Short answer: Use the EU voluntary sustainability reporting standard for SMEs (VSME). Collect your energy use, emissions, waste, workforce and governance data, ideally straight from your accounting, purchasing, fleet and HR systems, calculate your carbon footprint with recognised emission factors, and present it in the VSME format. Done once in a system, it can be updated every year with little effort.
Why customers ask you
Under the EU Omnibus I directive, mandatory CSRD reporting now applies to companies with more than 1,000 employees and more than €450 million turnover, from financial year 2027. These companies must report on their value chain, so they ask their suppliers for data. For suppliers with up to 1,000 employees, those requests are capped at the voluntary SME standard, which makes VSME the format to prepare.
General information, not legal advice. Check your obligations with your adviser or auditor.
What a VSME report contains
- General information about the company and its sustainability practices
- Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1 and 2, Scope 3 where relevant)
- Pollution, water, waste and resource use
- Workforce: headcount, contracts, health and safety, training, pay
- Governance: policies, anti-corruption, convictions and fines
Scopes in plain words
| Scope | What it covers | Where the data comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Scope 1 | Fuel you burn: vehicles, boilers, generators | Fuel invoices, fleet records |
| Scope 2 | Electricity and heat you buy | Utility invoices |
| Scope 3 | Everything else in your value chain: purchased goods, transport, travel | Purchase invoices and supplier data |
Step by step
- Ask the customer which indicators and format they need.
- Map where the data already exists: accounting, purchasing, fleet, HR.
- Set up an ESG tool, such as the ESG app in Odoo 19, to calculate emissions from that data with emission factors.
- Fill the gaps with simple records, for example waste weights or training hours.
- Prepare the report and review it with management.
- Repeat yearly with the same method so results are comparable.
The hidden benefit: cost savings
The data you collect for ESG is cost data. Energy, fuel, transport, purchasing and waste figures quickly show where money can be saved.
See our ESG reporting solutions.
Talk to us
Nexus International Commerce is an independent Odoo service provider based in Nicosia, Cyprus, working with businesses in Europe, the US, the Middle East and Africa. Our team has more than 20 years of experience in IT systems and IT project management. Book a free 30-minute consultation and get a clear recommendation for your business.
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