Getting Started with VSME: A Practical Guide to Sustainability Reporting for Growing Businesses

Sustainability reporting is no longer just a topic for large corporations. Customers, banks, and business partners increasingly expect structured and comparable sustainability data – also from small and medium-sized enterprises. 

The challenge for many SMEs is not a lack of willingness, but uncertainty about where to start without creating unnecessary complexity. This is exactly where the VSME framework comes in. It offers a pragmatic, scalable entry point to sustainability reporting that is aligned with real-world SME resources. 

This article shows: 

• How SMEs can start sustainability reporting step by step using VSME 
• Why the basic module is the right lightweight entry point 
• How the comprehensive module supports growing SMEs over time 

Why sustainability reporting often fails before it starts

Many SMEs delay sustainability reporting for one simple reason: it feels overwhelming. 

Unclear stakeholder expectations, parallel data requests, and complex standards often lead either to endless postponement or to unstructured data collection without a clear purpose. In both cases, reporting adds workload with limited value. The VSME framework addresses this problem by defining clear boundaries. It limits the reporting scope, focuses on relevant information, and creates a consistent structure for transparency and comparability. 

Structured sustainability reporting creates value far beyond compliance. Customers use sustainability data to qualify suppliers and reduce risk in their value chains. Banks increasingly integrate ESG information into credit assessments and financing conditions. Internally, sustainability data provides management with transparency on risks, costs, and efficiency potential. The VSME framework aligns these data needs by creating a shared, standardized data basis that can be reused across stakeholders instead of responding to fragmented, one-off requests. 

The Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for non-listed SMEs (VSME) enables companies to start with what actually matters – without overburdening resources.  

The VSME basic module: A lightweight entry into sustainability reporting

VSME follows a modular structure. For most SMEs, the basic module is the right place to begin. It covers essential topics that apply to almost every business, including: 

• strategy and governance 
• environmental impact 
• social responsibility 

The goal is structure, not perfection. With the basic module, SMEs can create an initial sustainability report with limited effort while ensuring consistency and comparability across reporting periods. 

A four-step roadmap to start sustainability reporting with VSME

Starting sustainability reporting works best when it follows a clear and manageable sequence. The VSME framework provides exactly this through a structured four-step approach. 

Step 1: Identify what really matters for your business 

The first step is orientation. SMEs need to understand the VSME framework and identify which sustainability topics are relevant for their own business model. In parallel, existing data should be reviewed to identify gaps. This creates transparency and avoids unnecessary data collection later on. 

Step 2: Assign clear responsibilities and processes 

Reporting fails quickly when responsibilities are unclear. Each topic and metric needs a defined owner and a clear process for data collection and review. This does not require a large team – but it does require accountability. Clear ownership ensures consistency and reliability across reporting cycles. 

Step 3: Collect sustainability data in a structured way 

With responsibilities in place, SMEs can collect key metrics relevant to their operations, such as: 

• energy and resource consumption 
• greenhouse gas emissions 
• working conditions 
• governance-related information 

The focus is not on the volume of data, but on relevance, consistency, and traceability. 

Step 4: Analyze results and create your first sustainability report 

In the final step, collected data is reviewed, prioritized, and compiled into an initial sustainability report. This report establishes a baseline, supports transparent communication with stakeholders, and enables progress tracking over time. It marks the starting point for continuous improvement, not the end of the journey. 

Why Digital Tools Are Key for Scalable VSME Reporting 

EFRAG provides a basic framework to help SMEs structure their sustainability disclosures. It’s a solid foundation for getting started – but the challenge is execution at scale. In practice, many SMEs struggle to manage VSME reporting with ad-hoc, manual workflows. Data is often scattered across spreadsheets, emails, and different departments. Updates are difficult to track, responsibilities remain unclear, and every new stakeholder request requires extra effort. 

As sustainability reporting becomes recurring rather than a one-time exercise, these inefficiencies compound. Manual processes increase the risk of inconsistencies, outdated information, and unnecessary rework, especially when the same data is needed for different purposes, such as customer requests, bank questionnaires, or internal decision-making processes. 

This is precisely why a dedicated, SME-focused digital solution is essential. The osapiens Sustainability Suite is a solution designed specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to implement VSME in a structured, efficient, and scalable way. The osapiens HUB enables SMEs to centrally collect, manage, and validate VSME-aligned sustainability data while keeping effort and complexity low. Clear workflows, predefined VSME templates, and automated data collection processes significantly reduce manual work and coordination effort. With one click, companies can generate a VSME-ready report from the latest validated data, consistently formatted and ready to share with stakeholders. 

As requirements grow, this digital foundation allows SMEs to efficiently scale their reporting – expanding from the VSME basic to the comprehensive module, responding to additional stakeholder requests, and preparing for future regulatory standards without fundamentally changing their reporting setup. 

When SMEs Should Use the VSME Comprehensive Module 

As SMEs grow, sustainability requirements often increase as well. The comprehensive module is designed for companies that: 

• face higher sustainability relevance 
• receive more detailed stakeholder requests 
• already have reporting experience 

It enables deeper analysis of topics such as climate targets, biodiversity, and human rights due diligence. 

In practice, the transition from the Basic to the Comprehensive module is rarely driven by internal ambition alone. It is usually triggered by external signals. Typical indicators include repeated requests for more granular climate or social data from customers, sustainability-related questions becoming part of financing discussions with banks, or participation in tenders that require structured ESG disclosures. Another common trigger is growth: as SMEs expand internationally, professionalize governance, or formalize sustainability targets, the basic module often no longer provides sufficient depth. The comprehensive module allows companies to respond to these demands without rebuilding their reporting structure from scratch. 

The key advantage of VSME is flexibility: SMEs only expand reporting when it creates real value, not before. 

VSME Makes Sustainability Reporting Manageable for SMEs 

Sustainability reporting does not have to be complex or overwhelming. With the VSME framework, SMEs can start with a clear structure, focus on relevant information, and build reporting capabilities step by step. The result is not just a report, but a reliable foundation for transparent communication with customers, partners, and financial institutions – and a scalable basis for future requirements.