EcoVadis essentials: A guide for beginners and reassessed companies 

“Ecovadis is not a one-time checklist, but a continuous learning and improvement cycle.”  

Nexio Projects is a leading sustainability consultancy and a strategic EcoVadis partner since 2018. We support companies of all sizes, geographies, and sectors—from foundational onboarding to robust acceleration towards Gold or Platinum. Our team helps address evidence gaps, improve documentation quality and processes, and deliver actionable improvement plans at every stage. With more than 600 projects successfully completed and recognition as a top global ESG advisory, we de-risk your EcoVadis journey from beginning to end.  

We created a starter kit for understanding Ecovadis methodology, with the lates updates from 2025. Download now! 

In this article, we prepared an EcoVadis essentials cheat sheet that follows two tracks based on maturity: the foundation track for first timers, and the acceleration track for organisations in the re-assessment process.   

The foundation track: EcoVadis for newcomers 

Your starting point: What is EcoVadis? 

EcoVadis is the most widely used business sustainability rating platform, providing holistic assessments of companies’ sustainability management systems. EcoVadis looks at the four key pillars of Environment, Labour & Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement. It is trusted by many of the world’s largest supply chains to benchmark, evaluate, benchmark and drive ESG performance improvement. Getting started with EcoVadis demonstrates a company’s commitment to sustainability and supports long-term value creation through responsible business practices.  

Core elements of the assessment: Policies, Actions & Results (PAR) 

EcoVadis evaluates three layers of practice within four sustainability themes:  

• Policies: Your formal ESG commitments and documented intentions.  
• Actions: Demonstrable measures and initiatives proving commitment is lived out in practice.  
• Results: Quantitative KPIs and trend data, such as emissions or diversity rates, that evidence effectiveness of actions.   

Success comes from having a strong balance of all three elements, not just good intentions or policy statements.  

360° watch and external feedback 

EcoVadis incorporates external sources including NGO reports, media coverage, and regulatory findings for additional assurance and transparency. Maintaining consistency and credibility in both internal and public-facing actions strengthens your rating.  

Steps to approach your first EcoVadis assessment 

1. Understand your questionnaire: EcoVadis tailors assessment questions by size, industry, and country. When registering, pay attention to fill in company information accurately.  
2. Assign responsibilities: Put key people (sustainability/SHEQ managers, HR, compliance/IT and procurement leads…) in charge of the different EcoVadis themes to source documents and validate answers.  
3. Collect and review documentation: Gather relevant evidence (a sustainability report, audits, certifications, policies, procedures, dashboards…)  
4. Self-audit: Check that evidence is relevant, up to date (2 years for KPIs, 8 years for policies and procedures) company-specific, and in the right format. Each document needs a logo/company name and a date.  
5. Match evidence to PAR: Use documents that are appropriate to the EcoVadis section at hand. For instance, do not use policies for measures or reporting questions.  
6. Use clear file names: Evidence should be easily understandable for EcoVadis analysts—use descriptive names that specify the theme and type (e.g., “2025 Code of Conduct – Signed.pdf”).  
7. Leverage the comments: Write informative but concise comments to help the EcoVadis analyst marking your assessment identify relevant information in the documents provided.  
8. Indicate accurate page numbers: Provide exact document page numbers, again to point the EcoVadis analyst marking your assessment towards the relevant parts of a document.   
9. Upload and submit: Reserve sufficient time to fill-in and check the assessment—last-minute scrambles are the top cause of avoidable errors.  

Common pitfalls and solutions 

• Policy without follow-through: Always pair policies with evidence of employee training, audits, improvement actions, and clear KPIs showing impact.  
• Scope gaps: If using group-level documents, append a local adoption statement signed by management and supplement with site/regional evidence.  
• Old or informal documents: Ensure every file is recent, branded, and matches the EcoVadis scope and timeframe.  
• The five evidence gaps: Relevance mismatch, implementation void, credibility deficit, outdated evidence, and scope mismatch must all be checked and resolved before submission.  

Expert advice 

• Start around three months before submission and spread the effort across your team.  
• Keep a running checklist and ‘live’ evidence folder for future reassessments.  
• Engage senior leaders; signatures from the management team raise awareness about sustainability issues among your leaders, accelerating action and adding credibility to your documents.  

The first episode of our EcoVadis video series helps you understand the certification. 

Nexio Projects’ approach

The foundation track follows the solutions below as a journey:

Acceleration track: EcoVadis reassessment 

Moving from score to impact 

For companies facing annual EcoVadis reassessment, the focus shifts from baseline compliance to meaningful, documented year-on-year progress. The Gold and Platinum badges are reserved for those who can prove ongoing maturity and breadth in their sustainability programmes.  

Maximising your score: Five key steps 

1. Identify quick wins 

Start by reviewing your previous assessment’s feedback to pinpoint quick wins—small but impactful fixes. These may include addressing rejected documents due to missing logos, incorrect page references, or outdated versions. Check your document library for such rejected files and correct them promptly. For example, upload updated versions of expired documents or include your company branding to establish clear organisational ownership. Additionally, leverage existing documents by expanding their coverage or cross-applying them to related questions. For instance, broaden your environmental policy to include biodiversity if it currently focuses only on greenhouse gas emissions and water, or upload your environmental awareness training under both emissions and water management sections.  

2. Utilise your corrective action plan (CAP) 

The CAP provided by EcoVadis is a useful improvement tool highlighting priority gaps identified in your previous assessment. It combines the importance assigned by EcoVadis and the collective interest of your stakeholders, helping you focus on what matters most. Use the CAP to track your improvements, communicate progress internally and externally, and ensure you prioritise actions that will influence your main EcoVadis score, rather than those affecting only the carbon scorecard components (notably questions starting with “CAR”). This structured approach ensures effort is targeted for maximum rating enhancement.  

3. Prioritise meaningful change 

While addressing gaps is essential, ensure that your improvements are meaningful and aligned with your organisation’s mission. Rival approaches that treat EcoVadis as a tick-box exercise often produce superficial changes emitting poor-quality evidence and higher rejection risk. Instead, embed sustainability authentically into your management system. EcoVadis evaluators reward evidence that demonstrates real implementation and tangible outcomes. Therefore, plan and document initiatives that resonate with your business’s purpose, secure organisational buy-in, and deliver genuine sustainability gains.  

4. Write clear explanatory comments 

Every uploaded document can be accompanied by a comment explaining its context, role, and key information location. Many applicants underuse this feature, leading to confusion or missed credit during assessment. Use comments to succinctly describe what the document is, how it supports your sustainability operations, and where relevant evidence can be found within it, such as specific pages or sections. Clear, concise comments help EcoVadis analysts quickly grasp your submission’s value, improving your evidence acceptance and scoring potential. 

5. Understand and accurately respond to each question 

Take the time to thoroughly understand every questionnaire question and sub-question before answering. Download the full questionnaire from the platform as an Excel file, which includes detailed descriptions and sample evidence types. This preparation avoids misinterpretation—terms like “actions to promote internal mobility” might be understood differently internally versus how EcoVadis expects. Correct interpretation ensures you provide relevant evidence that precisely meets the criteria and reduces the risk of document rejection or poor scoring.  

Expert tips 

• Treat EcoVadis as a living management tool, not a one-off test.  
• Embed document management (naming, dating, scope specification) in business routines for easier future submissions.  
• Annual management review meetings are your best opportunity to formalise updates and evidence improvements.  
• Use anonymised best practice outputs within your industry as benchmarks and inspiration.  

The fourth episode of our EcoVadis video series dives into actionable strategies on how to improve your score up to the platinum level. Watch below! 

Nexio Projects’ approach

The acceleration track follows the solutions below as a journey:

Ready to better your EcoVadis rating or tackle your first assessment?  

Contact Nexio Projects for tailored EcoVadis support, improvement planning, and expert sustainability services.  

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