Many small and medium-sized enterprises are still reluctant to produce their own sustainability reports, even though these have long since become key to competitiveness. The voluntary EU VSME standard offers a clear, practical framework for this. Initial practical experience in implementing such sustainability reports confirms this. Such a report not only creates transparency for customers, banks and employees, but also positions sustainability as a real added value rather than a compulsory exercise.
If, as a company, you want your sustainability measures or your already advanced sustainability strategy to create real added value, then you should produce a sustainability report. This is the only way to make it a real competitive factor for the requirements and enquiries of customers, banks, employees and applicants. And it is not as time-consuming and complicated as many people make it out to be or as it was in the past. There is a new, handy framework that can be used to create a compact sustainability report.
The VSME (Voluntary Standard for non-listed Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) was drafted by EFRAG (European Financial Reporting Advisory Group) on behalf of the European Commission and officially recommended by the latter in July 2025. This voluntarily applicable standard is also my clear recommendation for medium-sized companies that are not (yet) subject to the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) reporting requirements.
Required topics for the sustainability report (VSME basic and comprehensive module)
Which topics should be included in a sustainability report? The VSME standard distinguishes between a basic module and a comprehensive module. It makes sense to cover both modules here, as this creates a solid basis for collecting the most important ESG data.
Practical experience
In my consulting work for medium-sized companies, three completed sustainability reports have already confirmed that the VSME standard offers a very good, practical framework:
- The standard is concise and easy to understand: just eleven pages of description plus an optional 35 pages of explanations – I have rarely read such well-prepared regulations, either from Brussels or Berlin.
- It clearly states what data is required. Of course, not everything can be perfect in a first report. So, the best effort approach should be used to report on the topics and data as well as possible. Uncertainties, data gaps or estimates should be disclosed transparently. When accounting for greenhouse gases, one should start with operational scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gases. In later reports, scope 3 greenhouse gases from the upstream and downstream value chain can then be added gradually.
- If you want to report on topics and aspects beyond the minimum requirements of the standard, you are free to do so.
- The report does not need to be audited by a third party, not even by an auditor (as is the case with the CSRD report). This makes it much easier to handle, speeds up the process and saves costs.
- Depending on how detailed you want to be with your targets and measures, you can easily present such a report in around 30 pages. If you want it to be a little more detailed and appealing, it can also be 50 or more pages long. However, this is significantly less than sustainability reports according to the CSRD or GRI standard and much more reader-friendly than the outdated DNK standard.
Just get started: VSME provides a good framework
All in all, the sustainability report remains manageable and does not get lost in details that are irrelevant to the company's sustainability profile. The VSME standard thus provides a good framework for documenting a company's sustainability profile in a compact form and presenting its annual progress in follow-up reports with manageable effort.
“The VSME standard offers companies that are dealing with sustainability reporting for the first time a practical introduction with manageable effort.”
Jens Kürten
Author: Jens Kürten
In 2022, after 25 years in management positions at international companies, Jens Kürten founded the sustainability consultancy JK Consulting. He primarily supports medium-sized companies in the development and operational implementation of sustainability strategies, in sustainability assessments and in the preparation of sustainability reports. He has been working with iron AG as a cooperation partner in various areas of sustainability consulting since 2023.
