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 scoreAdvising on the assessment from a position of both accreditation and direct top-1% performance
73.2 vs 48.4 global first-year average — methodology, not luck
Every EcoVadis client earns a medal. No exceptions across Semtrio's full advisory track record.
Whether 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
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.
