Regulations, in plain language.
What each instrument actually requires, what it does not, and which parts the ledger answers. Written for a sustainability lead or a controller rather than for a lawyer, and honest about where our reading ends and advice begins.
Directive (EU) 2026/470 · in force 18 March 2026 · applies from FY2027
The EU value-chain cap
A CSRD-obligated company may not require more sustainability information, for its own CSRD reporting, from a supplier of up to 1,000 employees than the voluntary standard contains. For most mid-market suppliers this is the single most useful fact in the whole regime: the obligation now has a ceiling.
ReadVoluntary standard · delegated act C(2026) 5011 · figures produced, not filed
VSME
VSME is the EFRAG standard that now defines the ceiling of what a large customer may ask a smaller supplier for. It has a basic module and a comprehensive module, and the distinction decides how much work a request actually is.
ReadEuropean Sustainability Reporting Standards · climate · filed by CoreCanopy
ESRS E1
E1 is the climate standard inside ESRS. Following the Omnibus most mid-market companies are no longer required to report under it, but some remain in scope and others report voluntarily because a customer, an investor or a lender asks.
ReadGRI Standards · emissions · filed by CoreCanopy
GRI 305
GRI 305 is the emissions disclosure most widely recognised outside the EU regime, and the one many customer questionnaires quietly assume. CoreCanopy files it as an immutable, versioned report.
ReadCorporate Standard · the method every figure is calculated under
The GHG Protocol
Every figure in CoreCanopy is calculated under the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. That decides the boundary, the scopes, the gases and the way a total is built.
ReadGHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard · 6 of 15 categories modelled
Scope 3
Scope 3 is where most carbon software overstates itself. We model six of the fifteen categories. The other nine appear on your board and on your report as stated omissions, so nobody mistakes an incomplete inventory for a finished one.
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