Explore practical guidance, EcoVadis advice, sustainability updates and responsible business insights from EthoWork's consulting team. 

EthoNews | EthoWork Consulting | July 2026 | 6 min read

When a customer asks for your EcoVadis score, they're not really asking about sustainability.

They're asking about risk.

Can your company demonstrate that it manages environmental impacts, labor practices, ethics, and supply chain sustainability in a structured, credible way? Can you provide evidence? Can you meet customer expectations? Can you prove compliance with laws and regulations?

That's what your EcoVadis score is designed to help buyers evaluate.

Many companies have strong sustainability practices, but their results may not fully reflect their efforts if those practices are not clearly documented, supported by evidence, and aligned with the assessment requirements.

EcoVadis evaluates not only what a company does, but also how well its management systems, policies, actions, reporting, and supporting documentation demonstrate a structured and credible sustainability program.

Understanding this is the first step toward improvement.

How EcoVadis Scoring Works?

EcoVadis is one of the world's most widely used sustainability ratings platforms. Companies use it to evaluate their own sustainability performance and that of their suppliers, helping procurement teams make more informed sourcing decisions.

Scores range from 0 to 100 and are based on four themes:

• Environment

• Labor & Human Rights

• Ethics (including Information Security)

• Sustainable Procurement

The weighting of each theme varies based on industry, company size, and geographic footprint, meaning no two assessments are exactly alike.

In addition to the overall score, EcoVadis also provides a percentile ranking, which compares a company's performance against all other companies assessed by EcoVadis over a defined period. This percentile helps organizations understand how they perform relative to their peers. For example, a company in the 85th percentile has performed better than 85% of the companies assessed.

What Your Score Really Measures

One of the most common misconceptions is that EcoVadis scores only the company's sustainability activities.

In reality, EcoVadis evaluates the maturity of your sustainability management system by assessing how sustainability is managed, implemented, monitored, and continuously improved throughout the organization through three interconnected elements:

1. Policies — What commitments has your company formally made?

2. Actions — What programs and initiatives are in place?

3. Results — What evidence demonstrates those efforts are working?

A company may recycle, reduce waste, support employee wellbeing, and maintain strong business ethics. But if those activities aren't documented, measured, and supported with evidence, EcoVadis has limited ability to award points.

In other words:

EcoVadis doesn't score intentions. It scores management systems and evidence.

Why Companies Often Score Lower Than Expected

Many organizations are surprised by their first EcoVadis result.

In our experience, low scores are often caused by one or more of the following:

1. Missing Documentation

Policies and procedures are informal, outdated, or have not been formally approved and communicated across the organization.

2. Limited Data Collection

Environmental and social performance data is not being consistently tracked.

3. Weak Supporting Evidence

Good practices are in place, but supporting documentation cannot be easily produced.

4. Sustainable Procurement Gaps

Suppliers are not being evaluated against the company's sustainability expectations.

5. Questionnaire Challenges

Organizations struggle to understand which evidence is most relevant to their assessment.

The good news is that in many cases, these challenges can be addressed by strengthening management systems, formalizing processes, improving documentation, and consistently measuring and reporting results. 

What Do EcoVadis Medals Represent?

Since 2024, medals have been awarded based on percentile rank rather than fixed score thresholds, recognizing a company's performance relative to all companies assessed by EcoVadis during the previous 12 months. 

While every company has different goals,  EcoVadis recognizes top-performing organizations through the following medal levels:

• Bronze: Top 35% (65th percentile or above) – Demonstrates an emerging and structured sustainability management system.

• Silver: Top 15% (85th percentile or above) – Reflects established sustainability programs with opportunities for continued improvement.

• Gold: Top 5% (95th percentile or above) – Recognizes advanced sustainability management practices.

• Platinum: Top 1% (99th percentile or above) – Represents sustainability leadership among the highest-performing organizations assessed by EcoVadis.

Increasingly, customers are setting minimum score expectations for suppliers, making continuous improvement an important business objective rather than simply a reporting exercise.

How to Improve Your EcoVadis Score

The most effective improvement strategies are rarely about creating more work. They're about strengthening existing practices and making them visible through clear documentation and evidence.

1. Start with Your Scorecard

Use your scorecard to identify where points were lost and where opportunities exist.

2. Close Documentation Gaps

Formalize policies, procedures, and governance structures that already exist in practice.

3. Strengthen Data Collection

Track environmental, social, and operational metrics consistently throughout the year.

4. Improve Evidence Management

Create systems for storing and organizing supporting documentation before reassessment begins.

5. Build Responsible Procurement Processes

Many organizations overlook this category despite its growing importance.

Looking Beyond the Score

A better question than "How do I improve my score?" is:

“What business opportunities could a stronger EcoVadis score help unlock?”

For some companies, the answer is preferred supplier status.

For others, it's customer retention, competitive differentiation, or access to new opportunities.

Understanding that business objective helps determine the right improvement strategy.

How EthoWork Can Help

Many companies receiving EcoVadis requests do not have dedicated sustainability teams or internal resources needed to manage the process effectively.

As an EcoVadis Accredited Consulting Partner, EthoWork works alongside organizations to simplify the process and build a sustainability management system that supports both your assessment and your long-term business objectives. Our support goes beyond preparing documents; we help them understand their scorecard, identify improvement opportunities, strengthen documentation, and prepare for reassessment with confidence.

Whether you're preparing for your first assessment or looking to improve an existing score, the goal isn't simply a higher number.

It's building the systems, evidence, and credibility that customers increasingly expect from their suppliers.

More about EcoVadis assessments

Learn more about getting started with the EcoVadis questionnaire here.

EthoWork's Newsletter Archive

This collection of past newsletters is filled with valuable insights on sustainability and circularity tailored for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). You'll find content designed to support your business on its sustainability journey. Dive in and explore how you can make a positive impact on your supply chain, operations, and beyond.

EthoWork is now an EcoVadis Training Partner!

28 December 2023

EthoWork is happy to announce that we have been chosen as an Approved Training Partner of EcoVadis, the leading provider of globally trusted business sustainability ratings. 

As an EcoVadis Training Partner, we can:

• Help companies understand the ins and outs of the EcoVadis ratings methodology

• Support companies with EcoVadis assessment completion

• Help companies in reviewing their EcoVadis scorecards and Corrective Action Plan (CAP)

• Mitigate their CAP

• Support companies with their sustainability program initiatives and best practices deployment as per the four pillars of the EcoVadis Methodology

Contact us today for assistance with your EcoVadis assessment process!

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What is the difference between ESG and sustainability?

By Susan N. Spencer, EthoWork Learning

9 October 2023

3 min read

ESG is quite a buzzword these days. But for a company, does it mean the same thing as sustainability? In this article, we'll take a look these two related concepts.

Help Me Understand ESG!

'ESG' stands for the Environmental, Social, and Governance practices undertaken by an organization. It's a set of criteria that investors and businesses can use to evaluate a company's performance and impact in these areas. The operative word here is 'investors': ESG is involves financial metrics and reporting. 

On the 'E' side, a company's Environmental practices and their impacts are assessed. This includes examining their carbon emissions through the use of greenhouse gas calculations, their resource conservation efforts, and their current and planned efforts to combat negative environmental outputs throughout their supply/value chain.

The 'S' of ESG refers to the way a company treats its people, or the 'Social' aspect. Another common term for this is CSR, or "Corporate Social Responsibility." Here, we are looking at a company's practices toward its employees throughout its supply chain and headquarters operations. This includes everything from labor/employee health and safety in contracted factories, to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices and corporate community engagement.

Lastly, the 'G' of ESG examines a company's leadership and Governance practices. It looks at the structure of an entity's business ethics, shareholder rights (if publicly held), its board of directors, and even its executive compensation. Transparency for all stakeholders, including the end consumer, is the operative word here.

How Does ESG Relate to Sustainability?

Simply put, sustainability is a much broader and more encompassing concept than ESG. While it also includes economic, social, and environmental aspects similar to ESG, sustainability refers to the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. 

Economic sustainability focuses on the ability of a company to be financially viable in the long term whilst still doing its best across specific sustainability initiatives. It involves monitoring a company's resilience, profitability, and resource allocation.

Social sustainability is similar to the "S" in ESG, meaning that we are also looking at the treatment of workers, employees, and management throughout a company's owned and contracted supply chain. It looks at frameworks such as the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how a company's efforts align with them on key issues such as human rights, well-being, and social equity.

Environmental sustainability also focuses on minimizing negative environmental impacts and promoting responsible resource use; specifically broader and longer-term goals. An example of this might be a company's declaration in their annual sustainability report that they aim to be carbon neutral by 2030, or seven years out.

What Does this Mean to Me? What Actions Should I Take?

Think of ESG as a "subset" of sustainability. It zeroes in on the three key areas of a company's environmental, social, and governance policies and implementations that are important for assessing the performance and behavior of companies from an investor's perspective. Given the upcoming onslaught of California, New York, U.S., and EU environmental regulations pending and currently being implemented, it will be important for a company to develop and implement ESG measurements, reporting, and initiatives both on a mandatory and voluntary basis. 

It's important to consider both the financial/ESG and larger sustainability lenses for your company. Remember, sustainability looks at the "big picture" of how a company considers its economic, social, and environmental aspects within global frameworks for long-term operational decision-making responsibility.  A company's sustainability report should not only show the measurements gleaned from its ESG efforts, but also align its long-term sustainability goals to larger global social, economic, and climate targets, such as the UN SDGs and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change goals.

If you need help in deciphering, measuring, creating, and/or implementing your ESG/Sustainability strategy, EthoWork can help. Contact us today - it's what we do!