Commission presents voluntary sustainability reporting standard to ease burden on SMEs

The Commission has today adopted a recommendation on voluntary sustainability reporting for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). The standard adopted in the recommendation will reduce administrative burden on SMEs by making it easier for them to respond to requests for sustainability information from large companies and financial institutions which are subject to mandatory reporting under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and which have such SMEs in their value chains.

The voluntary standard for SMEs (VSME) was developed by EFRAG, the Commission’s technical advisory body for sustainability reporting. The Commission encourages large companies and financial institutions that seek sustainability information from SMEs to base their requests on the voluntary standard as far as possible. SMEs may also wish to voluntarily report sustainability information to improve their access to sustainable finance and better understand and monitor their own sustainability performance, thereby improving their resilience and competitiveness.

Documents

• Press release
• Questions and answers
• Recommendation (English version)
  • Recommendation (German version)
  • Recommendation (French version)
• Annex 1 to the Recommendation (English version)
  • Annex 1 to the Recommendation (German version)
  • Annex 1 to the Recommendation (French version)
• Annex 2 to the Recommendation (English version)
  • Annex 2 to the Recommendation (German version)
  • Annex 2 to the Recommendation (French version)

Related links

Corporate sustainability reporting