Last year, VSME-standard reporting in the EU went through quite a shake-up, and the Omnibus package kept CSRD and VSME in flux for the entire year.

Now the decisions are made. The changes to sustainability reporting took effect at EU level in March. The CSRD thresholds rose sharply: CSRD-level reporting obligations now apply only to companies with more than 1,000 employees and more than €450 million in revenue. An estimated 80 % of the companies originally in scope are now out of it. (National implementation is still ongoing, with a deadline of March 2027.)

Many companies breathed a sigh of relief, no need for the heavy lifting of CSRD reporting after all. But the underlying issue hasn’t gone away: large CSRD companies still have to collect sustainability data across their entire value chain, including from their smaller partners. In July, the EU decided how this will work going forward. VSME is being put on an official footing, and even the name is changing to VS (Voluntary Standard). At the same time, a cap was set on what large companies can ask of their value chain: they cannot demand more than what the voluntary standard covers. If your company has fewer than 1,000 employees, this means one good report is enough.

We produced Brandkind’s own first VSME report last year. Alongside it, I interviewed our clients about what they actually expect from a marketing communications partner’s sustainability reporting.

None of them had yet asked us for sustainability reporting. None expected third-party verified data either. A reliable company’s own report was enough for everyone. Social responsibility, on the other hand, stood out as important, specifically how well employees are looked after. One respondent put it plainly: a partner company’s team wellbeing shows directly in the quality of the work.

Our own report ended up fairly modest in scope. A small expert company simply doesn’t have much data to report on. Still, we learned three things: measurable targets need to be defined more precisely, social responsibility needs more articulation, and comparison data only builds up over time. That’s true for us, but almost certainly for many other companies too.

As producers of visual content, visualizing the report mattered to us as well. The VSME standard itself doesn’t require it at all, tables alone are sufficient. But we know that images and infographics say more than a table ever could. They bring story and feeling to the numbers.

Beyond visuals, the narrative section is where story and feeling come through too: where we’re headed, and what real substance or lessons are hiding behind the figures. We always encourage our clients to open this up in their own reports as well. A perfect report isn’t the point. The point is telling the journey, what we’ve done, where we’re headed, and what we’ll improve next year.

This is exactly where we at Brandkind are the professionals: we put your company’s story into words and communicate it clearly to your customers. The journey from where you started to where you’re headed. At the same time, we shape the numbers and tables into a visually appealing whole that fits your brand.

Shall we build your story next?