The issue of corporate responsibility has become an integral part of society and thereby, of the ranks of TMG. As a media business operating at the heart of society, TMG not only encounters a growing demand for reporting on corporate responsibility among media consumers, but also growing demand among investors, advertisers and employees for an insight into the TMG’s economic, social and environmental impact.

TMG takes its duty to treat the social and natural environment with care seriously. TMG aims to reduce its negative impact and where possible, to increase the positive impact. This is based on the conviction that a carefully-considered corporate responsibility policy not only reduces negative consequences for the environment, but also leads to savings through more efficient use of natural resources, innovations in the operating, commercial and editorial fields, customer appreciation and motivated employees.

TMG took the first steps towards a careful and transparent corporate responsibility policy in 2009. TMG began by defining its carbon footprint and potential measures that will both reduce CO2 emissions and lead to cost-savings. On the basis of this analysis, a decision was taken at year-end 2009 to formulate a corporate responsibility vision in 2010, to develop a number of options for sustainable cost-savings in more detail and to draw up a detailed definition of the carbon footprint. This will be published in the course of the year.

In order to present sustainability results to all stakeholders as transparently as possible and to allow integration with other results in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR), TMG will report in accordance with the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) from the 2010 financial year. (The GRI standard is the internationally accepted guideline for reporting on social responsibility and sustainability performance.)

At present, there is not enough detailed information available to be able to do this for 2009. A brief impression of the steps taken in the sustainability field in 2009, and the plans launched for 2010 is therefore presented below. The emphasis here lies on the issues that are most relevant for a media company: the social impact of reporting and areas in which media production has the relatively highest environmental impact.