ESG RATINGS
An EcoVadis medal is one of the most recognized sustainability credentials in global supply chains — required or preferred by thousands of enterprise buyers across manufacturing, retail, chemicals, and financial services. For suppliers seeking to protect existing commercial relationships, qualify for new ones, or demonstrate ESG performance to investors and lenders, EcoVadis is not optional infrastructure — it is a commercial threshold. The EcoVadis assessment evaluates four themes — Environment, Labour & Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement — through a combination of documented policies, KPIs, and supporting evidence. Score outcomes are determined by the quality, completeness, and relevance of what is submitted.
Semtrio is an EcoVadis Accredited Consulting Partner and a Platinum medal holder — placing us in the global top 1% of assessed organizations. That dual position — accredited advisor and verified high-performer — is what makes our EcoVadis advisory distinctive. We understand the methodology from both sides: as practitioners who have been assessed to the highest standard, and as accredited advisors who have guided organizations through the same process.
Thousands of enterprise buyers across manufacturing, retail, chemicals, and financial services now require or strongly prefer EcoVadis medals from their suppliers — either as a qualification threshold for new business or as a condition of contract renewal. A supplier without a medal, or with a score below the buyer's threshold, faces commercial exposure that is independent of the quality of its actual sustainability practices.
The EcoVadis methodology evaluates four themes across three dimensions: policies (what the organization has committed to), actions (what the organization has implemented), and results (what the organization can demonstrate through KPIs and data). Organizations with strong sustainability practices that are not well-documented, or whose documentation does not align with EcoVadis's evidence structure, consistently score below what their actual performance supports. The gap between actual performance and EcoVadis score is almost always a documentation and evidence design problem — not a performance problem.
EcoVadis updates its scoring methodology periodically, adjusting weightings, adding new topics, and changing evidence requirements. Organizations that approach the EcoVadis assessment as an annual questionnaire exercise — rather than a systematic performance and evidence management process — consistently find that their scores plateau or deteriorate as the methodology evolves. Year-on-year score improvement requires a systematic approach to evidence development, KPI tracking, and methodology monitoring.
Most organizations that engage Semtrio for EcoVadis advisory have already made meaningful progress on sustainability — they have policies, they are tracking some KPIs, they have implemented specific practices. But their EcoVadis score does not reflect that progress because the evidence they have submitted does not correspond to the evidence structure EcoVadis's methodology rewards. The policies exist but are not formatted to the level of specificity EcoVadis requires. The KPIs are tracked but not benchmarked or trended in the way the methodology scores. The practices are implemented but not documented with the supporting evidence the assessment expects.
Semtrio's EcoVadis advisory process begins with a systematic gap analysis — comparing current documentation and KPI coverage against the EcoVadis methodology for the specific industry sector and company size — identifying precisely which documentation gaps are causing score underperformance and what must be developed or restructured to close them. We then develop the policies, evidence documents, and KPI frameworks that align with the methodology, prepare the submission, and build the year-on-year improvement roadmap. Our clients do not just get a higher score — they develop the genuine sustainability management capability that makes the next assessment easier, faster, and more accurate than the last.
OUR PROCESS
A systematic EcoVadis advisory process — from gap analysis to medal, and from medal to year-on-year improvement.
EcoVadis assessments draw directly from sustainability reporting data — organizations that have built a rigorous, interoperable GRI data architecture have significantly stronger EcoVadis evidence bases. Semtrio structures both from the same underlying data where possible.
Learn moreThe EcoVadis Environment theme scores GHG emissions management — verified, methodology-aligned Scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG inventories produce the quantitative evidence that drives Environment theme scoring, and organizations without a verified GHG baseline cannot reach the higher score bands on this theme.
Learn moreDouble materiality findings identify the ESG topics most significant to the organization and its value chain — directly informing which EcoVadis assessment themes should be prioritized for evidence development. Semtrio uses materiality outputs to focus EcoVadis preparation on the topics with the greatest combined strategic and scoring impact.
Learn moreEcoVadis's Sustainable Procurement theme rewards organizations with documented supplier engagement programs, supplier assessment processes, and evidence of supplier improvement — Semtrio designs supplier engagement programs with EcoVadis theme alignment built in.
Learn moreAccredited Consulting Partner. Platinum medal holder (top 1%). +25.6 average points. 100% of clients earn a medal.
Semtrio's position in EcoVadis advisory is defined by a credential that no other advisory approach can replicate: we have been through the EcoVadis assessment ourselves and achieved Platinum — the top 1% of all assessed organizations globally — in 2025. We understand the assessment from the inside, not just from the advisory side. We know precisely what the methodology rewards at the highest band, what the evidence structure requires, and where the gaps between strong actual performance and high EcoVadis scores most commonly appear. That lived experience is embedded in every gap analysis we produce and every policy document we develop.
The outcomes reflect this methodology. Semtrio's first-year clients achieve an average score of 73.2 — compared to the global average of 48.4 for first-year EcoVadis assessees. That is a +25.6 average point increase for organizations that had never worked with Semtrio before. For returning clients — organizations improving scores from previous cycles — the average increase is +10.5 points. And 100% of clients that engage Semtrio for EcoVadis advisory earn a medal — no client has ever left an EcoVadis engagement without one.
The methodology behind these outcomes is systematic: gap analysis against the sector-specific EcoVadis methodology, structured policy development to the evidence standard the methodology requires, KPI framework design that produces the quantitative data the assessment rewards, and year-on-year improvement planning that compounds the score progressively rather than approaching each cycle as a fresh start.
Talk to our team about your EcoVadis scoreWhether you're scoping a single service engagement, evaluating end-to-end advisory across multiple clusters, or looking for one accountable partner across strategy and disclosure — start here.
Yaren Ünal
Senior Specialist,Client Solutions
Hamza Söylemez
Specialist,Client Solutions
Frequently asked questions about EcoVadis advisory
EcoVadis is the world's most widely used business sustainability ratings platform — assessing the sustainability management systems of organizations across four themes: Environment (climate change, pollution, biodiversity, materials), Labour & Human Rights (employee working conditions, health and safety, diversity), Ethics (anti-corruption, anti-bribery, responsible information management), and Sustainable Procurement (supplier sustainability requirements, supply chain management). EcoVadis scores organizations on a scale of 0 to 100, awarding medals based on score thresholds: Bronze (45–54), Silver (55–64), Gold (65–74), and Platinum (75+). Scores are percentile-ranked within the organization's industry and size category. A Platinum medal places the organization in the top 1% of all EcoVadis-assessed organizations globally.
Enterprise buyers — including large manufacturers, retailers, chemical companies, and financial services organizations — use EcoVadis as a standardized, third-party verified sustainability performance benchmark for their supply chains. Rather than developing proprietary supplier sustainability assessment systems, these buyers rely on EcoVadis scores as a consistent, comparable measure of supplier sustainability management quality. EcoVadis medals signal that a supplier has been independently assessed, that its sustainability policies and practices have been verified against a defined methodology, and that its performance has been scored against sector peers. For buyers operating under CSRD supply chain disclosure obligations or their own sustainability commitments, requiring EcoVadis medals from suppliers provides an auditable, third-party validated evidence base.
EcoVadis scoring is based on a combination of three dimensions across all four themes: policies (documented sustainability commitments and governance), actions (implemented programs, management systems, and operational practices), and results (quantitative KPI data, certifications, and third-party audits). Each theme is weighted based on the organization's industry — environmental topics carry greater weight for manufacturing companies; social topics carry greater weight for services companies. The score is calculated at the question level and aggregated to the theme and total score level. The key insight for advisory purposes is that EcoVadis scores are determined entirely by what is documented and submitted — organizations with strong sustainability practices that are poorly documented consistently score below their actual performance level.
First-year EcoVadis assessments typically start from a lower baseline — organizations that have not previously undergone EcoVadis assessment often have sustainability practices and policies that are not documented to the standard EcoVadis's methodology requires. The gap between actual performance and EcoVadis score is typically largest in the first cycle — which is why structured advisory support in the first year produces the most significant score improvement. Subsequent cycles focus on compounding the score improvement — addressing the documentation and KPI gaps that remain after the first cycle, tracking the methodology updates EcoVadis introduces annually, and developing the more advanced evidence (third-party audits, supplier assessments, certified management systems) that higher score bands require. Semtrio's +25.6 average point increase for first-year clients and +10.5 for returning clients reflect this dynamic.
Semtrio's EcoVadis advisory follows a four-phase process. We begin with methodology analysis and gap assessment — analysing the EcoVadis methodology for the client's industry sector and benchmarking current documentation against what each question and theme rewards. We develop the policies, procedures, and management system documentation that close the highest-impact gaps across all four themes. We build the KPI tracking framework, prepare the complete submission package, and submit on behalf of the client. Upon receiving the score, we conduct a detailed scoring review, design the corrective action plan, and build the year-on-year improvement roadmap for the next cycle. Throughout the engagement, we advise on methodology updates and ensure the client's documentation evolves with EcoVadis's annual scoring changes.
Talk to our team about your EcoVadis scoreWhether you are preparing for your first EcoVadis assessment or improving an existing score — we will conduct the gap analysis, develop the documentation, prepare the submission, and build the improvement roadmap that compounds your score year-on-year.
Whether you are preparing for your first EcoVadis assessment or improving an existing score — we will conduct the gap analysis, develop the documentation, prepare the submission, and build the improvement roadmap that compounds your score year-on-year.
