completing a sustainability questionnaire for the first time, where do I start

The VSME baseline module covers most questions

With a second or third sustainability list, the pattern is usually already familiar: first company details, then energy and emissions, then personnel and policy. Those who recognize that structure can switch faster. The EFRAG VSME baseline module is de facto the format most customer portals are based on, even if the portal itself uses different labels. What one portal calls "Scope 1 and 2" appears in the next simply as "direct and indirect emissions" — the underlying question is identical.

Where things more often go wrong is evidence: filling in an answer is one step, providing the underlying documentation is another. For emissions figures that's usually an energy bill or a calculation based on consumption; for policy an internal document, not necessarily a certificate. If a customer asks for certification when it doesn't exist, the answer is simply no — not "partial" or "in preparation", because that's not a fact but an intention. Two categories of questions recur in almost every list and are quick to identify: the number of employees and the countries where the company has establishments. These two often also determine which follow-up questions a portal displays.

Origin: CSRD, VSME and implementation in SMEs

The CSRD (Directive (EU) 2022/2464) requires large, listed enterprises to report, but the questionnaires that reach suppliers are usually a translation of that obligation down the chain: the large customer must themselves report on their chain and therefore asks questions through. EFRAG has drawn up the VSME standard for non-listed SMEs, precisely to prevent each portal from inventing its own structure. That is also why many questionnaires, despite different branding, follow the same basic layout.