COOPERATION BETWEEN CRIF AND THE MITTELSTANDSVERBUND - ZGV E.V.: FACILITATING SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING FOR SMES

DER MITTELSTANDSVERBUND - ZGV e.V. and the information service provider CRIF announced a strategic partnership on 23 August that will make it easier for SMEs to obtain data for legally compliant sustainability reporting and a certified ESG rating and which ties in with the diverse energy efficiency and climate activities of the MITTELSTANDSVERBUND. By using the CRIF platform Synesgy, MITTELSTANDSVERBUND member companies can efficiently analyse, verify and optimise their supply chains as part of ESG (environment, social, governance) reporting.

DER MITTELSTANDSVERBUND, which represents the interests of around 230,000 SMEs organised in around 300 association groups from 45 sectors, has thus found another strong partner for ESG solutions in CRIF. CRIF contributes its extensive experience in holistic sustainability management and its expertise in analysing physical risks at all company locations to this partnership.

The partnership with CRIF complements the sustainability portfolio of the MITTELSTANDSVERBUND with another player on the market that is also highly active internationally and can provide support in areas such as data procurement for the LEADITY environmental management system. The CRIF platform Synesgy offers a centralised solution that combines data collection, analysis and certification in an integrated process.

With the help of CRIF's Synesgy platform, the assessment and management of portfolios can be well structured and thus easily documented for a wide range of applications. Companies can invite business partners, collect real ESG information and certify it with regard to ESG and LKSG commitments - based on global standards such as the SDGs and GRI as well as regulations such as the CSRD and ESRS.

A milestone for SMEs and sustainable business decisions

The new cooperation supports SMEs with the increasing and complex challenges of ESG reporting, particularly in terms of data collection. Although large companies (balance sheet total of 25 million euros, net sales of at least 50 million euros, at least 250 employees) are only obliged to report from 2025, and listed SMEs or non-complex credit institutions only from 2026, medium-sized companies are already often part of a supply chain of companies subject to reporting requirements and are therefore required to fulfil and provide evidence of ESG guidelines. 

Dr Frank Schlein, Managing Director of CRIF Germany, explains: "The partnership with MITTELSTANDSVERBUND enables us to offer SMEs a comprehensive solution for simplified sustainability reporting and increased transparency in their supply chains. This enables more reliable and sustainable decisions to be made."

Synergies to promote sustainability and competitiveness

The cooperation between MITTELSTANDSVERBUND and CRIF aims to utilise synergies in order to develop innovative solutions for the sustainable transformation of SMEs. "It is very important to us as MITTELSTANDSVERBUND that, in addition to our primary work as a political lobby for SMEs, we can also offer a wide range of helpful implementation services in order to keep the highly complex sustainability requirements and excessive bureaucratic demands in this area as efficient as possible for companies," emphasises Dr Henning Bergmann, Managing Director of DER MITTELSTANDSVERBUND.

"This shows once again that a lot can be achieved together - by combining our expertise with customised solutions on the market, we create clear added value for small and medium-sized companies in terms of sustainability reporting and complex data procurement in the supply chain following our political work. We look forward to breaking new ground together with CRIF and taking sustainability management in cooperating SMEs to the next level of efficiency," adds Dr Sabine Schäfer, Head of Climate, Energy and Resources at DER MITTELSTANDSVERBUND. If you are interested in further information, please contact her directly.

About the MITTELSTANDSVERBUND - ZGV e.V.

DER MITTELSTANDSVERBUND - ZGV e.V. represents the interests of around 230,000 SMEs in Berlin and Brussels, which are organised in around 300 association groups. With 2.36 million full-time employees, the cooperating SMEs generate a turnover of more than 513 billion euros (around 18 per cent of GDP) and offer 440,000 training places. Individual association groups operate under one brand, e.g. EDEKA, REWE, EP: ELECTRONIC PARTNER, EXPERT and BÄKO. All of them support their members with a variety of services such as purchasing negotiations, logistics, IT, financial services, consulting, marketing, shop fitting and trend research. Further information can be found at: www.mittelstandsverbund.de

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