Why your customer is asking

Large companies use EcoVadis to check the sustainability of their suppliers without auditing each one themselves. When a customer asks you to “get rated on EcoVadis”, they want a scorecard they can see on the platform, and often a minimum score or medal.

For MSME suppliers, a good rating can be a deciding factor in keeping or winning business, especially with European customers.

What EcoVadis looks at

EcoVadis scores you on four themes, broken into 21 criteria:

Not every theme counts equally. EcoVadis weights each theme from 1 to 4 depending on how material it is for your industry, then adjusts for your size and location. A small engineering firm and a large textile exporter answer different versions of the questionnaire.

Within each theme, EcoVadis looks at three layers of evidence:

1. Policies: written commitments and endorsements.
2. Actions: measures you’ve put in place, certifications you hold and, for larger companies, how widely they cover your sites or employees.
3. Results: what you report (KPIs) and what outside sources say about you, from news, NGOs and regulators (EcoVadis calls this the 360° Watch).

EcoVadis scores and medal thresholds

You get a score from 0 to 100 overall and for each theme.

Since January 2024, medals are based on percentile ranking, not fixed scores. Your score is compared with all companies rated in the previous year:

To qualify for any medal, every theme score must be 30 or above. A weak score in one theme blocks a medal even if your overall score is high.

Companies without a medal can still earn a badge: Committed for a score of 45 or more, or Fast Mover for a score of 34–44 that has improved by at least 6 points within 18 months.

Medals, badges and scorecards are valid for 12 months.

The process, step by step

1. Register on the EcoVadis platform, usually from your customer’s invitation, and choose a subscription.
2. Fill in the questionnaire, which is tailored to your size, industry and country.
3. Upload supporting documents for your answers.
4. Analyst review. An EcoVadis analyst checks your documents and public information about your company.
5. Scorecard published, typically 6 to 8 weeks after you submit. Since 2026 you get two business days to flag factual errors before publication.

Your scorecard lists improvement areas, which become a corrective action plan you can share with customers. The plan doesn’t change your score; only a reassessment does.

What it costs

EcoVadis doesn’t publish prices. Supplier plans (Basic, Premium, Select and Corporate) are annual subscriptions, priced by company size:

Note that sharing your scorecard beyond the platform requires Premium or higher.

Why first-time scores are low, and how to fix it

EcoVadis’s own guidance is clear: it can only credit answers backed by evidence. The most common reasons small suppliers score low:

• No formal policies. Good practices exist on the shop floor but nothing is written down and signed.
• Documents that don’t count. Unbranded or undated documents, material written only for the questionnaire, text copied from other companies, and web links are rejected.
• Out-of-date evidence. Policies must be less than 8 years old and KPI reports less than 2 years old.
• No reporting. No figures for energy, waste, accidents or training, or figures covering less than a full year.

For very small (XS) companies, EcoVadis accepts simpler evidence, such as a signed letter from the CEO as a policy, or invoices and training records as proof of action.

How to prepare for your EcoVadis assessment: a six-week plan

1. Week 1: gap check. Go through the questionnaire themes and list what you have and what’s missing.
2. Weeks 2–3: policies. Write short, specific policies for environment, labour and human rights, ethics and supplier conduct. Brand, date and sign them.
3. Weeks 3–4: evidence of action. Gather certificates (ISO 14001, ISO 45001), training records, audits and procedures.
4. Week 5: KPIs. Pull a full year of energy, emissions, waste, water, safety and training figures into one short report.
5. Week 6: submit. Answer carefully and only claim what your documents prove.
6. After your scorecard: work through the improvement areas and reassess within 12 months.

If you already report under BRSR, GRI or CDP, much of this data exists. EcoVadis now gives credit for a GRI report prepared “with reference” to the GRI Standards, which is one more reason to collect your data once and reuse it.

FAQs

Sources

1. EcoVadis homepage
2. EcoVadis: understanding medals and badges
3. EcoVadis: methodology overview
4. EcoVadis: sustainability rating methodology disclosure (2026)
5. EcoVadis: new medal benchmarks (2024)
6. EcoVadis: the assessment process
7. EcoVadis: plans and pricing
8. EcoVadis: supporting documents
9. EcoVadis: documents for XS companies
10. EcoVadis: methodology updates Q1 2026

Facts checked on 28 Sep 2026. Rules change often; we update this article when they do.