How to create your first sustainability report without a consultant

The request arrives from a bank, a large client or a tender: "send us your sustainability report". If the company has never produced one, the usual reaction is to think of a consultancy budget that was not planned for. The good news is that a first credible report can be done in-house, with the data the company already has, a clear framework and a few weeks of organised work.

This guide takes you through eight steps, from objective to publication, with examples from manufacturing, food and beverage, and hospitality. It works both for the manager who wants to understand what is at stake and for the sustainability coordinator who will handle the data day to day.

Why it makes sense to start now

The pressure to report reaches SMEs from several sides. Portuguese banks, like all European ones, are including more and more ESG questions in credit processes. Large clients send questionnaires to suppliers, and losing a tender for lack of ESG information is no longer a rare possibility. Meanwhile, the VS (Voluntary Standard, formerly VSME), the voluntary European standard applicable to companies not covered by the CSRD (up to 1,000 employees), is establishing itself as the reference for answering these requests in a structured way.

A first report does not need to be perfect. It works as a starting point: it shows where the company stands, builds the habit of collecting data and allows progress from year to year. If you are still deciding where to start your ESG journey, the article below helps put priorities in order before you pick up the numbers.

Read also: 5 steps to start your SME's ESG journey

The 8 steps to your first report

Step 1: define who you are writing for and why

Before opening a spreadsheet, answer two questions: who will read the report and what decision depends on it? A bank wants to understand risks and transition capacity. A large food-sector client looks for data on water, waste and suppliers' working conditions. A hotel group may value energy per guest night and labour practices. The reader sets the level of detail and the topics to highlight.

Write the objective in one sentence and paste it on the first page of the working file. Whenever you doubt whether to include a data point, go back to that sentence.

Step 2: choose the framework

Without a framework, the report is reduced to a collection of good intentions. For those reporting for the first time, the VS is the most sensible option: it is voluntary, applies to companies not covered by the CSRD (up to 1,000 employees) and has two modules, the Basic (11 disclosure requirements) and the Comprehensive (20 disclosure requirements).

The Comprehensive module adds strategy and business model, climate targets, climate risks, human rights and diversity on the governance body. It can wait until a bank or investor asks for greater depth.

For more information, read the article VS (formerly VSME) explained: a practical guide for SMEs.

Step 3: define the scope

Decide which entities and sites go into the report. For most SMEs, the scope matches the legal entity and all its units: factory, warehouse, offices, hotels or catering outlets. If the company belongs to a group, confirm with management whether the report will be individual or consolidated. Also fix the reporting period, normally the calendar year or the last closed financial year.

Step 4: identify what is relevant

Topics do not carry the same weight in every company, and a simplified materiality analysis settles this in a two-hour meeting with three to five people: management, production or operations, finance, human resources and sales.

List the topics in the Basic module and give each a score from 1 to 5 on two questions:

Topics with high scores on both questions deserve more space in the report. In hospitality, water and energy tend to score high; in a factory, waste, energy and safety; in food and beverage, water, food waste and packaging.

Keep the list, the scores, the date and the participants. This record shows how you reached your conclusions and immediately answers any question from an auditor or a bank.

Step 5: collect the data the company already has

Most of the information the report asks for already exists, just scattered across invoices, payroll files and production records. Gather everything in a single spreadsheet, with one row per data point and columns for the value, the unit, the source, the person responsible and the collection date.

Environment. Emissions are calculated by multiplying consumption by the relevant emission factor. Scope 1 covers fuel burned in the company and its own fleet, and Scope 2 the electricity (and steam) purchased. Scope 3, which covers the value chain, is more demanding and can wait until the second year, as long as the report says so clearly.

Social. Record the number of employees, the breakdown by gender and contract type, accidents, days lost and training hours. In seasonal operations, such as hospitality or the canning industry, state whether you use the annual average or the value at the end of the period.

Governance. In the G dimension, record who decides, which policies exist (code of conduct, anti-corruption, data protection) and how the company handles whistleblowing reports. Governance includes innovation, so this is also the place to show investment in more efficient processes, products or technologies.

Step 6: calculate and validate

Before writing, check the numbers. Compare with the previous year and investigate changes above 20%, which almost always reveal a unit error or a missing invoice. Ask a second person to repeat the emissions calculations. Where data is missing, use a well-founded estimate and flag it as such, because an acknowledged gap inspires more confidence than an invented number.

Step 7: write the report

A first report does not need many pages. This structure covers the essentials of the Basic module and can be used as a table of contents:

Write in direct sentences, present each number with its unit and a comparison (previous year or target) and add a line explaining what the company is doing about it. The full data can go in a table in an annex.

Step 8: approve, publish and plan the next cycle

Management should read and approve the report, since it is management that answers for its content. Then publish it on the website, add it to the file sent to the bank and send it to the large clients who asked for it. If any result is weak, do not hide it: explain the action under way. Finally, put the start date of the next cycle in the calendar and name the person responsible for data collection.

Tools that remove the need for a consultant

To compare platforms and know what to assess before choosing, see ESG data collection software: a guide to the tools available.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Starting to write before collecting and validating the data
• Trying to cover every topic instead of going deeper on the relevant ones
• Setting targets without baseline data to support them
• Promising what the company cannot demonstrate, which creates greenwashing risk
• Delegating everything to one person, without management's involvement

When it is worth asking for outside help

Doing the first report on your own is possible, but from the second cycle onwards the complexity tends to grow: more data to keep up to date, more disclosure requirements and more year-on-year comparisons. This is where a solution such as Sustanya makes a difference, by organising the data, tracking the disclosure requirements and preparing the report in one place. That organised base also helps when external verification is needed, when the company operates in several countries or when a client demands a higher level of rigour.

Next steps

The first report is the simplest, and the following ones become more complex and in-depth.