A New Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard: What Sport Organisations Need to Know
In my previous articles, I looked first at EFRAG’s draft Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for SMEs (VSME), and then at the simplified final version published in December 2024.
Now the framework has now taken another step forward.
The European Commission’s new Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 21 September 2026 and entered into force on 24 September.
The new Standard replaces the European Commission’s 2025 VSME Recommendation as the current formal reference. It remains closely based on the VSME, but applies to a wider group of organisations.
Here's the lowdown on the new standard.
What's changed?
The new Voluntary Standard (VS) is based on the VSME, but is intended for a wider group of organisations.
While the VSME was developed principally for non-listed SMEs, the new Standard can be used by organisations with up to 1,000 employees that are outside mandatory Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requirements.
Its main structure remains the same:
The Basic Module provides the core sustainability disclosures.
The Comprehensive Module adds information likely to be requested by banks, investors and other partners.
The Standard covers areas including energy and greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity, water, waste, workforce matters, climate risks, human rights and governance. Some individual datapoints and definitions have changed, but the overall approach remains recognisable to organisations already using the VSME.
Why does it matter?
One of the most important changes is the introduction of a value-chain cap.
What that means is that larger companies, subject to the CSRD, will not be able to require organisations with up to 1,000 employees to provide more sustainability information than is covered by the new Standard.
This does not mean that smaller organisations have to report. The Standard remains voluntary. However, it’s intended to provide a clearer and more consistent reference point when sponsors, financial institutions, suppliers or other partners request sustainability information.
For sport organisations, it can also provide a useful foundation for reporting. And it remains flexible: relevant sport-specific information - such as event travel, venue energy, snow production, accessibility, safeguarding and community impacts - can be added where it is not fully covered by the Standard.
What should organisations do now?
Organisations can now use the 2026 VS as the formal reference for voluntary sustainability reporting. Those already using the 2025 VSME should not need to start again. The structure remains familiar, but existing mappings and data collection should be reviewed against the revised disclosures and definitions.
The value-chain cap will apply from financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2027. From that point, companies subject to mandatory CSRD reporting will not be able to require organisations with up to 1,000 employees to provide more sustainability information than the datapoints listed in Annex II.
Where can you find it?
It can be accessed through the EFRAG Knowledge Hub.
Select Annexes, rather than Guidance. Despite the slightly confusing title, Annex I contains the Voluntary Standard itself and Annex II lists the disclosures covered by the value-chain cap.
The Guidance section contains separate, non-mandatory guidance developed by EFRAG.
The official legal text is Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560.
