Italy Leads Europe in Digital Sustainability Reporting for SMEs, EFRAG Finds

Italy confirms its position as Europe’s leading hub for the digitalization of sustainability reporting for small and medium-sized enterprises.

This is the finding of the second edition of the Mapping of Digital Platforms and Initiatives report, published by EFRAG to capture the evolution of digital tools developed to support the adoption of VSME, the voluntary standard for unlisted companies adopted by the European Commission in July 2025.

Italy strengthens its leadership in Europe’s digital sustainability reporting ecosystem for SMEs, according to EFRAG’s latest mapping of VSME platforms

While the market demonstrates a strong capacity for innovation, with Italy leading the way in terms of the number of platforms surveyed and initiatives included in the European shortlist, the picture also highlights an ecosystem still in the process of consolidating, where interoperability, full alignment with the VSME standard, and advanced features represent the main areas for development.

The survey stems from the Call for Expressions of Interest launched by EFRAG between February and April 2026 and attracted 108 applications from across Europe. Of these, only 25 passed the eligibility criteria, while just 14 also completed the self-assessment questionnaire required by the report.

EFRAG itself emphasizes that the mapping is for investigative purposes only and that the inclusion of a platform in no way constitutes certification, approval, or verification of compliance with the VSME or ESRS.

A dynamic, yet still evolving market

The snapshot taken by EFRAG depicts a rapidly expanding ecosystem. 76% of the 108 platforms surveyed are developed by private entities , confirming that the digitalization of ESG reporting for SMEs is currently driven primarily by the market rather than by public intervention, represented by 13 platforms (12%).

From a regulatory compliance perspective, the picture is encouraging but not yet mature. Of the overall sample of 108 applications, 70% of platforms declared they had already fully implemented the contents of the 2025 VSME Recommendation, while a further 17% declared themselves partially aligned.

However, restricting the analysis to the 25 initiatives included in the shortlist by EFRAG, the percentage of those declaring full alignment with the Recommendation drops to 52%, painting a more cautious picture.

Even more significant is the level of depth represented by the self-assessments: only 14 initiatives completed the self-assessment grid developed by EFRAG, and an analysis of the individual data points shows that full compliance remains the exception.

The only platform that claims complete compliance with all VSME requirements is the Danish NSRS – Nordic Sustainability Reporting for SMEs, while the others still highlight areas of partial alignment. This result confirms EFRAG’s own assessment: the market is rapidly evolving, but the full maturity of the digital ecosystem supporting VSME remains a goal to be achieved.

An important signal comes on the front of economic accessibility: a full 60% of the 25 platforms on the shortlist are completely free, an essential condition to avoid burdening the budgets of SMEs and facilitating the transition.

In terms of functionality, a significant level of digitalization is already evident: 78% of the platforms automatically generate the sustainability report and 81% integrate additional tools, such as greenhouse gas emissions calculators, geographical tools or applications dedicated to biodiversity.

However, the diffusion of the XBRL format remains limited, absent in the majority of the platforms surveyed ( 68% ), an element destined to assume increasing importance with the progressive digital standardisation of European civil reporting.

In terms of platform language coverage, English is the most supported language (14 out of 25), followed by Italian, French, and Spanish (6 each). Other European languages ​​have more limited coverage, while no platform claims support for non-EU languages.

Italian initiatives: ESGpass, Smart CSR, and SMARTER CSR

The most relevant data for the national market concerns the geographical distribution of the initiatives. Italy leads the European ranking with 25 platforms surveyed, ahead of Spain (21), the Netherlands (20), Germany (20) and France (19). Even restricting the analysis to the 25 platforms selected in the shortlist, Italy maintains the lead with five initiatives.

This result confirms the role assumed in recent years by Italy, where institutions, the chamber of commerce system, business associations and private operators have progressively developed tools designed to facilitate the collection and sharing of ESG data required by the market, banks and large companies.

Among the initiatives included in the new shortlist and which have undergone self-assessment are ESGpass, a partially aligned tool developed by Innexta together with the Milan Monza Brianza Lodi Chamber of Commerce, which offers automatic report generation free of charge, and the Smart CSR and SMARTER CSR projects, promoted by the Como-Lecco Chamber of Commerce, which also integrate a GHG emissions calculator and operate with a recurring fee model.

Italy stands out with leading initiatives such as Bancopass, SUSTAIN-ability, Open-es, and SynESGy, confirming its central role in Europe’s evolving ESG digital ecosystem

Alongside the new nominations, the report also highlights the main initiatives already identified in the 2025 mapping, many of which are from Italy: from the Sustainability Dialogue between SMEs and Banks, promoted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, to Assolombarda ‘s Bancopass, declared fully aligned with the VSME; from Unioncamere-Dintec ‘s SUSTAIN-ability to Open-es and SynESGy, now among the most widespread platforms for managing ESG data along supply chains.

Ultimately, the VSME ecosystem’s maturation process is far from complete. The long-awaited Voluntary Standard Delegated Act, which will provide definitive legal status to the VSME for companies excluded from the CSRD, should help stabilize the market and accelerate the alignment of existing platforms, fostering greater technological convergence and gradually reducing the administrative burden for European SMEs. Until then, the mapping serves primarily as an observatory on market developments, rather than a quality ranking of available tools.

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(Featured image by Cht Gsml via Unsplash)

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