EDCI metrics: what portfolio companies report each year

EDCI metrics are a standard set of ESG data points that private equity and venture investors collect from their portfolio companies every year under the ESG Data Convergence Initiative. The core metrics are Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, renewable energy, a net zero and decarbonisation question, women on the board, women in the C-suite, work-related injuries, net new hires and whether you run an employee engagement survey. Most of them come straight from an ESG report and your HR records.

If your investor’s email used the acronym without explaining it, you are not alone. Founders rarely hear the term until the first request lands, usually in the first quarter of the year. The good news is that the list is short and the definitions are precise.

What is the ESG Data Convergence Initiative?

The ESG Data Convergence Initiative (EDCI) is an industry body that agreed one set of ESG metrics for private markets, so that investors stop sending companies a dozen different questionnaires. Investment firms (GPs) commit to collecting the metrics from their portfolio companies and submitting them once a year. The data is validated by BCG’s Expand team and pooled into an anonymised benchmark.

A few facts shape what you are asked for:

• Calendar year data. Figures cover 1 January to 31 December. Headcount, board and C-suite counts are taken at year end.
• Annual deadline. GPs submit by 30 April. The next deadline is 30 April 2027, for calendar year 2026.
• Best efforts for venture. EDCI’s guidance says venture capital firms are encouraged to submit data on their investments “on a best-efforts basis”. Its FAQs stress “progress over perfection”.
• Validated, not audited. EDCI checks for internal consistency, large year-on-year swings and methods that do not follow the guidance. It does not ask for receipts.

Why has my investor sent an EDCI request?

Because its own investors asked. Pension funds, endowments and other limited partners (LPs) want comparable ESG data across every fund they back. EDCI’s FAQs say that where participating LPs ask for data that overlaps with EDCI metrics, they are expected to use the EDCI definitions. So your fund collects from you, validates, submits to EDCI and shares the results with its LPs.

That is also why the request arrives every year after the round closes. If you answered an ESG questionnaire during diligence, this is the follow-up. Our guide to ESG for startups covers the diligence stage.

What are the EDCI metrics for 2026?

The 2026 guidance keeps the same core set as 2025, adds an optional cybersecurity metric and clarifies a few definitions. Three metrics have been added since the initiative began: women in the C-suite (2023 cycle), net zero (2024 cycle) and cybersecurity (2026 cycle).

Metric	Core or optional	What it asks
Scope 1 emissions	Core	Direct emissions in tCO2e
Scope 2 emissions	Core	Purchased electricity, heat and cooling in tCO2e
Scope 3 emissions	Optional	Value chain emissions, plus whether Scope 3 is 40% or more of the total
Energy and renewable energy	Core	Total energy consumed in kWh and renewable energy consumed in kWh
Net zero	Core	Decarbonisation plan, short-term (5 to 10 year) target, long-term net zero goal
Board diversity	Core	Board members and women on the board at year end
Under-represented groups on board	Optional outside the US, Canada and Australia	Not expected where local rules restrict collecting or sharing it, as in the UK
Women in C-suite	Core	CEO and executives reporting directly to the CEO, and how many are women
Work-related injuries	Core	Injuries, fatalities and days lost due to injury
Net new hires	Core	Change in FTE, split into organic and M&A, plus turnover
Employee engagement	Core	Whether you survey employees at least every other year
Cybersecurity	Optional, new for 2026	Which proactive vulnerability activities you run

How does an ESG Now report map onto the EDCI metrics?

To be straight with you: an ESG report covers most of this, not all of it. Here is the honest split.

EDCI metric	From your ESG Now report	What you add yourself
Scope 1 and 2	Totals by scope in tCO2e, Scope 2 both location-based and market-based, every calculation line shown	Nothing, if your reporting period is the calendar year
Scope 3 (optional)	Business travel, commuting, homeworking, waste, water, paid courier deliveries, optional spend-based purchases	A note that categories 8 to 15 and inbound supplier freight are not measured
Energy and renewables	Energy use in kWh and your renewable electricity share from your tariff and any on-site solar	Renewable kWh, worked out as shown below
Net zero	Target type, baseline year, target year, science-based or not	Whether the board oversees your decarbonisation plan
Board diversity	Number of directors and number of women directors	Any non-executive or investor directors not already counted
Women in C-suite	Not recorded	Count the CEO and direct reports, and how many are women
Injuries	Incidents and lost-time incidents	Days lost and fatalities (hopefully zero)
Net new hires	Headcount, FTE and leavers in the period	Last year’s closing FTE and any change from acquisitions
Engagement	Not recorded	Whether you survey staff, response rate and score (optional)
Cybersecurity	Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus status	Whether you run vulnerability scans, penetration testing or code security testing

Every source in the footprint is labelled as measured, estimated from activity data, estimated from a benchmark, or a data gap. That helps, because EDCI’s validation checks that “the methodology used for data collection and estimation is in line with data submission guidance”. See our methodology for the detail.

How do you work out the awkward EDCI metrics?

Most questions are simple counts. Five need a little care.

1. Renewable energy. EDCI wants renewable kWh as a share of all energy you consume, including gas and vehicle fuel, not only electricity. Multiply your electricity kWh by your renewable tariff share, add any on-site solar you used, and divide by total kWh. EDCI accepts a supplier-based method (your tariff) or a location average, and recommends supplier-based where possible. Carbon offsets do not count. Our REGO explainer covers renewable tariffs.
2. Net new hires. EDCI’s own calculation is simply this year’s closing FTE minus last year’s closing FTE. If you had 11.5 FTE on 31 December 2025 and 15 FTE on 31 December 2026, your net new hires are 3.5. Subtract any staff who joined through an acquisition to get the organic figure.
3. Women in the C-suite. Count the CEO and anyone reporting directly to them in a senior role, such as a CFO, COO or Head of People. Executive assistants are excluded. In a seed-stage company this might be two or three people.
4. Injuries and days lost. For UK companies the guidance points to HSE’s RIDDOR definitions of a work-related accident. Days lost exclude the day of the accident, and part-time staff are scaled by FTE (five working days off for a 0.5 FTE employee counts as 2.5 days). Injuries on the commute outside working hours are excluded.
5. Employee engagement. “Regularly” means at least every other year. A short annual pulse survey on culture, values or satisfaction counts.

What about Scope 3 and the 40% question?

Scope 3 is optional in EDCI. The 2026 template adds an optional question asking whether Scope 3 makes up 40% or more of your total emissions, because the Science Based Targets initiative requires a near-term Scope 3 target above that level.

For a software company with a small office, Scope 3 often is the larger part, mainly flights and commuting. Answer only from what you have measured, and say what is out of scope. “Scope 3 covers business travel, commuting, homeworking, waste, water and paid courier deliveries; purchased goods and downstream categories are not measured” is a clear, defensible note. Our guide to Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions explains the categories.

Where does SFDR come into it?

EDCI’s metrics were chosen partly to line up with the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), and EDCI says its template can help support SFDR reporting. That matters if your investor, or one of its LPs, markets funds in the EU.

SFDR is being rewritten. As of October 2026, the “SFDR 2.0” proposal is in trilogue negotiations between the European Commission, Council and Parliament. All three broadly agree to remove entity-level principal adverse impact (PAI) statements, while product-level PAI disclosures would remain for Sustainable and Transition products. Nothing has been adopted yet, and law firms tracking it expect any new rules to apply from late 2028 at the earliest. For you, the practical point is simple: investors will keep asking for emissions data whatever the final text says.

Is EDCI the same as ESG_VC or VentureESG?

No. ESG_VC (which merged with VentureESG in 2025) is a separate measurement framework built for venture-backed companies, and many UK VCs use it for their annual survey. Some funds use EDCI, some use ESG_VC and some ask for both. The overlap is large: emissions, diversity, people metrics and governance. Keep one master file of figures and you can answer either.

How long will yours take?

Pick the option that sounds most like your business. You will see a realistic time, what to have nearby and a head start on the questions.

Which sounds most like you?

Sole trader working from homeConsultants, designers, developers, coaches10 to 15 minSole trader or freelancer in a co-working spaceA desk at a WeWork, Regus or local hub10 to 15 minSmall team in a co-working or serviced officeStartups and agencies with 2 to 25 people15 to 20 minSME with its own office and no vehiclesProfessional services, tech firms, studios20 to 30 minSME with vans, cars or regular staff travelTrades, field services, consultancies on the road30 to 45 minShop, cafe, workshop or product businessRetail, hospitality, makers and manufacturers30 to 45 min

Your estimate

About 15 to 20 minutes

Around 40 questions, most of them multiple choice

Quick, and investors love seeing it.

No utility bills needed. You will add a few details about your team, such as training and benefits, which is the part investors and grant assessors tend to look at closely.

Handy to have nearby

• Your headcount and number of desks or memberships
• A rough idea of team trains and flights last year
• Any staff benefits you offer
• How your team usually gets to work

Missing something? Estimates are fine, and you can come back to any answer later.

Most small teams find they are doing more good things than they realised. The report puts them in writing.

Start with this profile

First report free. No card needed.

How to get your EDCI numbers ready

1. Check the template and deadline. Ask your investor which year, which platform or spreadsheet, and when they need it. Their own deadline is likely to be earlier than EDCI’s 30 April submission date.
2. Build your footprint for the calendar year. You can start your free report now; a small team in a co-working space usually takes 15 to 20 minutes, and answers save as you go.
3. Pull HR figures at 31 December. Closing FTE for this year and last year, board members, women directors, C-suite and women in it.
4. Collect safety and survey records. Injury log, days lost, and whether you ran an engagement survey.
5. Add the optional extras if you have them. Cybersecurity activities and the Scope 3 share.
6. Send your figures with a short note. Say what is measured, what is estimated and what is not covered.

Your first report is free, with no card needed. Once your first year is done, next year’s request is mostly an update. For more on investor reporting, see the startups raising investment hub.