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NB. This event will be hosted in Dutch.
Since 1995, VBDO has been asking critical questions about sustainability at the General Meeting of Shareholders (AGMs) of the Netherlands’ largest companies. The three focus themes of our engagement in 2025 are biodiversity, living wage and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
During this seminar, we will discuss, among other things, the results of the AGM engagement report 2025 published on 26 June.
AGM seminar programme
14:30 | Walk-in
15:00 | Welcome speech | Jan Albert Koopman, Sr. Business Development Manager – BNP Paribas Netherlands & Angélique Laskewitz, director VBDO
15:10 | AGM engagement results per ESG theme | Manon Koelewijn-Timmerman, project manager AGM engagement report, VBDO
15:30 | Double materiality analysis | Annemiek Vromans, Sr. Reporting Supervisor, Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM)
16:00 | Experiences reporting & assurance in the first year of CSRD | Roy Linthorst, Partner Sustainability Assurance and Global Corporate Reporting Services, EY
16:30 | NN & Biodiversity (exact title to follow) | NN Group
17:00 | Closing & drinks
Engagement on biodiversity
Every company depends on or impacts the natural environment to a certain extent. Although reporting this impact and external effects is important, VBDO focuses on a company’s strategy regarding nature and biodiversity, the relevant KPIs, and the implementation of mitigating measures. Companies perform differently in this respect, and there are major differences in ambition and approach to this theme. VBDO wants to emphasise the lessons companies can learn from each other.
Engagement on living wage
Implementing a living wage for their own employees is clear for many companies and has already been done a lot. Including the value chain in this is done much less often. Companies are expected to conduct business responsibly, including respecting employees’ rights and well-being throughout the value chain. Therefore, companies are also responsible for demanding that a living wage be paid in their chain. In March 2024, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) formalised a workable definition of a living wage. This should help companies to anchor a living wage in human rights policy and its implementation. VBDO has entered into discussions with companies about this.
Engagement at the CSRD
VBDO is also engaging at the CSRD this year as a new theme. There is currently still a lot of discussion around Omnibus, which the European Commission wants to implement and which will lead to a simplification of the CSRD, CSDDD and the EU Taxonomy. VBDO emphasises the importance of a careful double materiality analysis and the added value of meaningful stakeholder engagement as part of the CSRD implementation. Companies look back on a CSRD process that was challenging, but also provided many opportunities to gain more insight into the value chain and ultimately make a positive impact.
AGM engagement report 2024
Download the AGM engagement report 2024.
AGM calendar 2025
Our AGM calendar 2025 provides an overview of all AGMs attended and those yet to be attended.
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