In partnership with VentureESG

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Quick Links:

• Conceptual framework (Excel): Invest Europe Framework

• Flowchart of data movement:

  Invest Europe MRF Flowchart.pdf

• CSV specifications:

  • 🔗 Portfolio Company Specification (v1.1)
    • New in v1.1
  • 🔗 Fund-level Specification (v1.1)
    • New in v1.1
  • 🔗 GP-level Specification (v1.1)
    • New in v1.1

• Example export files:

  • Portfolio company:

    Example Portfolio Company CSV.csv

  • Fund-level:

    Example Fund CSV.csv

  • GP-level:

    Example GP CSV.csv

• Validator web-app: See source code below with instructions in README to run locally.

• Validator source code: https://github.com/olivernixon1/InvestEurope-VentureESG-MRF-2025

  • Latest /main update (17 March 2025):
    • Updated to reflect v1.1 changes:
      • unadjusted_gender_pay_gap can now be negative
      • Required metrics now ‘strongly recommended’ to allow incomplete data to still transfer
    • Clearer error logging at fund-level wrt article 8 and 9 metrics
    • Export standard ‘error report’ for troubleshooting
    • Fixed bug: completion score at fund-level seems to become inaccurate after reloading the page
    • Fixed bug: dedicated_sustainability_staff checked for yes_no when it should have been yes_no_extended
  • Next update:

    • Highlighting of ‘likely erroneous values’:

      Gross revenue, Assets, Turnover inside/outside EU that don’t add to totals
      Total GHG that is not close to sum of scopes
      Energy consumption total that is not close to sum of renewable/non-renewable
      Totals that are not close to sum of gender breakdowns

• List of supported platforms: [Coming soon] </aside>

A. Introduction:

This white-label machine-readable ESG reporting template matches precisely to the 2024/25 Invest Europe GP-LP ESG Reporting Template.

The goal of this template is to facilitate ESG data collection and make ESG reporting seamless across different reporting software platforms.

The machine-readable format would not have been possible without the development of an earlier version — the 2023/2024 template — developed by Atlas Metrics for KfW Capital.

This version was developed by VentureESG in partnership with Invest Europe and a consortium of ESG software platforms, including Apiday, Atlas, AtomInvest, Kara, ImpactNexus, MetricESG, and Novata.

B. How to become a supported platform (on Invest Europe’s website)

In the first few weeks of February 2025, Invest Europe will release a live list of ‘supported platforms’ on their website — only these platforms will have permission to say in their own marketing and website that they support the Invest Europe template.

To become a supported platform, you will need to be approved by Invest Europe. This process is still being finalised. In the meantime, this is the latest draft process:

• Draft Process:

C. How data moves:

At this stage, portfolio companies and GPs are the handlers of export files to ensure data privacy and security. Direct platform-to-platform transfer is not currently possible.

Platforms implementing the MRF will need to build both import and export functionality. The validator web-app and open-source code can assist with developing this.

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This flowchart PDF is a detailed overview of how the MRF assists GPs and portfolio companies to fulfil multiple reporting requests:

Invest Europe MRF Flowchart.pdf

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In short:

1. Export from ESG reporting platform
   1. Portfolio companies and GPs may obtain export files compliant with the Machine-Readable Format from an ESG reporting platform provider.
   2. We advise all data handlers to ensure they have appropriate consent to move data.
2. Validate
   1. We recommend checking export files are valid by using the validator [Currently only available to run locally: https://github.com/olivernixon1/InvestEurope-VentureESG-MRF-2025].
3. Import
   1. Files can then be imported into supported ESG data platforms by those with consent.