Which VS (VSME) Data Do Customers Actually Ask Suppliers For?

Customers ask suppliers first for greenhouse gas emissions and energy data, because your Scope 1 and 2 emissions become part of their Scope 3. Banks and investors ask for different things. Under the Voluntary Standard (VS, formerly VSME), most customer requests are answered by the Basic Module.

Which VS (VSME) data do customers ask for most?

Emissions and energy data, usually first. A customer reporting under CSRD needs your greenhouse gas figures to complete its own emissions inventory. Workforce, health and safety and governance figures tend to follow, depending on the customer's sector and the risks it is assessing.

The pattern makes sense once you see the request from the customer's side. Its sustainability team is filling in a report against a deadline, and the hardest numbers to get are the ones held by other companies. Emissions are the largest of those gaps for most reporters, which is why they come first.

Why is emissions data usually the first request?

Because your emissions are part of theirs. Under the GHG Protocol, the emissions from producing what a company buys fall into its Scope 3. Your own Scope 1 and 2 emissions are therefore a component of your customer's Scope 3, and a CSRD reporter discloses Scope 3.

This is also why the VS Basic Module is well matched to customer requests. Disclosure B3 asks for energy consumption in MWh and gross Scope 1 and location-based Scope 2 emissions in tCO₂eq. That is close to exactly the supplier-specific figure a customer needs. The detail of B3 and the rest of the Basic Module is in what the Basic Module requires.

What happens if you do not provide emissions data?

Your customer estimates it, typically from what it spends with you multiplied by an average emission factor for your sector. The law allows reporting companies to use estimates for value chain information. The result reflects your sector's average, not your company.

That should concern any supplier that has done the work. As we explain in spend-based versus activity-based emissions, spend-based figures move with money, not with material. A supplier that has switched to cleaner energy, but charges more for it, can come out looking worse in a spend-based estimate than a competitor that has done nothing. Providing your own figures is how you stop being averaged.

What do banks and investors ask for that customers do not?

Banks and investors ask questions tied to their own regulatory reporting, which is a different need from a customer's emissions inventory. Their questions lean towards targets, transition plans, policies and financial exposure to sustainability risks, which sit closer to the VS Comprehensive Module.

The Directive behind the value chain cap names both audiences when it describes what the Voluntary Standard (formerly VSME) is for: companies requesting data from their suppliers, and financial institutions and investors. They are served by different parts of the standard. If a bank is driving your reporting, read Basic vs Comprehensive: which module do you need before you decide how far to go.

Will customers ask about workforce and human rights?

Some will, and those questions often come from due diligence rather than from CSRD reporting. That distinction matters, because the value chain cap covers requests made for a customer's sustainability report and does not cover requests made for due diligence.

In practice the same questionnaire can mix both. A procurement form may ask for your emissions for the customer's report and for your human rights policies for its supplier risk assessment. The first part falls under the cap. The second does not. Neither is a reason to refuse outright, but it changes what you can decline.

Do you need the Comprehensive Module to satisfy a customer?

Usually not. Customer requests driven by CSRD reporting are mostly covered by the Basic Module, and for suppliers with 1,000 or fewer employees, a customer cannot require more than the Voluntary Standard covers for that purpose. The Comprehensive Module matters most when a financial counterparty asks.

Committing to Comprehensive has a real cost, because once you opt in it applies in full. If one customer wants one Comprehensive data point, it is usually better to give them that figure directly and keep your report at Basic.

What should you have ready before anyone asks?

Twelve months of energy and fuel data, a calculated Scope 1 and 2 figure, your headcount and basic workforce figures, and the core Basic Module disclosures. With those in place, most customer requests become a matter of copying numbers rather than starting a project.

Emissions take longest to assemble, so start there. Everything else in the Basic Module is usually already somewhere in your finance or HR systems. The full sequence for a first report is in the complete guide to VS (VSME) reporting, and what to do when a request actually lands is in a customer asked for your VS (VSME) data: what now?

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Frequently asked questions

Why does my customer need my Scope 1 and 2 emissions?
Because under the GHG Protocol they form part of your customer's Scope 3 emissions, which a CSRD reporter discloses.

Can my customer report my emissions without asking me?
Yes. Reporting companies may use estimates for value chain information, usually based on what they spend with you. Those estimates reflect your sector's average, not your actual performance.

Do I need Scope 3 data to answer a customer?
Rarely. Customers mostly need your Scope 1 and 2. Scope 3 sits in the VS Comprehensive Module, where relevant.

Does the value chain cap cover questions about human rights?
Not when they are asked for due diligence. The cap covers requests made for the customer's CSRD sustainability report.