Received a sustainability questionnaire from your client? Here's what to do

There's an email in your inbox. A large client — perhaps a contractor, retailer, or manufacturer — is asking you to fill in a sustainability questionnaire. Energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, waste, HR policies. Twenty questions, sometimes fifty.

Your first reaction is probably: "Where do they get the nerve?"

Your second: "How do I get rid of this as quickly as possible?"

This article explains in five minutes what's going on, what you need to provide, and — importantly — what you're allowed to refuse.

Why you're receiving this questionnaire

Large companies in Europe are required to report on their sustainability impact under the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive). Up to 80% of that impact doesn't sit within the company itself, but in the supply chain — with suppliers like you.

Your client needs that data to complete their own legally required report. Without your figures, they can't calculate their scope 3 emissions.

That explains the questionnaire. It doesn't explain why there are so many of them, each in a different format with different definitions. That's simply a lack of market coordination — and exactly the problem that standardised tools solve.

What your client actually needs

The European Commission formally recommended the VSME standard in July 2025 as the format for sustainability data from SME suppliers. The VSME defines exactly which data points it's reasonable to request from a business like yours.

That means: you only need to provide the data points from the VSME basic module. Nothing more. The basic module covers seven themes:

B1 — General company information (name, sector, FTE, locations)

B2 — Environmental and social risks (qualitative description)

B3 — Energy consumption and CO₂ emissions (scope 1 and 2)

B4 — Water consumption

B5 — Waste (total and recycling rate)

B6 — Employees (FTE, absence, incidents, training hours)

B7 — Policies (code of conduct, anti-corruption, complaints procedure)

This is manageable. Most of this data you already have — in your energy invoices, payroll records, and waste contract.

What you're allowed to refuse

This is the least known but most valuable piece of information in this article.

Under EU Omnibus rules, as an SME supplier you have the legal right to refuse data requests that go beyond the VSME standard. This is called the "value chain cap".

In practice: if your client asks for a full LCA (life cycle assessment) of your products, a detailed scope 3 calculation from your own suppliers, or sector-specific data points not in the VSME — you're entitled to decline.

You don't need to be confrontational about it. A polite email stating "We report in accordance with the VSME basic module, as recommended by the European Commission (Recommendation EU 2025/1710)" is sufficient.

How to handle it practically

Step 1 — Gather your energy invoices from the past year. Gas and electricity. You need these for B3.

Step 2 — Ask your accountant for your FTE count and payroll data. You need these for B6.

Step 3 — Check with your waste collector whether you can obtain an annual weight report. You need this for B5. If you don't have one, a container calculation is also acceptable.

Step 4 — Fill in the VSME data points and send them back in the format your client requests.

The first time takes two to four hours. The second time takes fifteen minutes, because the data barely changes year to year.

The bigger problem — and the solution

The real problem isn't filling in one questionnaire. The problem is that next year you'll receive five, each from a different client, each in a different format, each with different deadlines.

verified.supply solves this by building your VSME profile once and automatically delivering it to every client who requests it. You enter your data once — we ensure it reaches the right client in the right format.

Sign up for early access at verified.supply.