Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment

Ecovadis is the world’s leading platform for corporate sustainability assessment, helping organizations around the globe measure, manage and improve sustainability performance. In the context of society’s increasing interest in social responsibility, environment and governance (ESG), Ecovadis has become an indispensable partner, helping businesses meet the requirements of the market, customers and stakeholders for sustainable development.

About Ecovadis

Ecovadis was founded in 2007 in France, with the goal of building an objective and transparent assessment platform for the sustainability of businesses and supply chains. Through the development process, Ecovadis has evaluated tens of thousands of companies in more than 200 industries and more than 160 countries around the world.

The Ecovadis platform works based on collecting data from businesses, analyzing according to international criteria, and providing assessment results through scores and rankings. This result helps organizations identify strengths and weaknesses and develop improvement plans that are aligned with business practices.

Why is Ecovadis important?

• Customers, partners, and supply chains: More and more global corporations require suppliers to achieve a certain Ecovadis score in order to maintain cooperation. This helps ensure that products and services are provided from a responsible and transparent value chain.
• Risk management: Ecovadis’ assessment helps businesses identify potential risks related to the environment, human rights, business ethics and governance.
• Improve brand reputation: Businesses with high scores in the Ecovadis system are often identified by multinational companies and large customers as a reliable partner, increasing opportunities for international cooperation.
• Promoting continuous improvement: Based on the assessment report, businesses develop specific action programs to improve sustainability and social responsibility.

Ecovadis evaluation criteria

Ecovadis uses an assessment framework based on four central themes:

• Environment: Including optimal management of resources, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, waste management, use of renewable energy, compliance with international environmental standards and internal policies of the enterprise.
• Human rights and labor: Assessing labor rights, health and safety, diversity and inclusion, discrimination prevention, protection of children’s rights, and policies on human resource training and development.
• Business ethics: Consider policies to prevent corruption, bribery, financial transparency, information security, respect for intellectual property rights, and comply with the law.
• Supply chain management: Evaluate transparency, responsibility in partner selection, supply chain risk management, and the impact of supply chain on the above topics.

Ecovadis Assessment Process

Ecovadis’ assessment process includes the following steps:

• Registration and provision of information: Businesses register on the Ecovadis platform, provide relevant documents and data.
• Data analysis: Ecovadis uses a team of experts and data analysis technology to evaluate the company’s records, documents, policies, certificates, and management processes based on international standards (ISO, GRI, UNGC, etc.).
• Scoring and ranking: Ecovadis evaluates key topics, scores each area, and aggregates them into an overall score (usually from 0 to 100).
• Reports and feedback: Businesses receive detailed transcripts and reports, providing a roadmap for improvement and specific recommendations.
• Periodic re-evaluation: Businesses can update data, demonstrate improvements, and request a re-evaluation after a certain period of time (usually annually).

Meaning of Ecovadis Score

The results of the Ecovadis assessment are shown through ratings, from Bronze, Silver, Gold to Platinum, based on the average score of the business compared to the industry and region:

• Copper: Meet the minimum requirements for sustainable development.
• Silver: There are effective policies and actions on sustainability.
• Gold: Rated as a leader in responsibility and continuous improvement.
• Platinum: Excellent achievements, meeting the highest standards of corporate sustainable development.

Achieving these levels not only supports businesses in international cooperation but also helps increase the trust of investors, customers and the community.

Benefits of participating in Ecovadis

• Optimize business governance: Ecovadis helps identify gaps in the management system, thereby improving operational efficiency and compliance.
• Access to new markets: Many corporations and partners only work with businesses with Ecovadis ratings, opening up opportunities to cooperate with large global customers.
• Promote continuous improvement: The Ecovadis Scorecard is the basis for businesses to build a sustainable improvement action program according to a clear roadmap.
• Improve reputation and image: Achieving Ecovadis certification helps businesses affirm their position, attract investment and recruit talents.

Challenges and development trends

Although Ecovadis offers many benefits, the assessment process also poses many challenges:

• Businesses need to invest in management systems, standardize processes and make data transparent.
• It requires coordination between many departments in the organization: human resources, environment, legal, finance, supply chain, etc.
• Continuously update new regulations on sustainable development on a global scale.

The current trend is that more and more businesses in Vietnam and the world are actively participating in Ecovadis, turning sustainability criteria into competitive drivers, promoting innovation and international integration.

Ecovadis has become an important tool to help businesses promote sustainable development, improve their reputation and expand global business opportunities. Participating in this assessment system is not only a requirement from customers and partners but also a commitment of businesses to society, the environment and future generations. Ecovadis is constantly improving and updating standards to catch up with development trends, supporting businesses to affirm their pioneering role in the green and comprehensive sustainable transformation.