©EcoVadis ecovadis.com
Mitigate supply chain risk
Drive innovation & growth
ECOVADIS CSR RATING AND REAL-TIME MONITORING
SERVICE PUBLISHES SIMPLE, RELIABLE SCORECARDS ON A
SOFTWARE PLATFORM,WHERE BUYERS AND SUPPLIERS
COLLABORATE TO DRIVE CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT.
BEYOND
CSR COMPLIANCE

WHY CSR IS IMPORTANT
With todays’ complex and global supply chains,
you are responsible for the actions you and
your suppliers take.That’s why selecting the
right suppliers and monitoring them against
acknowledged sustainability measures
(Environmental, Social and Governmental) is so
important.
But just complying isn’t really good enough.
The leaders go beyond compliance and use
ethical business practices to drive innovation
and growth.
Of course profit is important, because without
it we wouldn’t create the wealth that drives
global prosperity. But if we create the right
environment and business practices, we can
drive even more growth by doing the
following;
• Ensuring people are treated fairly, so
they are happier and more productive;
• Improving business processes to
minimise waste and environmental
impact to reduce cost and open up new
business opportunities;
• Doing business in a way that mitigates
risk and ensures continuity of supply.
THE PROBLEM
Managing this is difficult, expensive and
inefficient for buyers and suppliers.
Suppliers are asked the same questions and
audited many times by different buyers. Often
these questions are not appropriate, or badly
worded.
They can be too complex and longer than
needed, or too short with ‘yes/no’ answers
that provide no real insight into how well the
supplier actually manages CSR.
The result is that suppliers resist completing
questionnaires or do a poor job.
Buyers must develop a process for developing,
interpreting and using questionnaires to assess
a supplier’s CSR profile. If they do ask for
supporting evidence, they must ensure it’s
authenticity and relevance.They must also
keep up to date with anything that has an
impact on sustainability, which means
consuming multiple data sources to make
informed judgements on what they see.This is
time-consuming, expensive and usually
managed as a manual or spreadsheet process,
so there’s duplication of effort and a high risk
of errors.
For both buyer and supplier, far too much time
is spent answering and understanding
questionnaires and audits, and far too little
time is spent improving sustainability.
©EcoVadis ecovadis.com

THE SOLUTION
In 2008 EcoVadis combined a unique
methodology and expertise with a
collaborative software platform to deliver a
simple and reliable CSR rating and monitoring
service.
1.METHODOLOGY
Our unique methodology provides the
framework from which ratings are produced. It
incorporates the leading international
standards such as Global Reporting Initiative,
United Nations Global Compact, ISO 26000
and International Labor Organisation.
These are arranged into 21 key CSR indicators
split across 4 groups - Environmental, Social,
Ethical and Supply Chain.
From this we define dynamic questionnaires
that are customised for a supplier based on
their size, geographical location and industry
profile.To be rated, a supplier must answer the
questions and provide relevant evidence
such as documents, reports, certificates and
policies.
2. EXPERTISE
Our team of CSR experts use a robust
methodology to analyse questionnaire
responses and authenticate supporting
evidence.They also evaluate the supplier
against data from trade and industry bodies,
government and non-governmental
organisations, media and specialist data
providers.
This produces a Supplier Sustainability
Scorecard which shows how the supplier
rates against defined Environmental, Social,
Ethical and Supply Chain criteria.This is
published and available on our CSR software
platform.
3. PLATFORM
The software platform enables the buyer and
supplier to collaborate to monitor CSR
performance.The Supplier Scorecard identifies
areas of risk and opportunity that can be
managed through Corrective Action Plans.
These focus attention on actions required to
address a problem or drive improvement.
©EcoVadis ecovadis.com

The platform is a single point of access to all
questionnaires, data analysis, scoring tools,
Corrective Action Plan status and regulatory
news. It also has global reach with details of
20,000+ suppliers covering 150 purchasing
categories across 140 countries.
And because it easily integrates with other
procurement and supply chain systems, the
CSR information is available to other functions
throughout the organisation.
MAKING IT HAPPEN
EcoVadis provides services to guide you
through the implementation phase.
A dedicated programme manager will work
with you to create a personalised project plan.
This will define the suppliers you want to
evaluate and the steps required to onboard
them as efficiently as possible.
The Supplier Engagement team will then get
involved.They will communicate with suppliers
on your behalf, and help them to register on
the platform to complete the questionnaire
and provide supporting evidence which is used
to create their rating.
Each project goes through the same stages and
the time to complete depends on the number
of suppliers to be rated.
BENEFITS
• EcoVadis makes CSR rating and monitoring
much more efficient, faster, accurate and
less expensive than ever before for buyers
and suppliers.
• It provides an intuitive platform where
suppliers provide information once, and
share it many times with different buyers.
This not only eliminates questionnaire and
audit fatigue, it can also create new
business opportunities.
• Suppliers can also improve by benchmarking
themselves against their peers.This not only
improves performance, it also promotes
best practice which can drive business
growth.
• EcoVadis has firmly shifted the focus from
collecting and analysing data, to driving real
and meaningful improvement across the
supply chain.The service is trusted to do
this by more than 140 global, organisations
such as Air-France,Alcatel-Lucent,Axa,
Bayer, Centrica, Coca Cola, Heineken,
Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, Renault and
Vodafone.
©EcoVadis ecovadis.com