“The EcoVadis assessment guides organisations on their sustainability journey and presents a unique opportunity to catalyse positive change throughout the value chain.”

EcoVadis is one of the world’s most comprehensive sustainability rating tools, helping to assess an organisation’s approach to managing its impacts across the key themes of Environment, Labour and Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement.

And with over 130,000 organisations currently rated by EcoVadis, it’s becoming an increasingly popular tool for both buyers and suppliers. Read on to find out how the assessment works and how companies can improve their EcoVadis rating.

Where does the EcoVadis rating system come from?

The EcoVadis methodology has been developed (and is regularly updated) in accordance with international sustainability standards such as the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and more.

This ensures broad coverage of relevant sustainability topics. In fact, the assessment covers up to 21 sustainability sub-topics within the four key themes.

Here’s how the assessment works in practice.

How does the EcoVadis assessment work?

The EcoVadis assessment follows a five-step process:

Step 1: Registration

To start the assessment process, you need to create a profile on the EcoVadis website, specifying your organisation’s activities and providing contact information. This information will be used to create a customised questionnaire based on your organisation’s industry, sector, size and country (or countries) of operation.

Step 2: Questionnaire

Once you’ve registered, you’ll be able to enter the platform and access the Dashboard page, where you’ll see a summary of your progress and the latest news from EcoVadis. Here, you can also start completing your questionnaire and uploading documents.

Step 3: Expert analysis

Once you’ve completed and submitted your questionnaire, EcoVadis experts will analyse your answers and the uploaded documents. This process usually takes from 6 to 8 weeks.

Step 4: Results

Your answers are used to create a scorecard that summarises: (1) your overall EcoVadis score and the average score for your industry (black marker); (2) your scores for each of the four sustainability themes and the average scores in your industry; (3) the importance of each pillar on a scale of 1 to 4, based on your industry. The scorecard also summarises the company’s strengths and areas for improvement.

Step 5: Recognition

According to your EcoVadis score, you may also receive an EcoVadis badge or medal.

What are the EcoVadis badges and medals?

Companies can earn a badge in recognition of their progress on their sustainability journey. This can help promote their efforts to consumers and value chain partners.

The ‘Committed’ badge is awarded to companies with a minimum score of 45, representing ‘good’ performance according to the EcoVadis methodology.

The ‘Fast Mover’ badge is awarded to companies with a score of between 34 and 44 that have achieved at least a 6-point improvement over an 18-month period compared to their previous assessment.

Medals, on the other hand, are awarded according to an organisation’s performance compared to all other companies assessed by EcoVadis over the past 12 months. Organisations are ranked in a percentile relative to their total score (see Figure 3).

Only companies that score at least 30 points in each pillar (Environment, Labour and Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement) will be considered for a medal. In addition, external factors may prevent your company from being awarded a badge or a medal, based on the EcoVadis 360º Watch Findings. considered for a medal. In addition, external factors may prevent your company from being awarded a badge or a medal, based on the EcoVadis 360º Watch Findings.

What are the EcoVadis 360° Watch Findings?

The EcoVadis 360° Watch Findings identify positive and negative public domain news related to an organisation’s sustainability management. These are obtained through a combination of artificial intelligence and human analysis, scanning over 100,000 sources. These can include:

• official statements or publications from government bodies,
• the content of court rulings or legal settlements,
• factual statements made in the press or by organisations that are recognised as working to scientific standards and are financially neutral with regard to the content of these statements (e.g. independent NGOs).

When 360° Watch Findings detect a combination of major violations, the organisation is barred from receiving medals for three years for violations under the Environment, Labour & Human Rights and Sustainable Procurement themes, and five years for violations under the Ethics theme. The organisation’s scores will also be affected, for a period of eight years for the Ethics theme, and five years for the Ethics theme.

Companies cannot appeal the 360° Watch Findings when on trial for the violation(s). They can only appeal if the issue is resolved and the company is found innocent. 

For example, imagine a manufacturing company is granted a Gold Medal in 2023 and is conducting their assessment again in 2024. A significant discovery is identified in the environmental assessment (ENV). The company will not be eligible for a medal for the following three years (until 2027) and the finding will affect their score for five years (until 2029).

What are the latest updates to the EcoVadis assessment?

As of 2024, the following updates have been introduced.

• Assessed companies can download the questionnaire as an Excel spreadsheet.
• Immediate extensions of deadlines in the questionnaire are possible.
• The impact of 360º Watch Findings on your Scorecard will be visible.
• Ongoing EcoVadis Academy courses have been added.
• The new medal awarding system has been introduced.
• Metrics benchmarks improve communication transparency relating to a company’s performance across different frameworks such as the Ecovadis methodology, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

What EcoVadis means for your company

The EcoVadis assessment guides organisations on their sustainability journey and presents a unique opportunity to foster transparency and catalyse positive change throughout the value chain. Rather than viewing it as a routine checkbox exercise, it should be considered a powerful tool to foster a culture of sustainability within the company and with external stakeholders. By rating an organisation’s sustainability management system, EcoVadis can be an essential tool to provide transparency on the impact of your activities across the value chain.

Ready to find out more about getting support with your EcoVadis assessment? Visit our EcoVadis assessment service page or contact us  today for a consultation with one of our experts.

FAQ

What is the price range for an EcoVadis assessment?

Organisations pay an annual subscription fee that covers the EcoVadis assessment, access to the EcoVadis platform and EcoVadis resources as well as the ability to share performance with customers.

Find more details about pricing according to company size in this support article.

Is an EcoVadis reassessment possible?

Since the EcoVadis assessment is valid for 12 months, it is recommended to conduct assessments annually. Moreover, organisations can request a reassessment if:

• the validity of an EcoVadis assessment has expired;
• additional evidence could be used and was not submitted in the previous assessment;
• your EcoVadis rating is lower than is being asked by a trading partner and the trading partner requires that your company be reassessed.

We advise you to take time to understand your scorecard before requesting a reassessment on the EcoVadis platform.

Does EcoVadis offer support with the assessment?

Yes, EcoVadis can offer assistance through its support platform, where common questions about registration, payment, the questionnaire, the expert analysis and your results can be answered.

However, EcoVadis will not provide help in completing the questionnaire. As a leading global EcoVadis partner, and a Platinum-rated company, Nexio Projects can help you with reviewing and completing your assessment, implementing improvement measures and conducting gap analyses. Contact us today to find out more about getting professional assistance with your EcoVadis assessment.

Why get certified through EcoVadis?

An EcoVadis certification can bring multiple benefits to an organisation, including:

• a better understanding of your organisation’s sustainability management system, such as your strengths and weaknesses concerning the Environment, Labour & Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement themes;
• increased credibility with stakeholders across the value chain;
• in-depth insights into the issues that are material to your organisation;
• improved competitiveness thanks to the ability to provide transparent scores on social and environmental performance;
• the ability to share scores with business partners, fostering greater transparency and improved collaboration.

Do I need to take the assessment every year?

Yes. An EcoVadis score stays valid for one year. Therefore, if a company wishes to maintain a valid medal, it should be reassessed yearly. This can also facilitate continuous improvement, as the EcoVadis assessment includes suggested corrective actions to help organisations achieve a higher score in their next assessment.

Is the EcoVadis assessment available in multiple languages?

The EcoVadis assessment can be conducted in 8 languages: English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Italian, Portuguese and Chinese. Documents can be submitted in all languages, without requiring translation.

Should we respond at a group or subsidiary level?

The answer to this question depends on your situation, in particular the coverage of the documentation that you can provide, and the requirements of your trading partners.

Documentation:

For assessments conducted at the group level, you need to ensure that the documentation provided covers all the underlying entities for optimal scoring. If the documentation doesn’t provide enough coverage, the risk of responding on a group level is to receive a lower score.

For instance, if an organisation is only ISO certified for sites in one country, the documentation will not provide full coverage since sites in other countries are not ISO-certified. In this case, it may be more beneficial to conduct the assessment on a subsidiary level.

Partner requests

If a customer requests your company to complete an EcoVadis assessment, and that customer only does business with a specific entity within your company – for example, a subsidiary that only supplies raw materials – it may be more effective to complete the assessment for that entity only.

Assessments can also be conducted at the site level. This may be relevant if, for example, a customer only purchases goods from one site.

If instead, the request targets the entire organisation or a group of subsidiaries, it may be more effective to complete the assessment at the group level.

Click here  to learn more about choosing the right scope for your EcoVadis assessment.

How should I prepare my team for the EcoVadis Assessment?

As the assessment covers a variety of themes, you should assemble a cross-functional team so that you can easily access all the documentation and insights relevant to the assessment topics.

Generally speaking, the environmental questions are better answered by an ESG manager, who is best placed to provide information about topics such as waste, GHG emissions, and sustainable consumption. Meanwhile, the best stakeholder to answer Labour & Human rights questions may be your HR manager, who should have knowledge of recruitment policies and working conditions. And the procurement team is likely to have the detailed information needed to answer the questions in the Sustainability Procurement theme. Fundamentally, responding effectively to the assessment requires cross-functional collaboration to deliver a comprehensive result.

Can I ask my suppliers to complete the EcoVadis assessment?

A key feature of the EcoVadis platform is its usefulness for managing supplier relationships and increasing transparency. The platform allows businesses (or ‘buyers’) to request that their suppliers undergo an EcoVadis assessment by sending them an invitation, after which they will receive information and notifications about the process and their results. If a supplier does not achieve the score requested by the buyer, it can request a reassessment.