In the wake of recent interest from companies and businesses across the globe in sustainability measures and ratings, a conundrum has emerged: how does one make sense of the hundreds of measurements, benchmarks and tests that need to be undertaken? Moreover, what would these actions and processes entail in terms of time, financial assets and manpower investments? Would shareholders be happy with those huge expenses in resources, which could be used to create more value for them and for the company?
This is where EcoVadis comes in. The purpose-led company’s mission is to provide globally trusted business sustainability ratings for businesses of all sizes. EcoVadis has been making waves in the sustainability industry, with 95,000 businesses already collaborating with the company’s expert intelligence and evidence-based ratings to monitor and improve the sustainability performance of their business and trading partners. Some big names such as Amazon, LVMH, L’Oréal and Unilever have already started an improvement journey guided by EcoVadis to better their environmental, social and ethical practices, to better adhere to the precepts of the triple bottom line.
Since its founding in 2007 in Paris, EcoVadis has been working on perfecting their methodology in screening and rating the business sustainability of its client companies through their flagship EcoVadis IQ solution.
Their methodology is based on seven founding principles, which include:
- Assessment by International Experts
- Tailoring Assessment to Industry Sector, Country and Company Size
- Source Diversification to Ensure Rich Stakeholder Input for Reliable Scoring
- Utilizing Technology to Ensure a Secure and Confidential Process and Accelerated Cycle Time
- Traceability and Transparency of Documentation
- Evidence-Based Processes
- Excellence Through Continuous Improvement
The Sustainability Scorecard that they produce illustrates the performance of the assessed company across 21 indicators which are split into four themes:
- Environment
- Labor & Human Rights
- Ethics
- Sustainable Procurement
What does this all mean for the assessed company? EcoVadis ratings bring with them a slew of benefits to the company on multiple levels. This includes improvements in performance and an ability to better drive impact in the business. Indeed, 64% of assessed companies improve their performance on second assessment. EcoVadis ratings also serve the pragmatic purpose of saving on costs and time, as the assessed company’s procurement team save 80% in costs when going with EcoVadis as compared to a DIY in-house program, not mentioning the wealth of experience and expertise that EcoVadis will be bringing to the table. And finally, EcoVadis assists businesses in building their brand and driving innovation, since leading companies are working with high-performing trading partners to develop new sustainable products and revenue opportunities.
EcoVadis has been working on its expertise and branching out into new domains such as cybersecurity risk assessments (with CyberVadis) and educational resources (with EcoVadis Academy). The company doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, and is well on its way to achieving their vision of guiding all companies towards a sustainable world, a global marketplace where sustainability intelligence influences every business decision – improving economies, people’s lives and the planet we all depend on.
References
- EcoVadis
- EcoVadis Formalizes its Commitment as a Purpose-Led Company
- EcoVadis elected as the #1 Sustainability Partner by Microsoft France
- EcoVadis Secures $500M Investment to Usher in New Era of Sustainability-Led Business Decisions