Corporate Social Responsibility

TNO’s motto is ‘Innovation for life’: creating impactful innovations for
the sustainable wellbeing and prosperity of society. As an independent public organisation, we want to do this in a responsible and sustainable way. TNO has adopted a clear policy on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to put its ambitions in this area into practice in its operations. The CSR policy is closely linked to TNO's strategic goals.

Our own impact: sustainable & responsible business practices

TNO attaches great value to ensuring its transparency and is open about its activities and work for society. We focus on the positive contribution we make, while being transparent about our negative impact: ‘practise what we preach’. Each year, TNO publishes a full report on its activities, based around six different forms of capital. This reporting covers both our positive and negative impact. See the latest annual report.

Practise what we preach

In its operations TNO applies a number of ‘practise what we preach’ priorities. These are based on TNO’s double materiality analysis.

Integrity is of the utmost importance to TNO as an independent organisation.

TNO advocates a sustainable society. In addition to the research we do and the innovations we develop in this area for society, we are transforming our own activities to avoid and reduce any negative impact.

  • Climate: TNO’s ambition is to be climate neutral (‘net zero’) as an organisation by 2040. With our research, we will therefore make a net-positive contribution to climate change mitigation.
  • Circularity (use of materials)
  • Biodiversity

TNO takes its responsibility as an employer and its role in the chain seriously. It recognises both its upstream and downstream supply chain responsibility.

TNO’s employees are the organisation’s most important asset. Everyone should feel welcome and feel that their voice is heard within TNO. Discover our Cultural and International diversity community. >

History & timeline

  • Ambition: Climate-neutral business operations

    2040

    TNO is transforming its business operations to achieve full climate neutrality by 2040.

  • Ambition: 85% reduction in CO2 compared with 2019

    2030

    On the path towards climate neutrality, TNO has set the intermediate goal of achieving an 85% reduction in Scope 1 & 2 emissions in absolute terms. Our CO2 emissions will therefore decrease exponentially to help us stay within the 1.5°C warming scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

  • 100% renewable electricity use

    2025

    TNO has committed to achieving 100% renewable electricity consumption by 2025.

  • Declaration of Amsterdam signed

    2023

    TNO signed this declaration of intent of Workplace Pride to promote an inclusive and diverse workplace.

  • TNO joined UN Global Compact and incorporated the TNO Code into its Terms and Conditions of Employment:

    2020

    TNO joined the United Nations Global Compact and subscribed to the ten principles on human rights, labour, environment & anti-corruption. To ensure TNO’s values are better embedded within the organisation, the TNO Code (of Conduct) was incorporated into TNO’s Terms and Conditions of Employment.

  • Implementation of SDGs into TNO Strategy

    2017

    TNO embraced the SDGs and became part of the SDG Netherlands community. Within SDG Netherlands, TNO is the alliance coordinator of the national activities for SDG 9.

  • First participation in Transparency Benchmark

    2012

    TNO participated in the transparency benchmark for annual reports and reporting  for the first time.

  • First carbon footprint published

    2009

    TNO’s first carbon footprint (including emissions across the supply chain) was published.

  • First CSR Policy

    2007

    In 2007, TNO formulated its first formal policy focusing on its own sustainability and its transparent reporting on this matter.

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UN Sustainable Development Goals

TNO has been actively promoting the SDGs and has been part of the SDG Netherlands community since 2017. Within SDG Netherlands, TNO is the alliance coordinator of national activities for SDG 9: Industry, innovation, and infrastructure. More about SDGs

Read more
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UN Global Compact

TNO joined the Global Compact, the United Nations (UN) sustainability platform, in 2020. We have signed up to the 10 principles of the Global Compact, committing ourselves to respecting human rights, providing good working conditions, protecting the environment, and fighting corruption.

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Ecovadis

TNO has been actively shaping its own operations in a sustainable and responsible way since 2007. Since 2020, we have been measuring our progress using Ecovadis’ ‘Sustainability Rating’.

Want to know more or do you have any questions? Contact us at [email protected].