What kind of supporting documents can I provide if I run an extra-small (XS) company?

EcoVadis assessment questionnaires are adapted to each company depending on their industry, location, and size, including extra-small companies with up to 25 employees. On average, different small companies are asked ten questions. Some management indicators, such as endorsements (e.g. UNGC) and coverage, are not applicable. This ensures that only issues relevant to the company are taken into account.

Supporting documents are essential for the analysis of your company's sustainability performance. We understand that smaller companies may not have a sustainability management system that is as developed as larger companies and may have fewer formalized documents. For this reason, we allow more flexibility and welcome non-formalized supporting documents for extra-small companies. However, please remember that the documents should be recent, relevant, complete, and related to the corresponding scope of the assessment. 

• What type of supporting documents can I provide?
• Specific Document Examples for XS companies
  • Policies
  • Measures
  • Reporting
• Examples of acceptable & non-acceptable documents

What type of supporting documents can I provide?

You can provide us with any formalized documents that reflect your company’s sustainability management system and support your answers to the questionnaire.

Here are some examples of documents that can be provided (for illustration only): sustainability management procedures, Sustainability Reports, Social Audit reports, HSE Policies, Code of Ethics/Conduct, Employee Handbooks, certificates (ISO14001, ISO45001, among others), UNGC  Communication on Progress, Annual Reports with Integrated sustainability section.

All documents should be:

• Relevant and complete, as well as related to the corresponding scope of assessment;
• In one of these formats: .docx, .doc, .xls, .xlsx, .pdf, .odt, .ott, .sxw, .stw, .ods, .odp, .bmp, .txt, HTML., .png and .jpeg. Note: for “Upload a new document,” the file type "Adobe Acrobat Document" can cause uploading issues. In this case, please save the document as PDF to upload it;
  Note: for “Upload a new link,” please provide only links to the webpage, not documents. The webpage will be captured and uploaded to your Document Library as a PDF. Only the specific webpage available under the link will be captured, not the entire website. Please ensure the link is valid and starts with http:// or https://.;
• Smaller than 30 MB;
• Reviewed regularly. There is a validity period of 8 years applied to both policies and actions and 2 years to KPI reporting;
• In-text format -- If your documents are not in English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese or Japanese, please send them coded as text, not as an image.

EcoVadis will not credit:

• Documents (commitments, actions, or reporting) created solely for satisfying the EcoVadis questionnaire will not be accepted;
• Objectives, actions, or reporting copied from another organization or online sources without reasonable evidence and assurance of implementation;
• Informal documentation (e.g. without the company’s name or logo, without the issue or review date, photos, etc.).
• Evidence should be presented in the form of embedded documents/weblinks (i.e. evidence should be shown in the document directly); analysts will not manually download any additional documentation from such links;
• Evidence not related to the 21 EcoVadis sustainability criteria.

For more information and examples of documents that can be provided, please download our document guide or learn more about scope of assessment.

Specific Document Examples for XS companies

You can provide us with any formalized documents that reflect your company’s sustainability management system and support your answers to the questionnaire. Examples of acceptable documents for the most important themes (Policies, Measures, and Reporting) include:

Policies

Policy documents prove that your company is committed to mitigating risks related to your key sustainability issues. This can include targets (Achieving x by a deadline) and written commitments/principles/objectives (a commitment statement towards sustainability issues).

• A letter signed by the CEO showing the company's commitment to key sustainability issues is used to communicate the company's commitment internally and/or externally. The key sustainability issues can be found in the Industry Risk Profile.
• Action plans or roadmaps for specific sustainability commitments, including a list of actions planned to be implemented (e.g., Annual Health & Safety Action Plans) for internal planning purposes.

Measures

Measures/actions documents should demonstrate concrete actions that your company is currently implementing in daily operations.

• Invoices proving that the action has been implemented (e.g., an invoice demonstrating that your company has purchased energy-efficient equipment, etc.)
• Training documentation that shows actions have been communicated and implemented. This can include training logs, checklists, or training materials (slides, etc.)
• Emails proving actions implemented (e.g., communication to the suppliers on environmental and social expectations)

Reporting

Reporting documents demonstrating your company is monitoring KPIs related to your crucial sustainability issues within the company. Reporting documents should be at most two calendar years old and cover information for at least one year.

Environment

• Types of resources consumed (e.g., waste, water, energy [electricity, gas, oil]) with a unit and a reporting year/period (2020, 2019-2022, etc).
• Estimation can be used if clearly explained when the actual emission information is challenging to obtain (e.g., water or electricity consumption can be estimated from the total emission from subdivided buildings or rental/leased office buildings.
• Emissions information that can be tracked from bills and contracts. This information must be followed in a formal document.

Labor & Human Rights

• Topics monitored (e.g., number of accidents, training conducted) with units (Number or Percentage) and reporting period (2020, 2019-2022, etc).

Note: Please note that providing solely bills (e.g., energy bills, water bills) is not acceptable evidence for Reporting. The Reporting indicator does not only assess the availability of information but also the active monitoring and benchmarking of progress throughout all KPIs within each theme.

Examples of acceptable documents include:

• Proof of employee training;
• Internal emails regarding employee awareness training;
• Invoices for purchasing eco-labeled products for implemented actions;
• Business ethics policy;
• Internal environmental dashboards;
• Excel sheet with human resources data, e.g., KPIs related to employee training;
• Internal management presentation;
• Risk assessment documents.

Examples of not acceptable documents include:

• Utility invoices from third parties for reporting purposes;
• Improvised self-declaration statements;
• Description of actions simply declared as implemented without solid evidence;
• Photos;
• Brochures on philanthropy;
• Documents from your clients, suppliers or business partners;
• Licenses to operate in a business according to legal prescriptions;
• Other legal compliance documents issued by a local authority.

Please check our Guide for Extra-Small (XS) Companies. It includes an overview of our methodology and guidance on supporting documents.

Read more about the format and validity period of the supporting documents.