so we try to strengthen consumer confidence in our digital society. We ensure that the domain name zones we manage are constantly available worldwide by guaranteeing permanent access to the nameservers. 

For more information about our core activities we gladly refer to our 2024 general annual report  and our financial annual report.  On this page you can read more about our role in managing the internet and our stakeholders, including a history  and an overview of our value chain. Information on the structure of the organisation, corporate governance, the values and directors is available on this page of our corporate website. No conflicts of interest were identified relating to the composition of the governing body. 

Our sustainability strategy (B1, B2, C2) 

Renewal in 2024 

Since 2016, DNS Belgium has pursued a sustainability strategy based on the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the ISO 26000 sustainability guidelines. With the arrival of the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), we decided in 2024 to update our strategy in line with this new framework. We developed a sustainability strategy in which we defined different goals for 2030, defined KPIs and developed actions to achieve these goals. 

Materiality analysis, stakeholder surveys and final material themes

The starting point of our new sustainability strategy was a double materiality analysis in collaboration with Studio D. The double materiality principle comes down to the fact that, as an organisation, we have an impact on people and planet (impact materiality) and that people and planet also have an impact on DNS Belgium as an organisation (financial materiality). 

This approach focuses on DNS Belgium’s entire value chain. In other words, we're not only taking a closer look at our own activities, but also at what precedes and follows our activities. For example, we do that by promoting sustainability at our suppliers (upstream) as well as our registrars and registrants (downstream). 

Internal employees, registrars and other external stakeholders, such as Agoria, Voka Chamber of Commerce Vlaams-Brabant, Cybersecurity Coalition, DigitAll, CENTR , Digital for Youth, etc. were surveyed. These surveys assessed to what extent certain themes are deemed important by both internal and external stakeholders. Based on this, the final material topics were defined. For each of these material topics, goals were subsequently defined and linked to actions.

The goals within our sustainability strategy are the following: 

Implementation of sustainability strategy and sustainability certification 

To ensure that we meet the sustainability goals, the sustainability manager sets an annual budget. This budget was EUR 389,750 for 2024. It is recalculated each year and comes with a budget book with the annual action plans. The governing body approves this budget and plans which provide a clear financial basis and direction for the sustainability initiatives. 

The sustainability manager reports monthly to the governing body via a monthly report to ensure transparency and accountability. This report describes the performance and results of the past month, including the progress of the sustainability goals. It keeps the governing body in the loop and allows it to make changes if necessary. The responsibility for reviewing and approving the reported information has been delegated to the sustainability coordinator. 

Our CSR Committee, composed of staff from all departments and levels, oversees DNS Belgium’s ESG strategy. In 2024, the committee met four times. It ensures that the principles of corporate social responsibility are key in our strategic approach.

And finally, our sustainability strategy is embedded in our operations through the use of a CSR matrix, which maps the sustainability impact of decisions. This matrix is a mandatory step in every project and purchase, and helps to determine the potential environmental, social and governance impacts in advance. We try to maximise the estimated positive impact and mitigate or reduce negative effects. If necessary, this may lead to a revision or possibly not launching a project. 

To monitor our sustainability strategy, we draw up an annual action plan aligned within the framework of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the CSRD in the context of the Voka Charter for Sustainable Entrepreneurship (VCDO), supported and audited by the Voka Chamber of Commerce Flemish Brabant. Since 2017, we have received the Voka Charter for Sustainable Entrepreneurship annually, a certificate that recognises our annual sustainability efforts. In 2023, we were also recognised by UNITAR (the United Nations Institute for Training and Research) and Cifal Flanders (UNITAR’s local training hub in Flanders) as SDG Ambassador. This is the highest level of recognition following the SDG Champion and SDG Pioneer level and underlines our commitment to due diligence, human rights, sustainability communication and the like.

Our sustainability efforts and goals for 2030 (B2, C2) 

Since 2016, our sustainability initiatives have been strategically embedded in our organisation's policy. In this way, we contribute to the transition to a more sustainable economy.

The table below provides an overview of the VSME topics for which we have set ourselves strategic objectives for 2030, our transparent communication about them and the level within our organisation responsible for their implementation. 

To achieve these objectives, we have already taken various initiatives and integrated sustainability aspects into our policy. The steps we took in 2024 towards these goals are covered in more detail further in this sustainability report. For a complete picture of our earlier efforts, please also refer to our sustainability reports from previous years.  

Finally, the table below also includes the future plans and ambitions that we have already set out.