How EcoVadis ratings can simplify sustainable partnerships

In today’s business landscape, sustainability and corporate responsibility are top priorities when choosing a supplier or partner. But with seemingly everybody pushing out messaging on sustainability, it can sometimes be tricky to know who to choose or what to trust when it comes to truly sustainable business operations. 

This is where sustainability accreditations are a tool that can help you navigate the market – organisations that assess a company’s commitment to sustainability across tangible measures are one way to find a reliable and evidence-based guide to what ‘good’ sustainable operations look like. In this blog, we’ll explore a trusted sustainability rating for businesses, what it takes to achieve their rating and how Rentokil Initial is operating more sustainably with their support.

What is EcoVadis?

EcoVadis is a well-known sustainability accreditation bestowed by the globally recognised, independent auditing firm of the same name. Founded in 2007, they've made significant progress evaluating non-financial sustainability for over 100,000 companies, including Rentokil Initial. Their mission is ‘to provide reliable, globally recognised sustainability ratings and insights, enabling all companies to reduce risk, drive improvement and accelerate positive impact on our planet and society.’   

The EcoVadis scoring scale

The EcoVadis scoring system is simple – audited companies receive a scorecard with a rating from zero to one hundred. Companies also receive medals that highlight their strengths and weaknesses and recognise those that have demonstrated a robust management system that addresses defined sustainability criteria.   

What are the four areas of EcoVadis certification?

The EcoVadis assessment is a comprehensive examination of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and encompasses all aspects of sustainability. This includes 21 CSR criteria covering a range of non-financial systems under four key themes: Environment, Labour and Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement.

The EcoVadis assessment process

When a business chooses to undergo EcoVadis’ assessment, the process includes the following:

1. The business completes an intensive questionnaire based on its industry, size and operational locations. A variety of data sources are also collected to ensure objectivity (eg customer-provided documents and third-party confirmations like certifications and labels).
2. EcoVadis conducts a comprehensive analysis of the documents, verifying the responses and rejecting or approving them accordingly.   
3. Information concerning the business from external sources (eg non-governmental organisations, trade unions, international organisations and newspaper articles) is also collected, enabling a 360° analysis to screen for further information.
4. This analysis results in a scorecard for each EcoVadis theme and an overall score (from zero to one hundred) that translates into a medal status. There are four levels of medals: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. To achieve bronze, a business must score in the top 50% of EcoVadis-rated companies.
5. In addition to the scorecard, a set of strengths and improvement areas are highlighted for each theme. This scorecard can be shared with the business’ customers or other companies. 

So, how can an EcoVadis rating benefit your business?

If you’re looking to acquire a new supplier, accreditations like EcoVadis can simplify things when it comes to sustainability. By providing a reliable rating of a business’ commitment to environmental and social responsibility, an EcoVadis accreditation offers reassurance that a provider meets specific standards.

EcoVadis’ comprehensive assessment means that not only have the company’s core practices been investigated, but so have their supply chain and broader sustainability practices such as social responsibility initiatives. By benchmarking companies against others in their market, EcoVadis ratings can help you choose which provider is best placed to support your business.

A holistic approach to sustainability for Rentokil Initial

At Rentokil Initial, we were thrilled to be awarded the prestigious silver rating from EcoVadis in May 2023. As our Group Safety, Health and Environment Director, Jason Lannie, points out “this rating demonstrates that our sustainability management system ranks in the top 25% of companies evaluated in its industry while also providing us with areas where we can seek to improve and drive higher levels of sustainable performance continuously.”

As Jason highlights, our partnership with EcoVadis doesn’t stop at the score. We’re committed to long-term sustainability, and that means we’re constantly learning, growing and improving. We participate in EcoVadis ratings annually, leveraging the results to create ongoing, positive changes in our business alongside our existing sustainability programmes, like our ultra-low emission vehicle fleets and success in reducing our use of plastic in packaging and products.

With this drive behind us, we’re working towards our goal of net zero emissions by 2040 and following the Environmental Action Plan we released in 2020. Our global and local teams are working towards a greener tomorrow with a focus on three ‘pillars’: sustainable solutions, sustainable operations and sustainable workplace. 

Under the operations pillar, we’re not only looking at our own business but are also considering the environmental impact of our suppliers. We assess all our critical direct suppliers using questionnaires or audits and apply a gold, silver, or bronze rating to them based on the results. Following these assessments, we only partner with new suppliers that meet the ‘gold’ or ‘silver’ criteria, as well as those that match our sustainability values and agree to our Supply Code of Conduct. With this process in place, all of our critical suppliers have now met our internal rating or achieved official environmental accreditations such as EcoVadis.

Ready to reach out to an EcoVadis-accredited provider?

In our hygiene services business specifically, we’re on a mission to drive change towards more sustainable solutions in our industry. From soaps made from natural ingredients to recycled packaging, Initial’s Mission Sustainable includes sustainability commitments that mean we’re considering and improving the environmental impact of our product development process, operations, supply chain and ongoing partnerships. We’re a service provider that will partner closely with you to help protect the hygiene, health and wellbeing of your staff and visitors while supporting efforts towards your sustainability goals. To learn more about how we’re making this happen, click here.