Sustainability Report of the German Press Agency (dpa)

The challenge at dpa

From 2025, dpa will be affected by the EU CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) and will therefore be obliged to prepare sustainability reports in future. However, the company has decided to prepare an initial report in advance in order to gain experience, build up processes and establish a shared awareness of sustainability. Stakeholders should also be involved at an early stage and informed about developments in the area of sustainability.

With the first sustainability report, the company also set high standards for itself: dpa did not just want to deal with the status quo, but to start implementing sustainable measures in the first reporting year.

In addition, it sought to produce an extensive climate balance sheet in order to provide comprehensive information on the current status. From the outset, the CO2 calculation should take all three scopes into account. Due to the many research trips and events outside Europe, dpa had to reckon with high CO2 emissions in Scope 3 (indirect emissions from the value chain). While many companies still forgo the extensive data collection for Scope 3 in the first report and only prepare a carbon footprint with the first two categories, dpa has faced this challenge head on and mastered it.

The solution

In VERSO, dpa has found the ideal partner to focus on the sustainability strategy and implementation of its first measures. The ESG software enabled the efficient collection of relevant sustainability data based on the GRI guidelines and a clear database. Individual structures and processes were defined and the key GRI standards were mapped.

VERSO’s climate software enabled dpa to calculate Scope 1, 2 and 3 in its first carbon footprint according to the GHG Protocol. All relevant emissions were collected centrally, checked by Climate Consultants and clearly presented.

However, the VERSO software not only served as a “single source of truth” for all relevant ESG data, but the sustainability report was also written here and subsequently published using the tool. The sustainability report was created as a PDF in the corporate design and embedded on the dpa website. In addition, a separate web version was built from the ESG software and published on the company website. Without any agency, designer or time-consuming layout work.

With the customer success team and the consultants from VERSO, dpa had a partner at hand who helped with questions, implemented customer-specific requirements and adapted the software to their needs.

The result

The result is a high-quality sustainability report that serves dpa as the basis for establishing a sustainability management system. It shows in an appealing and meaningful way where the company currently stands in terms of sustainability and what it wants to implement and achieve.

The integrated guidelines on the GRI standards have made it possible to avoid missing and incorrect data. The ease of use and centralized data collection ensured a high level of effectiveness and efficiency in reporting. The report is now being made accessible to readers in a variety of ways, creating transparency and awareness of the topic. At the presentation, the report impressed the company’s entire management team with its successful presentation, depth of content and precise data collection.

The big advantage for those responsible for sustainability at dpa: the optimized reporting process enabled the team to focus on the sustainable transformation itself – in other words, on defining goals and implementing and optimizing measures.