First CSRD-compliant report of DELA

DELA Funeral Insurer

DELA is the largest funeral insurer in the Netherlands and Belgium. Soon DELA will present its first sustainability report that complies with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), a milestone to be proud of. Marieke van der Horst, our associate partner at TOSCA supported DELA in this process. During an interview, Marieke spoke with Laura de Jongh, Program Manager CSRD at DELA about the challenges, successes and ambitions of this program.  

Goals and Results 
Laura: “The goal of the CSRD program was to be able to publish the first compliant CSRD report with limited assurance by 2025. We are proud that we succeeded. We quite underestimated the work required beforehand. Gradually it became clear that we had to focus on broadening and deepening our knowledge and understanding of sustainability issues and developing the skills and competencies to be able to report on them. It was worth it in the end.  

A few things we are really proud of: 

• Thorough climate transition plan that is concrete in what needs to be done and incorporated into existing business processes around decision-making and annual and departmental plans. This significantly increases the chances of success; 
• More insight into the impact of our material use. Because we now have more data and insight into the chain, it is clear what we want to work on concretely.  And that encourages action.  
• Broadly supported goals on our material impacts, risks and opportunities. Clear priorities make it easier to make choices. This certainly also applies to cooperation with our suppliers. Only by working together can we achieve our goals.” 

What makes this program special 
Laura: “The program organization consisted of only a small core team of 3 (and later 4) dedicated employees and, in addition, many employees who devoted part of their time to the program. The core team was a pleasant mix of CSR, Finance and audit expertise, complemented by a good dose of passion for sustainability.  
The program focused on two tracks, namely both delivering a compliant CSRD report and making DELA more sustainable. Although the CSRD program was primarily focused on compliance in terms of its objective, this second track has created many intrinsically motivated project employees. And that is more than a pleasant side effect!”

The role of TOSCA 
As early as 2022, Nicolette Loonen, co-founder of TOSCA, was involved in the DMA (dual materiality assessment). Starting in late 2023, Marieke van der Horst was on the core team of the CSRD program.  
Laura: “Marieke was able to help us become CSRD compliant while also challenging us in our sustainability ambitions. And she made an important contribution by setting up internal knowledge sessions on CO2 emissions and sustainable use of materials. This has paid off in better decision-making about the goals and approach. Marieke has worked closely with the Sustainable Use of Materials working group led by Frank Oort (Procurement).”
 
Future and ambitions 
Laura: “The first report is finished, but the program continues. We have learned a lot and we will work hard on that in the coming period: We will include the sustainability measures for which targets have been set in our management reports. This will enable those responsible to manage them better. In addition, we are working on an appealing story about our sustainability ambitions, to include customers and employees.”
 
Read more about DELA's 'sustainability journey' at www.DELA.nl (after approval of the annual report by the General Assembly of Members in May 2025).  

Want to know more?  
Contact Marieke van der Horst, Associate Partner at TOSCA (marieke@toscatribe.nl).