From VSME to Voluntary Standard: What Has Changed

Anyone who has engaged with voluntary sustainability reporting over the past couple of years will likely be familiar with the VSME standard. Following the delegated act of 3 July 2026, the Voluntary Standard has emerged from it. What happened – and what does it actually mean, including for companies that have already reported under VSME?

From guidance to regulation

The VSME standard was published by EFRAG at the end of 2024 as a voluntary, non-binding guide, and adopted by the Commission as a Recommendation in July 2025. In the course of the Omnibus process, the need arose for a more binding framework – among other things, to enable the Value Chain Cap. On 3 July 2026, the delegated act establishing the Voluntary Standard was adopted.

Worth clarifying: even though the standard itself is now set out as a delegated regulation and is therefore legally binding as an instrument, applying it remains entirely voluntary for companies.

What is likely to have changed in substance

Rather than a simple renaming, the Voluntary Standard is likely to bring a number of substantive adjustments, based on the current state of information:

• Scope expands: from non-listed companies with up to 250 employees to, in principle, all companies with up to 1,000 employees, regardless of listing status.

• The standard has been streamlined and is likely to be more compact overall than the original VSME draft.

• Certain data points may have been dropped or simplified, particularly for smaller companies.

• The Value Chain Cap is, for the first time, legally anchored within the Voluntary Standard – a concept the VSME did not offer in this form.

Since the delegated act had not yet formally entered into force at the time of writing, these points should be read as an indicative overview rather than a definitive list.

For companies already reporting under VSME

Companies that have already worked with the VSME generally do not need to discard that work. It would make sense, however, to review specifically which changes are relevant to their own reporting – for example around scope, individual data points, or the new Value Chain Cap. For an overview of what the Voluntary Standard covers, see our article [What is the Voluntary Standard (formerly VSME)? A quick overview].