Sustainability at United Internet

The need to act sustainably is now firmly embedded in social, political, and economic thinking. Like other firms, United   Internet is also steadily expanding its ESG (environmental, social, and governance) activities so as to meet the needs of both current and future generations – the classic definition of sustainability. United   Internet is in the middle of a Group-wide transformation process and is increasingly including sustainability aspects that are relevant to its divisions when making decisions. Core challenges and topics that the Group is addressing include sustainable digitalization, data privacy, how to deal with (fake) information on the internet, the changing world of work, and the shift to a decarbonized economy.

The objective of United   Internet’s sustainability management is to address the challenges and opportunities associated with its material sustainability topics.

Sustainability Management

Group-wide sustainability management at the United   Internet Group in the reporting period was coordinated by the Corporate Sustainability team. Centralized sustainability management tasks include overall coordination of the sustainability strategy, reporting, and answering ESG rating agency queries at Group level. One core task in the 2023 reporting period was to enhance the Group’s sustainability strategy.

At a decentralized level, each segment has its own sustainability management function, which regularly shares information and cooperates closely with the Group sustainability team. The segments’ sustainability managers report periodically – in some cases weekly – to the segment management board member responsible and several times a year to the full management board and other bodies for the segment concerned.

This mix of central and local governance structures for sustainability management means that the segments are responsible for, and manage, certain sustainability topics. The Corporate Sustainability Team reports to United   Internet AG’s CFO, who is also responsible for preparing the sustainability report for the Group as a whole. Key principles such as sourcing green electricity or the Policy Statement on respect for human rights and environmental due diligence are resolved by the Group Management Board. Overarching decisions – such as target-setting for the Group-wide sustainability strategy – are also taken by Group-level management bodies. However, the majority of concrete implementation decisions – such as on introducing management systems or on what the green electricity strategy should look like in practice – are taken by the segment management boards. These also build on the sustainability strategy to set segment-specific sustainability goals and targets, taking the starting situation and the impact of the individual segment’s business activities into account. United Internet’s Supervisory Board fulfills its duty of oversight by examining the consolidated nonfinancial report (“nonfinancial report”), with the assistance of an independent external review.

Progress Report and Next Steps

Activities in the 2023 reporting period focused on the following two projects: 

• The Group-wide sustainability strategy was enhanced and a sustainability vision and mission was formulated as part of this (see the section entitled “Vision”). United   Internet put in place the structures needed to operationalize this strategy by defining an overarching model for cooperation between its central and local sustainability management functions. This also includes management bodies (governance structure). In addition, the Group has set itself the goal of making its commitment to sustainability and its level of ambition measurable and verifiable. As part of this, Group-wide target approaches for the material topics were developed and discussed together with the segments’ sustainability management functions and the departments concerned in 2023. Since this process is still ongoing at the time of reporting, concrete, measurable goals and KPIs will be set in the course of fiscal year 2024. After this, the segments will break them down and implement them by defining specific milestones and measures.


• Preparations for the first CSRD report for fiscal year   2024 took the form of a Group-wide project in the 2023 reporting period whose aim is to ensure compliance with the new EU reporting requirements going forward. Work on developing the future reporting strategy built on the materiality matrix from fiscal year   2023, its reconciliation to the CSRD requirements, and a comprehensive gap analysis of future quantitative and qualitative reporting requirements. The necessary transformation of the Reporting function was started and an evaluation project was used to examine the processes, IT policies, and software solutions required with the goal of facilitating data capture for everyone involved going forward, while simultaneously achieving a further improvement in both the availability and the quality of the data.

Stakeholder Dialog

United Internet’s business depends on continuous dialog and successful cooperation with a wide range of stakeholders. Close contact with a range of stakeholder groups is particularly vital with respect to its impact on society and the environment, and for identifying material sustainability aspects during the materiality analysis, developing the sustainability strategy, setting targets, and determining target achievement. United Internet uses a variety of different platforms and formats to liaise with stakeholders with the goal of further enhancing communication and cooperation with them and taking their interests into account:

• Customers: United Internet focuses systematically on customer needs and satisfaction, obtaining feedback in numerous areas. It also engages in an ongoing dialog with its customers using surveys and during service calls, among other things. Test users and test buyers can generate valuable feedback for new products.


• Investors: Investors are an important stakeholder group for United Internet. Investor Relations and the Management Board are in regular contact with them during one-on-one discussions and road shows. Open, transparent reporting strengthens shareholder trust.

• Employees: United Internet’s employees are the key to the Group’s success. Only by leveraging their knowledge, skills, and dedication can United   Internet continue to develop and achieve long-term success. Since employee feedback is vital for United   Internet, it regularly conducts surveys, uses these as the basis for defining measures to be taken, and then provides information on their implementation and the progress made within the Group. In addition, the Management Board engages in direct virtual dialog with employees about specific issues.


• Business partners: United Internet’s business requires it to work together with a large number of business partners and supplier companies. These include wholesale service partners, hardware suppliers, call center service providers, and shipping partners, for example. Personal discussions are one of the mechanisms used with these partners, while United   Internet also supports call center service providers that are training employees, for example.

• Politicians and associations: United Internet maintains a dialog with political decision-makers and government authorities so as to create a framework for a successful and responsible digital economy in Germany. One particular issue is ensuring competition, which acts as a driver for innovation, investment, and consumer benefits. This is why United Internet is a member of associations such as Bitkom ⁽¹⁾ , BREKO ⁽²⁾ , BVDW ⁽³⁾ , eco ⁽⁴⁾ , and VATM ⁽⁵⁾ . In addition, individual departments play an active role in other relevant associations and bodies.


• Non-governmental organizations: United Internet has worked with the United Nations’ Children’s Fund since 2006 in the United Internet for UNICEF foundation to collect donations and recruit new sustaining members.

(1) Bundesverband Informationswirtschaft, Telekommunikation und neue Medien e.V.

(2) Bundesverband Breitbandkommunikation e.V.

(3) Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) e.V.

(4) Verband der Internetwirtschaft e.V

(5) Verband der Anbieter von Telekommunikations- und Mehrwertdiensten e.V.

Material Topics

United   Internet’s material sustainability topics resulted from the materiality analysis performed in fiscal year   2022. No new potential material topics and/or risks arose in the course of the 2023 reporting period that would have resulted in the need for change. Both the internal Group perspective (impact of sustainability aspects on United   Internet’s business activities = relevance to United   Internet’s business) and the external perspective (impact of United   Internet’s business activities on the environment and society) were taken into account when assessing the topics, so as to determine double materiality. An external consulting firm that specializes in performing materiality analyses and developing sustainability strategies, among other things, assisted with the process of determining the material topics both in fiscal year   2022 and in the 2023 reporting period.

Process Used to Define Material Topics

The 2022 materiality analysis was based on topics that were already known from sustainability management activities up to then and from earlier materiality analyses. The list of topics was expanded using environmental and benchmark analyses on political, economic, social, technological, statutory, and environmental aspects. Additional input came from the dialog (interviews) with the stakeholder groups mentioned above.

The internal departments (including HR, Compliance, and Information Security, in many cases at both the Group and the segment level) also discussed the relevant sustainability aspects with the participation of the management board members concerned. The topics on the updated list from fiscal year 2022 were defined in more detail in the same year together with experts from the main departments responsible and a common understanding was formulated. A survey was used to establish the employee perspective on the relevance of the sustainability topics. In addition, virtual one-on-one interviews were conducted with internal and external stakeholders so as to establish the materiality of the topics from their perspective as well.

After this, a scoring model was used to assess the double materiality of the topics concerned along the main value chain. This examined both the topics’ business relevance for United   Internet and the potential and actual impact of the Group’s activities on the environment and society. No risk management measures were taken into account when examining potential impacts (gross assessment). The final assessment of the topics took the form of a joint workshop with all relevant departments. The results of the materiality analysis were presented to the Group Management Board and discussed together, after which the final selection of the material topics and the priorities assigned to them were approved by the Management Board.

The 2022 materiality analysis was performed in accordance with the requirements of the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch – HGB). It will be reviewed for validity in 2024 to comply with the new statutory requirements set out in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

Results of the Materiality Analysis: Materiality Matrix

The materiality matrix presents the results of the analyses and summarizes the double materiality assessment. The red-colored topics in the matrix are considered to be material.

The topics of responsible corporate management , working conditions, and diversity, inclusion, equity, and accessibility were considered to be material in view of the high scores for business relevance that they received. In addition, the environmental matters of decarbonization and material efficiency and circularity have a substantial impact on society and the environment. Information security, digital participation, and data privacy were assessed as meeting double materiality requirements. In addition, United   Internet treats supply chain responsibility as a material topic in order to increase the resilience of, and social and environmental conditions in, its supply chains.

The material topics cover environmental, employee, and social matters, plus respect for human rights and anti-corruption and bribery.