How to achieve a high EcoVadis rating

What is EcoVadis and how does it work?

EcoVadis is one of the world's largest and most widely used sustainability rating platforms, assessing more than 150,000 companies across 175 countries. It evaluates how well sustainability is embedded in your business and gives you a score out of 100, along with a medal rating that reflects how you compare with others in your industry.

EcoVadis looks at four key themes:

• Environment

• Labour and Human Rights

• Ethics

• Sustainable Procurement

Each theme is adapted to your size, industry, and location. The assessment focuses on three core indicators:

• Policies

• Actions

• Results and reporting

EcoVadis uses a structured methodology to evaluate how robust your sustainability management system is across these indicators.

Why do companies invest in an EcoVadis rating?

A high EcoVadis score is valuable for several reasons.

Customer and supply chain expectations
Many large organisations now require suppliers to complete EcoVadis assessments. A higher score makes it easier to win contracts and maintain customer trust.

Benchmarking and transparency
Your scorecard shows how you compare with industry peers and highlights strengths and improvement areas. This supports strategic planning and helps communicate progress to stakeholders.

Clear improvement roadmap
Your scorecard provides an expert-validated list of improvement priorities, making it easier to focus effort where it has the most impact.

How do you complete the EcoVadis assessment?

EcoVadis is an evidence based assessment, meaning your score depends entirely on the documents you upload. If you answer a question without uploading evidence to support it, you will not receive any points.

Examples of evidence include:

• Policies and codes of conduct

• Environmental procedures

• Employee handbooks

• Carbon footprint reports

• Supplier screening processes

• Sustainability or impact reports

You can upload up to 55 documents per cycle, so it is essential to prioritise and avoid duplication. It is helpful to create a spreadsheet linking each question to the planned evidence.

When uploading evidence, add a clear comment explaining what the document contains and how it supports your answer.

What is EcoVadis looking for?

EcoVadis analysts assess performance across the three pillars of Policies, Actions, and Results.

Policies
Your policies should be up to date, clear, and ideally publicly available. They should include time bound and measurable targets, such as reducing emissions by a specific percentage by a specific year.

Actions
EcoVadis wants to see evidence that your commitments translate into practice. Examples include training records, supplier audits, diversity initiatives, environmental procedures, and anti bribery processes.

Results and reporting
You must provide data that demonstrates performance over time. This could include carbon footprints, waste figures, employee wellbeing metrics, supplier performance reports, or annual sustainability reporting. EcoVadis only awards points when evidence is credible, recent, and detailed.

What are the best ways to increase your EcoVadis score?

Online guidance from EcoVadis specialists highlights several effective strategies.

• Analyse your scorecard thoroughly: Look beyond the overall score. Review the improvement areas, understand whether gaps relate to Policies, Actions, or Results, and check why any evidence may have been rejected.

• Strengthen your documentation: Ensure documents are relevant, clearly written, approved, and recent. Updating old policies or adding measurable targets can significantly boost your score.

• Build a continuous improvement cycle: Using the Plan, Do, Check, Act framework can help embed sustainability across your business and demonstrate year on year progress.

• Engage the right internal teams: You will need input from HR, procurement, operations, finance, and leadership. EcoVadis assessments work best when cross functional teams are engaged early.

How can SMEs prepare for assessment success?

To avoid last minute stress, start preparing as early as possible.

• Review the questionnaire ahead of time. Understanding which questions apply to your business helps you gather the right evidence before the submission window opens.

• Gather and update documents. Make sure your policies and procedures are current, approved, and aligned with best practice.

• Use clear explanations in upload comments. Analysts review thousands of documents. Simple explanations can make a big difference.

• Avoid duplication. Use your 55 document limit wisely by consolidating information where possible.

By preparing proactively and focusing on Policies, Actions, and Results, SMEs can significantly improve their EcoVadis performance.

How we can help your business achieve a higher EcoVadis rating

Working through EcoVadis can feel overwhelming, especially for SMEs managing sustainability alongside day to day operations. We help you build the foundations EcoVadis rewards.

Carbon footprint measurement
We calculate robust carbon footprints using recognised methodologies. This strengthens the Environment section of your assessment and ensures you have credible, evidence-based data.

Environmental Management Systems
EcoVadis values clear processes and continuous improvement. We help SMEs put simple, effective EMS structures in place without the cost or complexity of ISO 14001.

Setting meaningful sustainability targets
Whether you need emissions targets, diversity goals, procurement improvements, or governance measures, we help you set realistic, measurable goals aligned with EcoVadis expectations.

Documentation support
We help you prepare the right type of evidence, update policies, structure reports, and ensure documents meet EcoVadis standards for credibility, clarity, and relevance.

Scorecard gap analysis
If you already have an EcoVadis score, we can review your Policies, Actions, and Results and help you close the gaps that limit your rating.

Ongoing improvement support
EcoVadis rewards consistent progress. We help you build the systems, data, and documentation needed to continually improve your sustainability performance.