my customer has their own sustainability format, how do I complete it quickly

A custom format is usually just a different wrapper around the same questions

A customer with a custom sustainability format almost always asks for the same underlying data as a standard questionnaire, only in a different order and with their own column names. Companies that do not themselves have a CSRD obligation often base their format on EFRAG's VSME — the voluntary basic module for SMEs — or on a shortened version of it. If you recognize the structure (general information, environment, social, governance), you immediately know which section from your supply chain file should go where, even if the headings are different from what you are used to.

Filling in quickly therefore does not mean: finding out again what is being asked, but translating the format back to familiar categories. If the customer asks for "organizational profile", it is usually about the legal name of the company, the registered address and the number of employees. If there is an open field such as "describe your main environmental impact", that is a VSME question in their own words, and you can fall back on what you have already established for scope 1 and 2. If you do not have a figure or substantiation in the file, do not fill in based on an estimate; leave the field blank or mark it as "not yet available" and submit it as such — that is factually more accurate than an educated guess that cannot be substantiated later.

Why data reuse works: VSME and the Dutch Trade Register Act

The fact that the same data appears in virtually every format stems from the structure of the VSME itself: EFRAG's basic module is intended as a standardized set of core indicators on which users can base their own questionnaires, even outside the formal CSRD scope of Directive (EU) 2022/2464. The administrative basic data — name, registration, address of establishment — are furthermore fixed under the Dutch Trade Register Act 2007, which explains why those fields appear virtually identically in every format, regardless of the customer. If you are unsure whether a requested piece of information, for example about the company's registration number, is already recorded somewhere, that register is the starting point.