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Methodology Updates Q2 2024

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The EcoVadis Team
  • Updated

The assessment methodology updates in Q2 2024 cover the following topics:

Release Note Time needed to read (in minutes)
25.1 - Product Use and Product End-Of-Life criteria updates 4 minutes
25.2 - Environmental Services and Advocacy criteria updates 3 minutes
25.3 - ISIC Expansion for Sustainability Ratings  1 minute
25.4 - Update to “Not Allowed Scope” Guidelines  1 minute
25.5 - CDP as a prerequisite for the “Advanced” performance stage 1 minute
25.6 Update to Answer Rejection Reasons 1 minute

 

25.1 Product Use and Product End-Of-Life criteria updates

Type: Change to current methodology

Objective: To update questions and options related to product environmental impact in the EcoVadis questionnaire.

Audience: All

Release date: July 2024

Overview: 

 

The Product Use and Product End-of-Life criteria examine environmental impacts generated by  products during the use phase and end-of-life phase in its life cycle. Best practices on product impacts have been reviewed and updated as follows:

  1. Clarification on “Product”

Under the Environment theme of the EcoVadis assessment, a product refers to  a physical good which is the result of design and manufacturing processes, as well as the primary packaging used to contain it.

  1. New options added with reference to Circular Economy and Extended Producer Responsibility principles

Manufacturing companies of product with use phase or end-of-life impacts on the environment will receive the following revised options describing actions that prevent or reduce such impacts.

Product Use Product End-of-Life
  • Studies on product environmental impact
  • Information on efficient use, storage, and maintenance to extend product life
  • Design aimed at reducing resource input required for product use
  • Service parts, diagnostic tools, or maintenance programs to support product repair
  • Design aimed at reducing Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) or chemical vapors released during cigarette or e-cigarette use
  • Design or treatment of products to minimize microfiber shedding and tearing
  • Design chemical products to reduce dosage quantity or frequency.
  • Design chemical products to reduce toxic discharges to the environment
  • Design pesticides or agrochemical products to target selected species while minimizing damage to surrounding ecosystems
  • Development of biopesticides derived from naturally occurring substances
  • Actions to reduce the release of Tire and Road Wear Particles (TRWP)
  • Energy monitoring or optimization technologies in products
  • LED technology to improve product energy efficiency
  • Energy-saving mode or eco mode in products
  • Features or modifications to reduce friction and heat loss during product operation
  • Features or modifications to prevent or reduce leakages of input material during product operation
  • Modular features for users to adapt more advanced parts or for vehicle customization
  • Cruise or eco mode on vehicles
  • Propulsion systems using renewable energy
  • Design features to reduce the resistance on the hull of a ship
  • Design features to reduce air resistance or friction between track and wheels
  • Insulation of passenger coaches to reduce energy loss from air conditioning or heating
  • Engines compatible with renewable fuels
  • Design features for improved aerodynamic and lightweighting performance
  • Collaboration with external stakeholders for packaging end-of-life management
  • Collaboration with external stakeholders for product end-of-life management
  • Information on proper disposal of packaging to promote circular material flow
  • Information on proper disposal of product to promote circular material flow
  • Optimization of primary packaging to reduce its dimensions, weight, or simplify material mix
  • Elimination or reduction of substances of concern in electrical and electronic products
  • Programs to label, sort, and recover electrical and electronic components of products
  • Design for easy disassembling, remanufacturing, or recycling
  • Take-back or buy-back program to collect product for remanufacture, recycling, or safe disposal
  • Packaging free of toxic chemicals
  • Biodegradable or compostable packaging
  • Resealable and returnable packaging
  • Company-led bottle deposit or bottle return scheme
  • Use of non-toxic alternatives to paint, lacquer, and wood preservers
  • Elimination or reduction of grease-proof or moisture-proof barrier coatings
  • Biodegradable barrier coatings
  • Green chemistry design to eliminate or reduce leaching of harmful residues
  • Development of products free of volatile organic compounds (VOC)
  • Demand estimation to avoid overproduction and excess inventory of medications
  • Recovery of cullets from downstream manufacturers or end-of-life glass products from consumers
  • Removal of contaminants and additives from recovered glass
  • Recovery and cleaning of spent refractory material for recycling or safe disposal
  • Reconditioning of recovered parts for motor vehicles
  • Tracking of products for safe disposal of component asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), and waste oil
  • Tracking of products for safe disposal of asbestos in components.
  • Recertification of used parts for aircrafts and engine platforms
  1. Product Use and Product End-Of-Life criteria activated for new industries 

Products of several industries were reviewed and found to pose significant environmental risks due to resource consumption, emissions or waste generation during use and at end-of-life. The Product Use and Product End-of-Life criteria are newly activated for the following ISICs:

Product Use Product End-of-Life

ISIC 131: Spinning, weaving and finishing of textiles

ISIC 139: Manufacture of other textiles

ISIC 14: Manufacture of wearing apparel

ISIC 203: Manufacture of man-made fibers

ISIC 201: Manufacture of basic chemicals, fertilizers and nitrogen compounds, plastics and synthetic rubber in primary forms

ISIC 2021: Manufacture of pesticides and other agrochemical products

ISIC 2211: Manufacture of rubber tyres and tubes; retreading and rebuilding of rubber tyres

ISIC 14: Manufacture of wearing apparel

ISIC 1512: Manufacture of luggage, handbags and the like, saddlery and harness

ISIC 1701: Manufacture of pulp, paper and paperboard

ISIC 201: Manufacture of basic chemicals, fertilizers and nitrogen compounds, plastics and synthetic rubber in primary forms

ISIC 2021: Manufacture of pesticides and other agrochemical products

ISIC 2022: Manufacture of paints, varnishes and similar coatings, printing ink and mastics

ISIC 2029: Manufacture of other chemical products n.e.c.

ISIC 2211: Manufacture of rubber tyres and tubes; retreading and rebuilding of rubber tyres

ISIC 2219: Manufacture of other rubber products

 

25.2 Environmental Services and Advocacy Criteria updates

Type: Change to current methodology

Objective: To revise the EcoVadis questionnaire to better address the impact of environmental services

Audience: All

Release date: July 2024

Overview: 

The Environmental Services and Advocacy criteria assesses alternative services or solutions offered by businesses to enable customers to diagnose and mitigate their environmental impacts. 

Best practices on environmental services have been reviewed and updated as follows:

  1. New options added based on best market practices in offering alternative services or product options with a reduced environmental impact compared to conventional offerings. Regulatory trends on customer protection against misleading environmental claims (e.g. EU Green Deal, EU Empowering Consumers Directive) shows a growing interest in sustainable consumption. The new options also reflect the regulatory trends on the topic of sustainable finance, based on Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, European Union (EU) taxonomy and Sustainability Disclosure Requirements.
  2. Environmental Services and Advocacy criteria is newly activated for the following ISICs:
  • ISIC 61 - Telecommunications
  • ISIC 853 - Higher education
  1. All options under Environmental Services and Advocacy have been reviewed, reworded and consolidated. 
Full list of options
  • Actions to promote alternative modes of transportation over private vehicle
  • Actions to replace single-use plastic bags with reusable or biodegradable options
  • Actions to replace single-use plastic with reusable food or beverage containers
  • Carbon footprint calculation programs or services available to customers
  • Electric vehicle recharging facilities available to customers
  • Infrastructure or program to collect and recycle plastic, metal and glass packaging
  • Infrastructure or program to collect and recycle used products
  • Integration of sustainability research and analysis to guide decision-making
  • Offer of biodegradable or compostable packaging
  • Offer of eco-design services
  • Offer of electric powered vehicles
  • Offer of incentives for plant-based food consumption
  • Offer of low carbon footprint delivery options
  • Post-purchase care services to extend product lifetime
  • Provision of plant-based food and beverage options
  • Provision of product maintenance instructions to extend product lifetime
  • Provision of refillable product solutions to reduce waste
  • Recommerce or reverse commerce platform available to customers
  • Actions to consider nature impacts during tours
  • Actions to replace single-use plastic with reusable food or beverage containers
  • Analysis on ecological footprint of properties and their exposure to climate or nature risks
  • Consultations or incentives to help customers to choose more ecologically sustainable products or services
  • Electric vehicle recharging facilities available to all members of the academic institution
  • Environmental courses available to all students, regardless of their field of study
  • External partnerships established to provide environmental renovation solutions
  • Infrastructure or program to collect and recycle used vehicle batteries
  • Infrastructure or program to collect unused or expired medications (if applicable) 
  • Offer of electric, solar or hydrogen powered tools or machinery
  • Offer of LED UV printing solutions
  • Offer of ridesharing programs or shared transportation solutions
  • Provision of information on environmental impacts of customers projects
  • Provision of information on environmental impacts of energy consumption
  • Provision of information on practices for reducing environmental impacts in real estate or property management
  • Provision of services to help customers improve their energy efficiency
  • Renewable energy or fuel options available to customers
  • Services that measure and benchmark the energy performance of buildings
  • Services to facilitate food waste recycling and composting
  • Services to help customers optimize their packaging dimensions or weight
  • Solutions to replace single-use toiletries with refillable or reusable toiletries 
  • Actions to evaluate clients’ exposure to climate or nature risks
  • Actions to identify and promote insurance solutions that incentivize climate or nature risk mitigation and adaptation
  • Climate-related criteria integrated into the financing and investment process
  • Due diligence process for investment projects to determine environmental risks
  • Implementation of environmental solutions during claims processing
  • Integration of climate or nature risks into insurance claims investigation and settlement process
  • Integration of climate or nature risks into risk assessment process
  • Monitoring environmental impacts of portfolios or investee companies
  • Nature-related criteria integrated into the financing and investment research process
  • Offer of digitalized claims processing and remote damage investigation options to customers
  • Provision of incentives for clients to enhance infrastructure resilience to climate or nature risks
  • Provision of information to clients on exposure to climate or nature risks and its consequences on insurance options
  • Provision of information to clients on how climate or nature issues are incorporated across their solutions
  • Provision of information to clients on how to access claims servicing options or incentives to increase resilience to climate or nature risks
  • Remedial actions to disengage with investees who fail to meet environmental criteria
  • Provision of insurance solutions factoring climate or nature criteria


25.3 ISIC Expansion for Sustainability Ratings

Type: Expansion of content

Objective: To include more industries (ISICs) into the EcoVadis Ratings process

Audience: All, including IQ customers; of specific interest for the ISICs in table below

Release date: June and July 2024

Overview:

In line with EcoVadis’ purpose ‘to guide all companies towards a sustainable world’ and to bring more granularity to our assessments, EcoVadis has added more industry classifications (ISICs) to the rating process. This means that rated companies will now be able to select any of the following ISICs during their qualification phase, and a dedicated questionnaire will be launched for their assessment.

ISIC Sub-category Industry
013 Plant propagation
0162 Support activities for animal production
0163 Post-harvest crop activities
12 Manufacture of tobacco products
182 Reproduction of recorded media
3099 Manufacture of other transport equipment n.e.c.
4921 Urban and suburban passenger land transport
5224 Cargo handling
5812 Publishing of directories and mailing lists
5819 Other publishing activities
6611 Administration of financial markets
774 Leasing of intellectual property and similar products, except copyrighted works
852 Secondary education
855 Educational support activities
91 Libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities
221* 2211 Manufacture of rubber tyres and tubes; retreading and rebuilding of rubber tyres
2219 Manufacture of other rubber products
 

*ISIC 221 is split into its subcategories for more granularity: Companies that were previously classified under ISIC 221 will be reclassified to either ISIC 2211 or 2219.

These changes ensure consistency between our solutions and improve the customization of our assessments. Additional ISIC expansions will follow throughout 2024.

25.4 Update to “Not allowed scope” Guidelines

Type: Change to current methodology

Objective: To review the relevancy of all the different categories listed as ‘’not allowed scope’’

Audience: All

Release date: June 2024

Overview:

The list of ‘’not allowed scope’’ has been revised. Academia and universities have been removed. For holding companies, it is still not able to be assessed unless it covers operational subsidiaries . The revised guidelines bring more clarity and transparency to the EcoVadis approach. With this change, certain types of organizations are now allowed to undergo EcoVadis assessment. The revised list of “not allowed scope” is as follows:

  • Conglomerates, i.e. large company with multiple business units involved in different activities
  • Business units or Divisions without a legal entity name
  • Product names and commercial brands
  • Pure commercial entities in manufacturing groups (e.g. sales offices, trading agents, marketing entities)
  • Holding company without any operational subsidiaries covered
  • Unless several local operational sites form a single legal entity name, it is not possible to assess them together (it is advisable to make separate site assessments or assess the parent company)
  • Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)
  • State-owned/governmental organisations

25.5 CDP as a prerequisite for the “Advanced” performance stage

Type: Change to current methodology

Objective: To add CDP reports as an alternative prerequisite to public disclosure of GHG emissions for “Advanced” performance level in our carbon rating

Audience: All 

Release date: June 2024

Overview: 

Companies can now utilize their CDP report to meet a prerequisite for achieving the "Advanced" performance level. This modification underscores the importance of CDP within our methodology. It also reflects that companies within the EcoVadis network constantly progress on their decarbonization journey and are ready for the CDP disclosure. Companies may still present alternative evidence to fulfill the public disclosure requirement.

Please refer to the table below for EcoVadis’ sustainability performance levels and requirements.

25.6 Update to Option Rejection Reasons

Type: Change to current methodology

Objective: To improve the transparency of rejected answers on the scorecard

Audience: All 

Release date: August 2024

Overview: 

The Score details - Analysis of your answers section - gives information on the questionnaire answers that were accepted and which were not. Rated companies can find out the reason for rejection when they click on Details. 

The rejection reasons were updated. This aims to provide more transparency on why the answer and the attached document were not sufficient. Rated companies have information on the requirements of the answer option, and how to improve the supporting evidence.

This update applies to scorecards that undergo the document analysis process as of August 2024. Answers that were verified by our sustainability experts before the update, may still show the previous version of the rejection reasons. 

Sample reason for a rejected Reporting answer ‘Total energy consumption’:

Before:

  • This answer does not directly address the question or lacks detail. Although the attached document may be relevant to other responses, it does not meet the scoring principles for this question.

Updated:

  • The document met our quality standards but lacked sufficient evidence to support this answer.

It had one or more of the following issues:

- The period covered was less than a year.

- There was no specified reporting year.

- The reporting unit was missing.

- The data was not calculated or was not presented in numerical figures.

- The data was over 2 years old.

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