EcoVadis flags supply chain sustainability gap

Four out of five companies rated by EcoVadis have no documented process for identifying or managing sustainability risks within their own supply chains, according to the tenth edition of the EcoVadis Sustainability Ratings Index, drawn from nearly 200,000 scorecards of more than 100,000 companies rated globally between 2021 and 2025.

The report finds 73 percent of rated companies have no scope 3 upstream emissions reporting and 77 percent have no downstream tracking, while fewer than 1 percent report granular sustainability data to buyer organizations. Only 2 percent have an external grievance mechanism allowing workers deeper in the supply chain to flag human rights violations.

Within their own operations, rated companies are making progress. Environmental scores rose 9.6 points on average over four years, with the share of companies reaching Advanced+ status more than doubling from 17 percent in 2021 to 38 percent in 2025. Some 46 percent of rated suppliers now purchase or generate renewable energy. However, 78 percent have no science-based carbon reduction targets.

The report also highlights a data readiness problem for AI-powered procurement tools: 68 percent of corporate buyers have deployed AI in sustainable procurement programs, but 30 percent of suppliers provide no carbon data and 26 percent supply only aggregated estimates.

'Better software does not close that gap,' said Sylvain Guyoton, chief rating officer at EcoVadis. 'The measurement problem lives in the supply base itself, and closing it requires sustained engagement over time: structured assessment, scored performance, and documented follow-through.'

Companies with multiple EcoVadis ratings outperform first-time rated companies by 12 points on average, suggesting repeated engagement drives measurable improvement.