Understanding my questionnaire

• What is the EcoVadis questionnaire?
• Do all companies get the same questionnaire?
• What does the questionnaire include?
• Specific questions do not apply to my business activities. Will I get a bad score if I can not answer such questions?
• How do I answer the questionnaire?
• What do I do if I need help?

What is the EcoVadis questionnaire?

The EcoVadis questionnaire is the most essential part of your EcoVadis journey. The questionnaire is designed for companies to submit information on their sustainability management system. 

Do all companies get the same questionnaire?

All questionnaires are customized to each company based on the following parameters: 

• Size of the company (Extra-small, Small, Medium, and Large)
• Industry ISIC code (Manufacturing, Office Activities, Wholesale, etc)
• Location of the company in countries with risks

The length of your questionnaire primarily depends on the number of activated criteria, or key sustainability issues, within each of your four themes (Environment, Labor and Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement). You can find the list of activated criteria on your platform’s Industry risk profile page.

For example, companies classified as under manufacturing will have more environmental criteria activated than companies classified under office activities. See Table 1 for an example.

Table 1 

*Note this is a representation of typical activated criteria. Certain criteria may be activated separately depending on the specific ISIC classification applied to a company.

What does the questionnaire include?

Each questionnaire is laid out in the following order:

Theme: Each questionnaire is divided into the four EcoVadis themes: Environment, Labor and Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement. Each theme is then broken down into its respective indicators.

Indicators: There are seven management indicators in the EcoVadis assessment. (Policies, Endorsements, Measures, Certifications, Coverage (only for large-sized companies), Reporting, and the 360 Watch). Each indicator determines what type of documents are acceptable as evidence for each question in the respective criteria. 

Question-Option: Each question within the indicator is asked based on the activated criteria applied to your assessment. In every EcoVadis question, options are provided under each question, allowing companies to attach documents containing the relevant information of each option. Companies can select options based on the availability of evidence in documents matching the option, as not every option can be answered by all companies. This is the most essential part of the assessment, as documents attached to options are the only evidence analysts will consider during the assessment phase.

THEME

QUESTION

OPTION

Specific questions do not apply to my business activities. Will I get a bad score if I can not answer such questions?

Please note that the questionnaire you received is customized based on the industry (ISIC) your company belongs to. The options in the questionnaire are mere recommendations of the best practices to address the material sustainability issues in your industry.

If, in specific questions, you believe that the options do not apply to your company, you can choose not to declare a response and focus instead on other options that are relevant to your company’s activities and to which you can provide documented evidence of such actions taking place within your management system. You are also able to select “other” to declare your situation, “no specific mechanism in place,” or “do not know” and provide additional information or explanation in the comment box for our analyst team to take into consideration during the evaluation.

We reiterate that only activated criteria (Key Sustainability Risks) relevant to your assessment are mandatory, so the main focus is on these criteria pertinent to your operations. Not responding to every question will not necessarily prevent you from attaining a certain score level. You can access your list of activated criteria from your Industry Risk Profile.

How do I answer the questionnaire?

The EcoVadis questionnaire can only be answered by attaching documents to the options you selected during the questionnaire phase.

Once the questionnaire is submitted, companies cannot change the uploaded evidence until the subsequent reassessment has commenced. Once the scorecard has been published, companies can download the completed questionnaire in a PDF or Excel format by clicking the drop-down under the download button (for premium subscribers only). Downloading the completed questionnaire assists with identifying gaps and potential improvements in the evidence provided for the following reassessments.

What do I do if I need help?

If you have questions regarding answering the questionnaire, a list of valuable resources is available for you.