The call for experts for the joint mapping initiative by DIN and EFRAG is currently live.
Link to register by the 6th of June 2025: https://forms.office.com/e/q45Qstk8Mm
Note: To be able to work with the platform, you must sign in to DIN.ONE.
Background
In November 2024, CEN/CENELEC and EFRAG agreed to map CEN and CENELEC standards with the ESRS/VSME as part of the Memorandum of Understanding.
The mapping will be coordinated by secondees in kind from DIN, members of CEN/CENELEC, in order to collect technical expertise from the committees within the CEN/CENELEC ecosystem, EFRAG and sustainability reporting professionals.
The VSME is a deliverable of the European Commission's SME Relief Package (September 2023) tasking EFRAG to develop a simple and standardised framework for SMEs to report on ESG issues, creating better opportunities to obtain green financing and thus facilitating the transition to a sustainable economy. In particular, in Action 14 of the SMEs Relief Package it is mentioned that the 'Commission will ensure that SMEs have a simple and standardized framework to report on ESG issues … ensuring the rapid delivery of voluntary standards for non-listed SMEs.'
Objectives Mapping
- Serve as recommendation and Implementation Guidance (IG) for the use of ISO standards in operational practice and for VSME reporting
- Optimize resources and leverage the efforts made by organizations to develop and comply with technical standards
- Support clarity on VSME disclosures and general reporting practice, enhance comparability and drive VSME implementation practice
Based on the objectives of VSME and ISO standards.
Objectives VSME
(BC4.) The purpose of the VSME is to support SMEs in:
(a) providing information that will help satisfy the data needs of large undertakings requesting sustainability information from their suppliers;
(b) providing information that will help satisfy data needs from lenders/credit providers and investors, to improve SMEs’ access to finance;
(c) improving the management of their sustainability issues. This will support their competitive growth and enhance their resilience in the short-, medium-, and long-term, and the VSME can be used as an internal management tool; and
(d) contributing to a more sustainable and inclusive economy.
Objectives ISO standards
Standardization is a regulated activity, based on Regulation (EU) 1025/2012 at the European level. The open, transparent, and consensus-based process among stakeholders at the basis of standards development ensures quality technical content that is widely accepted among companies and organizations and generates confidence among users.
- Technical standards(CEN, ISO, CENELEC, IEC) facilitate organizations’ progress on ESG objectives while enabling them to improve the robustness of their reporting
- Technical standards provide support for sustainability which is highly relevant in all three aspects (environmental, social and governance)
- Sustainability reporting based on technical standards has a reliable basis
- Conformity assessment system can significantly simplify the verification of sustainability information. This is a differentiating element of the standardization system
