This advice comes at the request of the European Commission (EC) and considers feedback received from its 2024 consultation on the VSME Exposure Draft. The VSME was approved by the EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Technical Expert Group on 22 October 2024 and by the EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Board on 13 November 2024.
This voluntary standard is intended to allow entities that are not in the scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) to support SMEs in accessing sustainable finance. The VSME is designed to provide a standardised set of information to be used in place of current efforts which can include varied questionnaires and ESG data requests.
The VSME includes two modules: a Basic Module and a Comprehensive Module. EFRAG expects that these two modules will cover the majority of requests from stakeholders that SMEs receive while still offering some flexibility.
In addition to the standard, EFRAG plans to continue working on additional initiatives in 2025, which will include the issuance of support guides, education materials, outreach, awareness raising events and the monitoring of any emerging tools and platforms.
We are pleased to see the release of this new standard which will provide SMEs with a voluntary way to reply to sustainability data requests in a consistent and standardised way. In our view, electing to utilise this standard will assist entities in moving towards a more standardised and decision-useful sustainability reporting environment.
For more information, access the full VSME as issued by EFRAG