What is the EcoVadis assessment process?

The EcoVadis sustainability assessment is a paid service to assess your company’s material sustainability impacts based on documented evidence.

The EcoVadis sustainability assessment is organized into four stages: registration, questionnaire, expert analysis and results.

1) Registration
During the registration process, you will be asked to provide general information about your company, including legal entity name, location, size and industry. This information is important as it helps us to prepare your customized questionnaire.

Please note that your company information provided during registration needs to be verified by our data management experts. It may change based on the verification results.

If your company has been invited to participate in the EcoVadis assessment, you must follow the link provided in the email invitation to register your company. This will ensure that the requesting company is updated on your progress and your assessment results are automatically shared with them upon completion.

If you have yet to receive a registration email from EcoVadis but wish to be rated for one of your trading partners or your internal company needs, please register here.

2) Questionnaire
After receiving and processing your registration, you will receive an automatic notification with your username and a link to create your password to access the EcoVadis platform, where you can start completing your company’s sustainability questionnaire. This 3-minute video will walk you through the frequently asked questions pertaining to the EcoVadis assessment platform.

- There are no wrong answers (or questions)
Your company’s unique questionnaire will address all material sustainability impacts for a company of your size, industry and location. The questionnaire is also flexible enough to allow you to provide evidence of any areas where your company is innovative and goes “beyond compliance.” If you feel a question is not relevant, you can select "I do not know" or "Not applicable" from among the answer options. If you have any doubt, it is a good opportunity to verify the case with your team. Anytime you feel you need advice you can also contact our support team. 

- Supporting documentation
During the process of completing the questionnaire, supporting documents will be requested. Supporting documents are essential for the validation of your company’s sustainability management systems by EcoVadis sustainability analysts. Any documentation provided is treated as confidential and will not be shared with your requesting companies by default. Please note that there is a fifty-five (55) document limit and only relevant documentation, referenced against the appropriate questions, will assist with your assessment.

- Opportunity to collaborate
Take a moment to review the various sections of the questionnaire, the different types of information being requested. Completing the questionnaire with all applicable documentation may take a few hours or a few days to complete, depending on the size of your business, the level of sustainability maturity, and ease of access to the information requested.

If you have not completed an assessment of your company’s sustainability management systems in the past, this may be a great opportunity to engage multiple stakeholders within your business and achieve cross-departmental collaboration on the topics of your company’s sustainability. Consider creating user accounts for colleagues so they can assist you with answering questions and uploading relevant documentation.

- Subscription plan and pricing
After completing your company’s questionnaire, select your desired subscription plan, provide billing information, then submit the questionnaire and supporting documents for analysis.

More information on available subscription plans and pricing.

3) Expert analysis
After submitting the questionnaire and supporting documentation, our sustainability analysts will assess your answers and supporting documents. The expert analysis stage can take six to eight (6-8) weeks, depending on the complexity of your company’s submission and the number of documents submitted.
The EcoVadis methodology for assessing a company’s sustainability management systems is based on international standards such as the Global Reporting Index (GRI), ISO 26000 and the guiding principles of the Global Compact. Find out more about the EcoVadis methodology.

4) Results
When your scorecard is published, you will receive an email notification and the scorecard will be available on your EcoVadis platform. If you were invited to be rated by a trading partner, your scorecard will be instantly shared with them. Subsequent requests to share can be fulfilled through the platform while the scorecard is valid. Scorecards are valid for twelve (12) months from the publication date and can be shared outside of the platform with a Premium or Corporate subscription.