Sustainability
Our commitment to a better world is embedded in strategy, capital allocation, and daily operations across Royal Ykold.
2025 Sustainability Highlights
Measurable progress with long-term ambition
We believe sustainable business performance is inseparable from financial resilience. Our priorities span decarbonisation, inclusive growth, community partnership, and accountable governance.
Driven by renewable power sourcing, fleet electrification, and process efficiency.
A key milestone on our path toward a cleaner and more resilient energy mix.
Supporting education, employability, and resilient local infrastructure.
Strengthening our culture of integrity across every market we serve.
Our Priorities
Building impact across four pillars
Our climate roadmap targets net zero across the value chain by 2040, backed by science-based milestones, disciplined capital deployment, and operational accountability.
We are reducing operational emissions through renewable electricity procurement, low-carbon heat, building retrofits, and transport optimisation. In parallel, we are partnering with suppliers and customers to address value-chain emissions in energy, logistics, and real estate.
Priority investments include green hydrogen infrastructure, smart grids, battery storage, and digital optimisation tools that improve efficiency at scale.
2030: halve operational emissions. 2035: decarbonise owned fleet and buildings. 2040: reach net zero across Scopes 1, 2, and priority Scope 3 categories.
48% achieved against our 2019 baseline.
82% of total electricity demand sourced from renewables.
65% of addressable procurement spend covered by supplier climate programmes.
Our 142,000 colleagues are central to how Royal Ykold performs, innovates, and grows.
We are building a workplace where diverse talent can thrive through fair opportunity, inclusive leadership, and robust wellbeing support. From frontline operations to digital engineering, we invest in safe environments, continuous learning, and clear career pathways.
Leadership accountability includes measurable goals on gender balance, employee engagement, safety, and internal mobility across our operating companies.
A steady pipeline supported by mentoring, sponsorship, and succession planning.
Average annual learning and development hours per employee.
Employees engaged in health, safety, or wellbeing programmes in 2024.
Career mobility across business units and geographies each year.
We succeed when the communities around us are stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive.
Royal Ykold has committed €500M to our community fund, supporting local partnerships in education, digital inclusion, climate adaptation, and employability. Programmes are designed with municipalities, schools, NGOs, and community leaders to meet region-specific needs.
We prioritise long-term relationships that create practical opportunities for young people, entrepreneurs, and underserved communities in the markets where we operate.
Scholarships, STEM labs, and technical training in 120 partner schools.
1,300 active collaborations with civic and nonprofit organisations.
Investments in urban greening, flood readiness, and public space upgrades.
More than 18,000 young people reached through internships and apprenticeships.
Strong governance underpins confidence in our sustainability strategy and disclosures.
The Supervisory Board oversees ESG priorities through dedicated audit, risk, and sustainability committees. Executive remuneration includes long-term sustainability targets, and our control environment is aligned to the Dutch Corporate Governance Code.
We report using globally recognised frameworks to support comparability, decision-usefulness, and transparent stakeholder dialogue.
Recognising strong ESG integration across strategy and operations.
Reflecting leadership on climate disclosure and environmental action.
Independent validation of governance quality and sustainability oversight.
Reporting standards used to frame our annual sustainability disclosures.
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Sustainability reports and disclosures
Access our latest sustainability reporting, climate updates, and policy disclosures.