Question 1

How long does it take to create an ESG Passport?

Accepted Answer

Most SMEs complete the full wizard in 5 to 10 minutes. We collect 13 core data points across 5 steps: company info, energy, waste, supply chain, and certifications. You can also upload an electricity bill — our AI fills in the data automatically.

Question 2

What exactly should I send to my buyer or bank?

Accepted Answer

It depends what they ask for. Most buyers accept your public profile link (e.g. ecodiligence.com/profile/your-company) — they can read it on any device, no PDF download required. If they want a file, send the branded PDF (one click from your dashboard). If they explicitly need machine-readable data — common for larger banks and EU procurement — send the VSME Digital Template (Excel) on Pro, or run it through the EFRAG validator to produce XBRL. If you're unsure which to send, the public link is always a safe first reply.

Question 3

What data do I need before starting?

Accepted Answer

Have these to hand: (1) your most recent annual electricity bill (the AI bill parser reads it for you); (2) approximate annual fuel use if you have a vehicle fleet or on-site combustion; (3) headcount split by gender; (4) waste volumes in kg or tonnes if you track them. That's enough for the standard wizard. You can save and resume any time — partial Passports stay in your dashboard.

Question 4

Do I need an accountant or sustainability consultant?

Accepted Answer

No — though many SMEs work with a consultant who creates Passports on their behalf. EcoDiligence is self-service: the wizard guides you through each question with examples, plausibility checks, and AI-powered bill parsing. If you have your annual electricity bill and basic operational data, you have everything you need to do it yourself.

Question 5

Is my ESG Passport really free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The Free tier gives you 1 ESG Passport with PDF export, a shareable profile page, QR code, and annual updates — at no cost, forever. The Pro tier ($299/year) adds the VSME Digital Template (Excel) — the EFRAG-validated path to XBRL — plus unlimited AI bill parsing, custom slug, and priority support.

Question 6

Which standards does EcoDiligence support?

Accepted Answer

EcoDiligence aligns every data point with: EFRAG VSME (Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard for non-listed SMEs), IFRS ISSB S2 (Climate-related Disclosures), California SB 253/261, Japan SSBJ, India BRSR, EU CSDDD value chain requirements, and Singapore SGX climate disclosure rules.

Question 7

Is the data audited or verified?

Accepted Answer

ESG Passports are self-reported. EcoDiligence is not an audit firm and does not provide assurance. We run plausibility checks during data entry (flagging values outside typical industry ranges) and show clear data-quality indicators on your profile. Buyers, banks, or regulators that require third-party assurance can use your VSME Digital Template (Excel) export with an external auditor — that's the document built for the assurance workflow.

Question 8

What's the difference between an ESG Passport and a sustainability report?

Accepted Answer

A traditional sustainability report is a 30-100 page document, often requiring weeks of consultancy. An ESG Passport is a structured, standards-aligned data profile — a permanent URL plus downloadable PDF/Excel/XBRL — designed specifically for procurement workflows and supply-chain data requests.

Question 9

Who owns my data?

Accepted Answer

You do. Your data, your ESG Passport. EcoDiligence stores your data securely (encrypted at rest, EU-hosted Supabase infrastructure) and never sells it. You can delete your profile at any time. Public profile pages are only created when you explicitly publish them.

Question 10

Do you process my electricity bill securely?

Accepted Answer

When you upload a bill to our AI parser, it's sent to our AI provider (Anthropic Claude) for one-time extraction and is not stored on our servers afterward. The extracted values are saved to your profile only after you review and confirm them.

Question 11

Are you GDPR-aligned?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Our practices are GDPR-aligned for European users (data minimization, explicit consent, right to deletion, data portability). See our Privacy Policy for full details.

Question 12

How often should I update my ESG Passport?

Accepted Answer

We recommend annual updates to reflect your most recent reporting year. Your passport URL stays the same — only the data refreshes. Procurement teams want to see active, up-to-date profiles.

Question 13

How does the AI bill parser work?

Accepted Answer

Upload a photo or PDF of your electricity bill in any language. Our system uses Anthropic's Claude Vision API to extract the kWh consumed, billing period, and supplier. You review the extracted values before they are saved — nothing is committed automatically. The bill itself is not stored on our servers after parsing.

Question 14

Can I export my data in multiple formats?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every ESG Passport can be exported as PDF. Pro adds machine-readable Quick XBRL (informal, schema-only) and the EFRAG VSME Digital Template (the Excel file EU auditors and the EFRAG validator both expect). All exports are generated from the same source of truth and stay in sync.

Question 15

What if my country isn't in your emission factors list?

Accepted Answer

We currently maintain emission factors for over 200 countries using IEA 2024 grid data and DEFRA fuel factors. If you operate somewhere we don't yet cover, your Scope 2 will fall back to a global average factor and a data-quality warning will appear on your profile. Email us and we'll prioritize adding your region.

Question 16

What are Advanced Disclosures and when should I add them?

Accepted Answer

Advanced Disclosures are an optional Pro-only layer on top of the standard ESG Passport. They cover selected topics from the VSME Comprehensive Module (environmental impacts, actions, targets, risks, opportunities, governance, and emissions action plans) and IFRS S2 transition-readiness questions (GHG targets, climate strategy, financial impact). Add them when larger clients, banks, or investors request deeper information than the basic Passport provides. The standard sections are always sufficient for most procurement workflows — Advanced is for when the questions get harder.

Question 17

Is the VSME Comprehensive Add-on the same as a full VSME Comprehensive Module submission?

Accepted Answer

No. The VSME Comprehensive Add-on is a curated subset of EFRAG VSME Comprehensive Module topics — 8 questions structured for procurement and investor due-diligence workflows, paired with 7 IFRS S2 transition-readiness questions (the ISSB Transition Readiness layer). A full VSME Comprehensive Module submission, or a formal ISSB Transition Plan, is a much larger disclosure typically prepared with consultancy support and external assurance. Our Add-on gives you a structured, machine-readable starting point that buyers can read at a glance; it does not replace a full module submission.

Question 18

What happens to my Advanced Disclosures if I downgrade from Pro?

Accepted Answer

Your answers stay safely in our database — nothing is deleted. They simply stop appearing on your public Passport, PDF, and machine-readable exports while you're on the Free plan. The Passport page silently omits them; your dashboard shows a notice confirming the data is preserved. Re-upgrade to Pro any time and the disclosures reappear instantly with no data re-entry.

Question 19

Do you support ASRS (Australia)?

Accepted Answer

Yes. When you select Australia as your country of operation, EcoDiligence applies the Australian Smart Pack — Scope 2 calculations use the DCCEEW National Greenhouse Accounts Factors 2025 (national average by default, with optional state-level factors), and your Passport surfaces the ASRS Aligned and NGER Disclosure Support badges. The ISSB Transition Readiness Advanced Disclosures module is extended for Australian users with four additional questions covering climate governance, risk-identification process, scenario analysis, and value-chain engagement — the four areas AASB S2 (the Australian adoption of IFRS S2) asks about most explicitly. The result is a structured response that maps to ASRS without you having to learn the standard yourself. Note that EcoDiligence is structured for ASRS disclosure and does not constitute a certified or assured ASRS filing — formal compliance is your auditor's role.

Question 20

Why do I see a state/territory option only for Australia?

Accepted Answer

Australian electricity grid factors vary by state — from around 0.20 kgCO₂/CO₂e/kWh in hydro-heavy Tasmania to 0.78 kgCO₂/CO₂e/kWh in Victoria, almost a four-fold spread. Selecting your state gives a materially more accurate Scope 2 number than the national average. Other Smart Pack countries either publish a single national factor (Germany, the UK, Israel) or have less variance across regions, so a state selector wouldn't change much. We will surface state-level factors for other federations (e.g. US, India, Brazil) when the accuracy gain justifies the extra UI step. If you operate in Australia and leave the dropdown blank, the national average is used and your Passport notes that explicitly in the methodology section.

Question 21

Does the Quick XBRL export pass EFRAG validation?

Accepted Answer

Quick XBRL is informal — it's the schema-shaped XBRL you'd use for internal tooling, dashboards, or quick interoperability checks. It is not a validated EFRAG submission. For a filing that passes the EFRAG validator, use the VSME Digital Template (Excel) export and run it through EFRAG's official validator at xbrl.efrag.org/convert/. EcoDiligence pre-fills the Excel template with your Passport data — you don't have to re-key anything.

Question 22

Can I share my profile with multiple clients?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Your ESG Passport lives at a permanent URL (e.g. ecodiligence.com/profile/your-company). You can share this link with as many buyers, auditors, or partners as you like. Each visit is anonymous — we don't tell you who looked at it, and we don't show your visitors who else has viewed the profile.

Question 23

How do I get a custom URL slug?

Accepted Answer

Custom slugs are available on the Pro tier. Free profiles use an auto-generated slug based on your company name. Once you upgrade, you can claim a custom slug (subject to availability and our naming guidelines) from your dashboard.

Question 24

I'm a consultant — can I use Pro to manage Passports for multiple clients?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Pro includes unlimited ESG Passports under a single account, which makes it the natural fit for sustainability consultants and advisors managing several SME clients. You create Passports on behalf of the SMEs you advise, share them by link, and update them annually. Each client's Passport gets its own clean public URL — your client can hand the link to their buyers directly. There's no dedicated 'consultant mode' yet, but the Pro plan covers the workflow today. If you advise more than ~25 SMEs and want bulk-import or advisor-branded features, contact us at hello@ecodiligence.com — we're building toward that.

Question 25

I'm a consultant — can my client edit their own Passport?

Accepted Answer

Currently, when you create a Passport for a client using your Pro account, you retain full editing control. Your client receives a public link to view and share the Passport with their buyers. This model gives you maximum quality control. We are planning client co-management features (so your client can update basic data independently) — if this is important for your workflow, please let us know.

Question 26

What's the difference between Free and Pro?

Accepted Answer

Free includes 1 ESG Passport with PDF export, shareable profile, QR code, and annual updates — at no cost, forever. Pro ($299/year) adds: unlimited Passports (the natural fit for consultants managing several SMEs); the VSME Digital Template (Excel) — the EFRAG-validated path to XBRL; unlimited AI bill parsing; a custom URL slug; optional Advanced Disclosures (VSME Comprehensive Add-on + ISSB Transition Readiness); and priority email support.

Question 27

Can I cancel anytime?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Pro is billed annually. You can cancel from your dashboard at any time and you will keep Pro features until the end of the billing period. Your profile data remains accessible — you simply revert to the Free tier at renewal.

Question 28

Do you offer a free trial of Pro?

Accepted Answer

We don't offer time-limited trials. Instead, the Free tier is genuinely free forever — start there, see if the platform fits your needs, and upgrade only when you need Pro-only features like XBRL or the Excel template.

Question 29

How do I contact support?

Accepted Answer

Email hello@ecodiligence.com for general questions. Pro customers receive priority support with a 1-business-day response target. For accessibility issues, email accessibility@ecodiligence.com. For privacy-related requests, email privacy@ecodiligence.com.

Question 30

Where is data stored?

Accepted Answer

EcoDiligence runs on Supabase (PostgreSQL, EU region) for data storage and Vercel for application hosting. All data is encrypted at rest and in transit. We use Clerk for authentication and Resend for transactional email. See our Privacy Policy for the full list of subprocessors.

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