The ESG company questionnaire covers the areas of business, environment, social, and governance, and it contains a total of 78 questions for large enterprises. Only some of these questions are mandatory for SMEs. The remaining questions are optional. The sector-specific ESG questionnaire contains a further 23 to 37 questions depending on the sector.

The main difference between the questionnaires lies in the number of mandatory questions. All questions must be answered in the case of large enterprises, whereas SMEs have fewer reporting duties and therefore receive a condensed questionnaire, although they can still view all the questions contained in the questionnaire.

In order to see the overview and to share the raw data with banks, the questionnaire must be completed in full, with the exception of the tables, which do not have to be completely filled out. In addition, companies have the option of not answering certain questions. This option is visible in the summary, and makes it possible to still finish the questionnaire.

This depends on the type of questionnaire to be completed. The core questionnaire for large enterprises contains more mandatory questions than the one for SMEs, and the sector-specific ESG questionnaires also differ from one another. Lastly, the availability of documents and data within companies has a significant influence on the time it takes to complete the questionnaires.

The questions were developed in accordance with the most important applicable standards and requirements, such as the Green Deal, EU Taxonomy, United Nations Agenda 2030 Targets (Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs), Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and Global Reporting Initiative Standards, in order to ensure standardisation and general validity.

After finishing the questionnaire, every company receives an aggregated overview of all questions that were answered and thus also a good overview of where there is room for improvement. Furthermore, companies can let their banks access this information, for instance to accelerate the loan application process. Another advantage is that companies can compare their results to those of other companies in the same sector or all of the participating companies. This makes it possible to compare your own results for certain areas to those of other companies.