EFRAG has published its first-ever Sustainability Report, covering the 2025 financial year, marking a significant milestone in the organisation’s commitment to transparent environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure.
The report was prepared under the Voluntary Standard for SMEs (VSME), serving as a real-world application of the framework EFRAG helped develop for smaller entities. It details how sustainability is integrated into EFRAG’s core European reporting activities and internal organisational practices, including staff management.
In a technical first, the document was produced using the VSME Digital Template and Converter developed by the EFRAG Secretariat in 2025. The report is presented as a human-readable Inline XBRL file, allowing stakeholders to view the data while ensuring all disclosures are automatically tagged according to the VSME XBRL taxonomy.
The EFRAG Secretariat noted that while the VSME framework was used, certain sections—specifically those regarding strategy and business models—were adapted to better reflect EFRAG’s unique status as a European non-profit organisation (AISBL).
Beyond mere disclosure, the reporting process served as a pilot to identify practical hurdles faced by smaller preparers.
“In preparing the report, the EFRAG Secretariat identified several challenges commonly encountered by SMEs,” the organisation stated, adding that these insights will directly inform future implementation support for other European non-profits and small businesses embarking on their first year of reporting.
EFRAG has also confirmed that it will update the public version of the VSME Digital Template and Converter in the coming months. The update will include customisation features used in this inaugural report, such as:
- Advanced colour customisation.
- The ability to add footnotes for contextual data.
- Customised logo placement across report pages.
The publication reaffirms EFRAG’s dual role as both a standard-setter and an active participant in the European sustainability reporting landscape.
