EcoVadis

What is EcoVadis?

EcoVadis is an online questionnaire tool that corporations use to assess their supply chain partners. Typically, a corporation will request that a subset of its suppliers respond to the EcoVadis questionnaire within a specific timeframe.

The questionnaire, which covers themes including Environment, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics, Sustainable Procurement, and Carbon, contains 20-50 questions which require company-specific documents to be submitted as evidence. You may be expected to meet a specific scoring threshold to maintain a preferred vendor status, or else you may be expected to remediate a poor score or a specific gap in performance.

What to do if you have been asked to respond to EcoVadis

If a customer or other trading partner has requested that you respond to EcoVadis, consider the details of the request:

• Is there a specific timeframe by which you need to submit the questionnaire?
• Are you expected to achieve a certain score, and by when?
• What are the repercussions for not submitting (if any)?

Putting together an EcoVadis submission can be a significant undertaking, especially for first-time respondents. Budget 6-10 weeks for your response, which will include submitting company details to EcoVadis, receiving and reviewing the questionnaire, collecting documentation and other information from your organization, and submitting the questionnaire.

How to respond to EcoVadis for the first time

First-time responders should consider both the timing and documentation required to submit and EcoVadis response.

Timing

You may have been assigned a deadline by a key trading partner, so it is important to ensure you have enough time prior to that deadline to collect and submit documentation. We recommend 6 weeks for first-time respondents, at a minimum. Unless you have a strict deadline from a trading partner, you should be able to easily request an extension through the EcoVadis website.

If you have a target score you must achieve, remain in dialogue with your trading partner. Ensure them that you are working on your response and attempting to get the best score possible. If applicable, share with them that you are working with an external consultant with expertise in EcoVadis.

Documentation

Ensure your documents meet EcoVadis’ document requirements. This can be one of the most challenging elements of undergoing the assessment as EcoVadis frequently rejects documentation for not meeting stringent requirements. Anthesis can help you review your documentation to ensure that it meets requirements and addresses the question criteria.

Identify documents that address multiple questions, but do not combine documents to do so. EcoVadis limits companies to 55 supporting documents per year, and this limit will be the most restrictive if it is your first time responding. Try to utilize documents that address multiple questions, such as an ESG Report, CDP Response, Employee Handbook, or Code of Conduct.

How to refresh and improve your response to a reassessment request

It’s important to leverage lessons learned from your previous response to streamline the reassessment process and to improve your overall evaluation.

Review your scorecard and score details

Review the Score Details available in the EcoVadis platform to understand which questions were not awarded points and where your largest gaps lie. This is not a very intuitive platform, however, and it can be confusing and challenging to identify next steps.

Identify documentation needs

Review the list of documentation submitted for your previous response. If any documents were rejected, they should be replaced with other documents that meet the criteria. If any documents are outdated, replace them with newer documents. Be especially careful with reporting outdated KPIs, as they expire within 2 years.

As a general rule, anything that is updated on an annual basis (ESG Reports, CDP Responses, KPIs, certifications) should be updated for the EcoVadis reassessment.

How Anthesis can help

If you plan to respond to the EcoVadis assessment, or if you have received a reassessment request, Anthesis can help you collect and review documentation, evaluate its applicability to each question, and upload and submit the questionnaire on your behalf. Once you receive your scorecard, Anthesis can then help you identify key gaps and areas for improvement, and can support you with implementation. Please contact our experts to learn more.

Get in touch

Thank you for your interest in Anthesis Group. Please complete this form to discuss how we can help you.

Hanna Carr

Principal Consultant