The voluntary standard for non-listed small and medium undertakings
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.
Last updated 2026-09-04
Basic and comprehensive
The basic module is the short one: general information about the undertaking, energy and greenhouse gas figures, pollution, water, biodiversity, waste, workforce basics, and the governance of these matters. The comprehensive module adds strategy, targets, climate transition, and more detailed workforce and governance disclosure.
Under the value-chain cap it is the basic module that a CSRD-obligated customer may require from a supplier under 1,000 employees. A customer may ask for the comprehensive module, and you may choose to provide it, but that is a negotiation rather than a requirement.
Where CoreCanopy fits
CoreCanopy answers the climate and energy part of the basic module: Scope 1, Scope 2 on a location basis, energy consumption, the method, the period and the boundary. It does not answer the workforce or governance disclosures, and it does not pretend to.
Scope 3 sits in the module as conditional. We model four of the fifteen categories today, each naming its method and its data-quality tier, and print the other eleven as stated omissions. A stated omission is honest; a blank that reads as nil is not.