Basis modulet i VSME-standarderne

Få hjælp til overblik og indholdet af basis modulet i EUs frivillige standarder til ikke-børsnoterede SMV'er

General Information

B1 – Basis for the Report

Before reviewing sustainability data, you need to ensure that your company’s basic information and the report framework are in place. This includes:

• Whether you are using the Basic Module
• Your revenue
• Other key company details

If you use Valified’s template, all the necessary elements are already included. The template provides step-by-step guidance on:

• Filling in company information
• Managing confidential data
• Describing certifications

In short: Simply follow the template to ensure everything is completed correctly. You can find the template when creating an ImpactReport from your company profile.

B2 – Practices for Transitioning to a More Sustainable Economy

Here, you should describe how your company is working towards a more sustainable economy—both now and in the future.

• You need to report on whether your company has:

  • Practices such as reducing water and energy consumption, lowering CO₂ emissions, preventing pollution, or improving product safety.
  • Policies on sustainability (e.g., environmental, social, or governance policies) and whether they are publicly available.
  • Future initiatives or plans to strengthen sustainability efforts.
  • Goals to ensure your company makes progress in its sustainability policies.

  This section focuses on reducing negative impacts and enhancing positive contributions.

  B2 is included as a text field in the report template for voluntary standards, along with a guide.

Climate & Environmental Metrics (E)

B3 – Energy and CO₂ Emissions

Here, you shall report on the following:

• Energy consumption (MWh): Total energy used from fuels, electricity, and heating. This information can often be found in your supply agreements or invoices from utility companies, electricity providers, or fuel suppliers.
• Fossil fuel energy consumption (MWh): The share of your total energy use that comes from fossil sources (coal, oil, natural gas).
  • Energy breakdown by source: If possible, specify fossil vs. renewable energy consumption for both electricity and fuels.

• Scope 1 emissions (direct CO₂ emissions): Use Valified’s CO₂ calculator or contact Valified’s partners for access to an automated CO₂ calculator.
• Location-based Scope 2 emissions (indirect CO₂ emissions): Use Valified’s CO₂ calculator or request access to an automated version.
• CO₂ intensity: This figure is automatically calculated on the platform as location-based emissions divided by revenue.

B4 – Pollution of Air, Water, and Soil

If relevant, report on any pollutants emitted into air, water, and soil, as required by law or environmental management systems.

If the data is already publicly available, you can link to the relevant URL or reference your environmental permit in your ImpactReport.

• The platform’s template will guide you on how to present emissions using an interactive table.

B5 – Biodiversity

This section requires reporting on biodiversity-related factors, including:

• The number of locations the company operates in that are particularly vulnerable to biodiversity impacts.
• The area the company operates in that is characterized as particularly vulnerable in terms of biodiversity.

Additional optional reporting includes:

1. total use of land;
2. total sealed area;
3. total nature-oriented area on-site; and
4. total nature-oriented area off-site.

B6 – Water

Report information on water, including:

• Water consumption: All water consumed by the company, including water from utilities, wells, recycled water, etc.
  • This information is often available from your utility provider.
• If you have production processes that consume large amounts of water or operate in water-stressed areas, you should describe the water consumption associated with these activities.

Get an overview with this water stress atlas.

Resource use, circular economy and waste management

Here, you shall report on:

• Total waste generated
• Hazardous waste generated
• Waste prepared for recycling
• Waste reused

This information can often be found with your waste collector.

For industries with high material flow (e.g., manufacturing, construction, or packaging), the annual material mass flow shall be reported.

Social Metrics (S)

B8 – Workforce: General Characteristics

Here, you shall provide:

• Number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees
  • Gender distribution in FTEs
• Contract types
  • Permanent
  • Temporary
• Employees by country (based on contract location)

This data is typically found in HR systems.

B9 - Health and Safety

Here you shall report:

• Total number of work-related accidents (in count)
  • Work-related accidents include incidents resulting from work. Optionally, provide the number reported to the Labor Inspection via the EASY system.
• Accident rate per 100 FTEs (calculated automatically on the platform)
  
• Number of fatalities from work-related accidents or diseases.

B10 – Workforce: Wages, Collective Agreements, and Training

Here, you need to report:

• Ratio of starting salary to minimum wage (where a minimum wage exists, e.g., if it is collectively agreed upon). The purpose is to assess whether employees receive an appropriate salary.
• Wage difference between male and female employees (%) – this figure is automatically calculated on the platform based on the average hourly wage for men and women.

This figure can be omitted if your company has fewer than 150 employees.

• Proportion of employees covered by collective agreements.

This section aims to ensure that all employees receive a fair wage.

• Average number of training hours per employee.
• Average number of training hours per employee, broken down by gender.

Metrics on Governance (G)

B11 - Corruption and Bribery

Here, you need to report:

• Number of confirmed cases on corruption and bribery
  • Total amount of fines.

Read More

EFRAG's document on the voluntary standards (december 2024)

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