London Reporting Academy·Disclosure guides
Expert-written answers to the questions that slow reporting teams down. Each one opens with the conclusion, shows the requirement it rests on, explains the conditions and the judgement involved, and links to the disclosure cards the decision affects.
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Answers from the published guides · 275 disclosure cards · 1,211 indexed reports
Disclosure guides
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EU VS·Toolkit·Reporting boundaries
A package-level toolkit containing LRA_EU_VS_C6-C9_and_Framework_Comparison_Controls.xlsx, with 5 related Knowledge Hub guides.
Helps you decideWhich package files and related guides belong to this toolkit?
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 3 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Explainer·Data and evidence
A strong EU Voluntary Sustainability Report should be built as three connected outputs: an approved report or counterparty-facing document, a controlled disclosure index and response pack, and a restricted evidence room. The report should identify the undertaking, reporting period, perimeter, Option A or Option B basis, paragraph 22 omissions and applicable B/C disclosures; explain methodologies, boundaries, estimates, changes and limitations; and use a disclosure index that points to precise locations.
Helps you decideEU Voluntary Sustainability Report Template: Structure, Disclosure Index and Evidence Pack
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 9 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Data and evidence
A useful EU Voluntary Sustainability Reporting template should not be a single blank report. It should be a small controlled package: a Word report skeleton for the Basic and Comprehensive Modules, an Excel applicability matrix, an evidence register, a data dictionary and a request-response log.
Helps you decideFree EU Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Template: Basic and Comprehensive Modules
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 5 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Metrics and methodologies
Do not use one broad “workforce” denominator. Turnover concerns employees and an average annual employee population.
Helps you decidewhich population belongs in each workforce denominator, and whether a small-population turnover figure is safe to publish
Reviewed 10 Aug 2026 15 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Data and evidence
A useful first C4 disclosure is specific, traceable and proportionate - not necessarily model-heavy. Identify the hazard or transition event, the exposed site, activity or value-chain node, the reason it is sensitive, the relevant time horizon, the potential operational or financial channel, and the action or control.
Helps you decidehow far to take scenario work in a first climate risk disclosure, and what a risk statement must name to stay traceable
Reviewed 10 Aug 2026 14 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Metrics and methodologies
Begin with a category screening, not with a request for a single Scope 3 total. Quantify the categories that are significant and for which a reasonable estimate can be supported; explain the methods and limitations.
Helps you decidewhich Scope 3 categories are ready to quantify and publish, and whether your climate ambition qualifies as an established target
Reviewed 10 Aug 2026 15 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Data and evidence
The safest C2 rule is simple: the noun in the report must match the evidence behind it. A repeated activity is not automatically an approved policy.
Helps you decideWhich evidence category supports each claim, and what status language is accurate at the reporting date?
Reviewed 10 Aug 2026 12 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Reporting boundaries
C1 should let a reader understand what the undertaking offers, where it operates, which relationship categories enable the business model and how sustainability-related strategy connects to those facts. It is not a request for a complete supplier or customer list.
Helps you decideWhich aspects of the business model are significant enough to describe, and at what level of aggregation?
Reviewed 10 Aug 2026 12 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Comparison·Reporting boundaries
The 2026 EU Voluntary Standard is not a wholly new architecture: it is based on the VSME standard endorsed by Commission Recommendation (EU) 2025/1710 and retains the Basic B1-B11 and Comprehensive C1-C9 modules. The main changes are its proposed legal form and role, the wider intended population up to 1,000 employees, a statutory value-chain cap defined through a separate Annex II, specific reliefs for undertakings with 10 employees or fewer, alignment with the revised ESRS and targeted datapoint changes.
Helps you decideWhich source is current, what changed in architecture and datapoints, and how to transition without losing evidence or overstating legal status.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 11 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Reporting boundaries
B8-B10 use employees - individuals in an employment relationship with the undertaking - as the core population. B8 reports employees in headcount or FTE by temporary/permanent contract, gender and country of employment contract when the undertaking operates in more than one country.
Helps you decideWho counts as an employee, which denominator applies, how country rules are handled and whether publication needs privacy controls.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 11 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Comparison·Data and evidence
Choose the Basic Module when the organisation needs a reliable core report, is building its first repeatable data cycle or mainly answers proportionate customer and management questions. Choose Basic plus Comprehensive when banks, investors or corporate clients need additional information on strategy, policies, Scope 3, GHG targets, transition, climate risks, workforce depth, human rights, sensitive activities or governance diversity - and the organisation can complete and evidence the full Comprehensive Module.
Helps you decideWhich module best fits company size, information users, data maturity, climate needs and upgrade plans.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 12 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Data and evidence
For most SMEs, the controlled dataset should come first and the designed report should be treated as one output. The 2026 Voluntary Standard is intended to serve counterparties, banks and investors as well as internal management, and it allows the report to be public or counterparty-focused.
Helps you decideDecide why a controlled dataset normally comes before graphic report design.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 15 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Comparison·Omissions and claims
Classify each paragraph or subpoint by starting with the selected reporting option and the wording of the disclosure - not with whether the data happens to be available. Not applicable means an express circumstance in the Standard is absent.
Helps you decideUse four distinct classifications instead of treating every blank as not applicable.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 14 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Reporting boundaries
B11 is triggered by confirmed legal outcomes in the reporting period: the undertaking reports the number of convictions and the total amount of fines incurred for violations of anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws. Allegations, whistleblowing reports, internal findings and open investigations are not themselves B11 convictions or fines.
Helps you decideWhether an event is a qualifying conviction or fine, in which period and boundary, and how it is aggregated and worded.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 11 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Reporting boundaries
B1 establishes who is reporting, on what basis and for which organisational perimeter; B2 then states whether the undertaking has specific sustainability practices, policies, future initiatives being implemented and targets. The two disclosures should not be merged into a promotional profile.
Helps you decideWhat belongs in the company profile, and which maturity label is supported for each sustainability item.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 12 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Data and evidence
Every reported datapoint should have a controlled evidence record showing what was reported, which paragraph or subpoint it relates to, where the source came from, who owns it, which period and boundary it covers, how it was calculated or judged, who reviewed it, whether the evidence is confidential and whether the datapoint is approved for release. The 2026 Voluntary Standard does not prescribe a named “evidence register”, but it requires information to be faithful and verifiable.
Helps you decideDefine the minimum evidence record behind each metric and narrative statement.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 15 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Reporting boundaries
B4-B7 do not share one universal applicability test. B4 covers own-operation pollutant emissions that the undertaking must report to authorities under EU or national law, or voluntarily reports under an environmental management system.
Helps you decideWhich disclosure applies, at which locations, using which source records and units.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 10 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Metrics and methodologies
B3 requires total energy consumption in MWh and, where the necessary information can be obtained, a renewable/non-renewable split for electricity and fuels. It also requires estimated absolute gross Scope 1 emissions and location-based Scope 2 emissions in tCO2e, considering the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard.
Helps you decideHow to construct the energy register, select factors, treat supplier attributes and document estimates.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 11 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Data and evidence
The 2026 EU Voluntary Standard allows or anticipates estimates in some areas - most clearly for Scope 1 and location-based Scope 2 greenhouse-gas emissions - but it does not provide a general “data unavailable” exemption for every essential and applicable datapoint. A missing value must first be tested against the selected module, an explicit voluntary category, an “if applicable” condition and the limited omission permission in paragraph 22.
Helps you decideUnderstand why estimation is sometimes acceptable but unavailability is not a general omission reason.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 15 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Reporting boundaries
The 2026 EU Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard is a Commission-adopted framework designed to help undertakings outside mandatory sustainability reporting provide proportionate, standardised information to business counterparties, banks and investors and improve their own management. It retains a Basic Module (B1-B11) and a Comprehensive Module (C1-C9), with the Basic Module required before the Comprehensive Module.
Helps you decideWhether to use the Standard, which module to select, what boundary and reporting channel to adopt, and how to respond to value-chain information requests.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 12 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Assurance and controls
No. The 2026 EU Voluntary Standard does not impose a general obligation on an undertaking to obtain external assurance; the delegated act expressly states that undertakings applying the Standard are not obliged to seek assurance for the information they report. The information must nevertheless be relevant, faithful, comparable, understandable and verifiable, so a proportionate internal review and controlled evidence trail remain important.
Helps you decideUnderstand why external assurance is not a general requirement of the Standard.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 14 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·New standards and transition
No. The EU Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard is voluntary for the undertaking preparing information; it does not itself create a general duty to prepare or publish a sustainability report. A separate law may make a company a mandatory reporter, and a customer, bank or tender may create a commercial expectation or contractual request.
Helps you decideWhether the undertaking has a legal duty to report, a commercial reason to respond, a statutory right to decline above-cap information or a voluntary choice to use the Standard.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 11 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Reporting boundaries
The clearest eligible user is an undertaking that is not subject to mandatory sustainability reporting under Articles 19a or 29a and that does not exceed an average of 1,000 employees in the preceding financial year. Annex I expressly includes self-employed persons, non-incorporated undertakings and listed micro-undertakings.
Helps you decideWhether the Standard is an appropriate reporting basis, at which entity or group level, and whether value-chain protections apply.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 11 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Explainer·Reporting boundaries
C6 and C7 serve different purposes. C6 asks whether the undertaking has an own-workforce code or human-rights policy, which specified issues it covers, and whether an own-workforce complaints-handling mechanism exists.
Helps you decideWhat is a mechanism, what is an intake item, and what qualifies as a confirmed incident for reporting.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 11 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Materiality and scope
Do not start with a legacy ESG questionnaire and delete a few fields. Rebuild the request from purpose, exact datapoint mapping and necessity.
Helps you decidewhich supplier fields survive a necessity test, which suppliers should be asked at all, and which legacy questions to drop rather than rephrase
Reviewed 10 Aug 2026 15 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Data and evidence
Use the voluntary standard as a controlled data and evidence model. Start by triaging the requester, entity, purpose, period and intended use.
Helps you decidewhich approved answers may be reused exactly as they stand, and which have to be re-derived for this requester, period and purpose
Reviewed 10 Aug 2026 15 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Omissions and claims
No. The voluntary standard says that the report’s primary function is to inform actual or potential business counterparties and that the undertaking may decide to make it public. If it does so, it may use a separate section of its management report, where one exists, or a separate document.
Helps you decidewhether to publish the report at all, which delivery channel each reader gets, and what may stay confidential without going silent about it
Reviewed 10 Aug 2026 14 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Decision guide·Omissions and claims
Yes. Paragraph 25 of the Commission-adopted 2026 Voluntary Standard permits an undertaking, after completing B1-B11, to report selected disclosures from the Comprehensive Module. The safest reporting basis is to retain the Option A statement for the completed Basic Module, label the selected C disclosures as supplementary, explain the basis in B1 and show them separately in the disclosure index.
Helps you decideCan You Add Selected Comprehensive Disclosures to a Basic Module Report?
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 8 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Comparison·Omissions and claims
Option A means applying the Basic Module only; Option B means applying both the Basic and Comprehensive Modules. B1 requires the undertaking to identify the selected option and make an explicit statement of compliance using that option.
Helps you decideOption A vs Option B Under the EU Voluntary Standard: Requirements and Reporting Claims
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 8 min Read the guide →
EU VS·Comparison·Framework interoperability
The best fit depends on the reporting objective. The EU Voluntary Standard is designed as a proportionate, modular information set for undertakings outside mandatory CSRD reporting, with a Basic Module and a Comprehensive Module that can support lender, customer, investor and value-chain requests.
Helps you decideWhether the immediate need is a proportionate counterparty dataset, a public impact report, future ESRS readiness, or a controlled combination.
Reviewed 11 Aug 2026 13 min Read the guide →
Showing 30 of 51 published guides — filter by framework or problem above. Show every guide (51) →
How an LRA guide is built
You should be able to stop reading after the first paragraph and still have what you came for. Everything below it exists so you can defend the answer to a reviewer.
The question is stated as a reporting team would ask it, and settled in the opening lines.
The official source and edition are named, and kept clearly apart from our reading of them.
The points the standard leaves open are marked, with what a defensible position looks like.
The answer links to the disclosures and evidence it affects, so a decision turns into fields to fill.
Coverage
The guides tier is written framework by framework rather than thinly across all of them, so this says where the writing has actually reached. Disclosure cards, which cover the requirements themselves, run ahead of it.
Impact reporting, used voluntarily worldwide
587 disclosures · 140 cards European Sustainability Reporting StandardsDouble materiality, mandatory under CSRD
165 disclosures · 75 cards EU Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard 2026Voluntary sustainability reporting for smaller undertakings
20 requirements · no cards yet IFRS S1 and S2 (ISSB)Investor-focused, financial materiality
87 disclosures · 39 cards Taskforce on Nature-related Financial DisclosuresNature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities
0 recommendations · no cards yet UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2024Federal climate law, in force now
16 disclosures · 7 cards UK Sustainability Reporting Standard S1UK general sustainability-related financial disclosures
0 requirements · no cards yet UK Sustainability Reporting Standard S2UK climate-related financial disclosures
0 requirements · no cards yet California SB 253 and SB 261State-law emissions and climate-risk reporting
15 disclosures · 11 cards SASB StandardsIndustry metrics, in preparation
1199 metrics · no cards yetFound the answer?
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