Crown International: EcoVadis Platinum and a verified carbon footprint

Crown International has been supplying operational equipment and amenities to global hotel chains for 15 years. The company does not manufacture. It designs, specifies and delivers: PU leather accessories, bathroom fittings, interior objects, small appliances. These are practical products built to outlast thousands of stays, sourced from factories in Asia, some of which also produce for major consumer brands. 

That position as a pure trader placed Crown between two growing pressures. Hotel clients were raising the bar on supplier sustainability, and every question from a hotel procurement team reached Jacqueline Martin, who manages operations and purchasing at Crown International. “International hotel chains now ask about sustainability, certifications and CO2 emissions across the entire business process,” she explains. “Increasingly, it’s a condition of even being considered as a supplier.” When those clients began requiring EcoVadis scores, Crown International faced a situation common to many companies in the sector. Sustainability was part of how Crown operated. None of it had ever been formalised. 

“At first it was a kind of obligation,” she says. Two years and four projects later, Crown International holds an EcoVadis Platinum medal (88 out of 100), a verified Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon footprint, and a sustainability management system embedded in daily operations. The inventory revealed that more than 99% of Crown’s emissions sit in Scope 3. 

Turning values into a system 

Before working with Nexio Projects, sustainability was genuinely part of how Crown International operated. Choices were made, values were applied, but nothing had been documented, structured or verified. There was no environmental policy, no supplier code of conduct, no formal system. 

“We just did what felt right,” Jacqueline says. “We thought: this is part of how it should be. And in the end EcoVadis showed us that we were doing well, but that there were still many opportunities.” 

The first step was to understand exactly where Crown stood. Nexio Projects ran a gap analysis, identified the evidence needed, and guided the team through their first EcoVadis submission. Crown International scored 64 and got a Bronze medal. That result provided a solid starting point and a clear picture of what to build next. 

That map led directly to a sustainability management system: an environmental policy, an ethics framework, and a supplier questionnaire. These were working tools designed to shape how Crown International operates with its suppliers every day, not documents drafted purely for an assessment. Crown’s footprint sits almost entirely within its supply chain, so the supplier questionnaire carried particular weight. Structured engagement with suppliers is the only route to real data and Crown International now uses it as a standard part of its procurement relationships. 

“These documents form the basis for our objectives and annual reviews,” Jacqueline says. “The supplier questionnaire keeps that sustainability conversation going.” 

The hardest question: where are your emissions? 

For Crown International, calculating a carbon footprint meant starting from scratch: no established model, no prior methodology and limited internal expertise. What the team did have was data of for example product weights, shipping distances, supplier records, electricity bills, commuting information. 

Nexio Projects brought the structure through Carbon Count, our carbon accounting platform, alongside consulting support. The platform provided the emission factor libraries, the data collection framework and the structured templates that turned Crown International’s operational data into a verified, auditable footprint across all three scopes. 

“Nexio provided a clear structure. We received templates and guidance, so we knew exactly what data was needed. Without that, we would probably have needed much more time and had less certainty that everything was complete,” Jacqueline says. 

Carbon Count handled the data collection and methodology. Jacqueline is direct about what that combination meant in practice. “That combination is precisely what made it strong. A tool collects data, but it doesn’t tell you what to do with it. The consultants helped us interpret the results and set priorities.” The platform handled the methodology and the Nexio Projects team made the results meaningful.  

When the results came in, 99.88% of Crown International’s total emissions sat in Scope 3. Of 15,452 tCO2e in total, 15,431 tCO2e originated outside Crown International’s own operations. The two biggest drivers were the products Crown sells, and the energy hotel guests use to run them. 

“We knew that almost everything would be in Scope 3, but we didn’t expect 99.88%.”, Jacqueline says. Through conversations with our team, the focus shifted from who controlled those emissions to where Crown could best exert influence.“By focusing on what you can influence,” Jacqueline says. “We can encourage suppliers, improve products and further develop our own operations. You don’t have direct control over everything, but you can create momentum.” 

From Gold to Platinum 

Two years of work had produced an environmental policy, a supplier questionnaire and a verified carbon footprint, and the score reflected it. Crown International received a Gold medal. We supported a formal appeal which resulted in a Platinum medal. 

The score moved from 64 to 88 in twelve months of active improvement. The scorecard is now visible on the EcoVadis platform to any hotel chain that checks, and Crown International shared the result in its client newsletter and company brochure. Sustainability now plays a more important role in procurement decisions, supplier selection and product development. A three-year partnership with Nexio Projects is in place to keep building on it. 

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Closing the gap 

Gathering reliable data from Asian supply chains is one of the most common challenges in any Scope 3 inventory. European suppliers had data available, but from China, the picture was more complex. Factories producing Crown’s PU leather goods and small appliances are typically at an earlier stage of sustainability reporting than their European counterparts, and product-level emissions data, was not yet available from these partners. Where primary data was unavailable, we worked with published emission factors and documented assumptions, producing a footprint transparent about its limitations and directionally reliable. 

Those data gaps define the next phase of work. Crown International’s priorities for the coming year: better Scope 3 data from key suppliers, product carbon footprints from manufacturers, and conversations with hotel clients about appliance energy use. 

“One of the biggest missions is to get more transparency in the supply chain. Real data versus estimations. That’s where we’re focused.” 

Lessons for the hospitality supply chain 

Many OS&E traders and hospitality suppliers are navigating the same pressures Crown International faced two years ago: EcoVadis scores, Scope 3 data requests, carbon disclosure as a condition of contract.  

Jacqueline’s advice: find a partner who combines methodology with expertise. The right model is structured data collection that a company can own, combined with expert guidance on what the results mean and what to do next. “Practical, expert and pleasant,” is how she describes the collaboration with Nexio Projects. “They think along with you, respond quickly and translate complex topics into concrete actions.” 

What started at Crown International as a supplier compliance requirement became the infrastructure for everything that followed. The supplier questionnaire fed the carbon inventory. The carbon inventory informed the second EcoVadis submission. Each step created the conditions for the next. That is how sustainability shifts from obligation to competitive advantage. 

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