ESG Highlights: Making an Impact, Quarter by Quarter | Q3 Edition

As Artificial Intelligence becomes a core part of everyday business operations, environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are increasingly critical to long-term value creation. And with AI continuing to scale globally, digital trust depends on practices that are visible and accountable.

That is the thinking behind blue.shift, our programme to embed sustainable, inclusive and trusted business practice at the heart of our operations. While our brands operate autonomously as a pan-European family of local champions across 24 countries, Impact-as-a-Service, our support model for local brands, provides the additional expertise and resources they need. Sustainability is also a standing agenda item at Board meetings, which keeps governance at Group level.

Last quarter, our UK & Ireland team was awarded B Corp certification, joining Kolsquare and Raidboxes as certified B Corps within team.blue, and colleagues at Italian brands Register.it and iubenda contributed 152 hours to local charities in Italy. Moreover, Our CISO group (the team leading our information security and risk management) continued its work on AI governance.

"As a Group, we believe that each local brand should have access to the tools and guidance needed to be a more sustainable, inclusive and trusted business." Vanessa De Waele, Group General Counsel and Sustainability Director at team.blue

Q3 2026 Highlights

Sustainable Tech: team.blue UK & Ireland joins Kolsquare and Raidboxes as a certified B Corp
Our UK & IE team has been awarded B Corp certification, joining Kolsquare and Raidboxes as certified B Corps within team.blue.  B Corp certification assesses and verifies a company’s social, environmental and governance impact against the B Lab Standards, a framework covering areas from climate action to human rights. The process is independently audited by a third party, and the B Corp community now includes more than 10,000 companies on six continents.

The key results behind the certification:

• 100% of company vehicles are hybrid or electric.
• 100% of end-of-life servers were recycled or reused.
• 94% of colleagues completed Equality, Diversity & Inclusion training.

Local colleagues took part in a Group-wide step challenge supporting MOVE Europe, which helps disabled children and young people, and the team sponsors the local women's football community.

The full detail is in the team.blue UK & Ireland 2024/25 Impact Report.

"Becoming a B Corp recognises what our colleagues in the UK and Ireland have built together, and it commits us to keep improving. I am grateful to everyone who helped us get here." Caroline Copeman, Head of HR UK & Ireland

Digital Inclusion: volunteering takes root in Italy

Our volunteering initiative, developed with team.blue brand Accessiway, matches colleagues' professional skills with the specific needs of local non-profits. Register.it and iubenda piloted it, and 40 colleagues gave 152 hours of volunteering across seven regions in Italy. Interest exceeded the places available, with engagement reaching 70% of colleagues.

Among the organisations our colleagues supported:

• A.P.R.I. APS (Turin) is the Associazione Pro Retinopatici e Ipovedenti, which protects the rights of blind and partially sighted people, promotes their independence and rehabilitation, and raises public awareness of what people with visual disabilities can do, including through videos and documentaries.
• Quartotempo Firenze (Florence) is a sports association that promotes inclusive football. It has teams of athletes with cognitive and relational disabilities and a five-a-side team of blind players that has represented Italy in the European Blind Football League.
• Associazione Tumori Toscana (ATT) has provided free home care to people with cancer since 1999, through doctors, nurses and psychologists, so that no patient feels alone. It also supports families and works alongside the Tuscan public health system.
• AIPD Bergamo is the Bergamo branch of the Italian Association of People with Down Syndrome, founded by a group of parents. It works for the social inclusion and independence of people with Down syndrome, including through independent living projects.

"We are now looking to expand this across the Group, empowering every brand to drive meaningful change in their local area." Dajana Gioffrè, Chief Visionary Officer, Accessiway

Digital Trust: a structured approach to responsible AI

Through our CISO group (the team leading our information security and risk management), we are establishing an AI governance framework across team.blue.

The goal is to address AI through a structured, group-wide approach, moving away from managing individual use cases in isolation. This framework focuses on defining clear responsibilities, assessing and mitigating risks and impacts, establishing internal policies, and monitoring processes.

At the same time, we continue to foster an AI-oriented culture: training on our AI Policy has reached 80% completion, and the rollout of tools such as the BlueAI Platform and BlueChat (our internal LLM) directly supports our sustainability goals by streamlining workflows and enabling more efficient, resource-conscious daily operations.

"We strongly believe digital tools can be enablers for sustainability progress, by accelerating conversations, harnessing efficiencies and improving awareness." Bilal Ahmed, Chief AI & Data Officer at team.blue

What's next

As we enter our fifth year of impact reporting, the next phase of blue.shift is about scaling these practices across our 23 countries. Over the coming years, we will recalibrate our targets, support each brand in acting in its own market under Group governance, and report our progress towards our 2030 goals.

Discover our core values and ESG commitments.