Time Setter story: Mathieu Baas on Corporate Social Responsibility

Passion for sustainability

How do you build offshore wind turbines? What do you do with the old oil and gas infrastructure? During his Master’s degree programme in Delft, Mathieu was already driven to engage broadly with sustainability. While working on his graduation project, he came into contact with TNO. Enthusiastic about the work and the opportunities, he applied to be a trainee.

‘What I like most about TNO is that you get the freedom to follow your interests. In my case, I was even able to create my own job related to sustainability’, Mathieu says. ‘It’s strongly ingrained in the organisation to enable people to be their best. What I also quickly noticed is that TNO is doing a whole lot of cool things in the field of sustainability. Arte there opportunities to apply these in our own organisation, I wondered.’

Practise what we preach

Mathieu plucked up the courage to talk to then-CEO Paul de Krom. ‘I felt that things could be done differently. Practise what we preach! We should embrace climate and sustainability much more than we do now. Following the meeting, a video was recorded for colleagues. That generated a lot of positive feedback and a week later, the head of Business Information & Operations Services called to say: ‘I think we should meet for coffee sometime.'

This is how Mathieu started a job of his own creation: Energy & Sustainability Programme Manager for Real Estate. His challenge is transforming TNO's entire location portfolio to make it climate-neutral. ‘I was lucky that the timing was right. The issue had been noted for some time, but there was not a clear plan yet how to achieve it. They saw that I had a vision. And thanks to the traineeship, I already had a strong internal network.’

Thinking ahead

Mathieu sees how important it is to guide the organisation to anticipate changes that will take place in the next 10 to 15 years. ‘That’s my biggest challenge. What steps should we take if we want to stop emitting CO2 soon? What are the buttons that we can press? That one big button does not exist. As an engineer, I lacked understanding of how you manage an organisation. How can you change it and engage the people in it? I was therefore given the chance to study at the French business school INSEAD. That helped me tremendously.’

In 2023, he took up his new role as CSR Officer, in which he is responsible for social responsibility in the broadest sense. ‘I see it as my challenge to make TNO a leading organisation in terms of maximum social impact. We help society move forward, not only with our research but also by embracing our responsibility for climate, use of materials, and human rights. This is who we are and we don't want it any other way.''

Twothousand helplines

But how do you tackle that task? ‘We have a huge amount of knowledge and expertise’, says Mathieu. ‘Nearly 2,000 colleagues think about sustainability every day, in all areas of society. That provides me with a huge amount of expertise: I can call on colleagues as a helpline on many topics. We’re taking the next step with the creation of the CSR Office and the multidisciplinary CSR team, to which 25 colleagues across TNO contribute.’

Where does this drive for sustainability actually come from? ‘I’ve always loved being outdoors. With the Scouts in Haarlem, I used to roam around in the woods every weekend. I’ve just returned from Scotland, where we spent two weeks backpacking. In addition, my parents are teachers. From a young age, we’d spend hours at the dinner table discussing the news and social developments.’

Be surprised

Does Mathieu have any advice for new colleagues? ‘Find out which way you most enjoy learning. I’m energised by being thrown in the deep end and having to find my own helplines. If you know this about yourself, you can tailor your own development accordingly. So even if it’s uncomfortable, dare to take an unknown step and let yourself be surprised. Life is full of uncertainties, your career is also going to be full of them. If that doesn't stress you out, I think it will make you a happier person and also makes you more successful in what you want to do.’