On 21 March 2025, the Platform on Sustainable Finance (Platform), an advisory body to the European Commission, published a report on streamlining sustainable finance for SMEs.
SME sustainable finance standard
To address the challenges SMEs face in greening their activities and in accessing sustainable finance, the Platform proposes in the report to develop a streamlined approach to the use of the Taxonomy and to sustainability performance and reporting that is fit for SMEs – the SME sustainable finance standard.
Chapter 2 of the report discusses the proposed standard, while Chapter 3 goes into the implications for reporting.
The proposed standard considers the principle of proportionality, while aiming to support SME’s efforts to transition to net zero and reach environmental sustainability. As a first step, the focus is on climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation objectives. The proposed standard aims to make it easier for SMEs to access external financing for their climate-related sustainability efforts by reducing the complexity of verification and reporting requirements through providing for a framework allowing SMEs to demonstrate the climate-related efforts of their activities, investments or enterprise.
The proposed standard has implications for SMEs’ voluntary Taxonomy- and sustainability-related reporting. When the Taxonomy Disclosures, Climate and Environment Delegated Acts have been reviewed, the part of the SME sustainable finance standard that is strictly limited to Taxonomy eligible activities should be checked to ensure compatibility. The standard does not consider the Omnibus proposals regarding the potential use of the SME sustainable finance standard by companies that are not SMEs.
Next steps
The Platform will present the report in a webinar on Thursday 27 March from 16:00 to 17:00 CET.