Sustainability reporting is changing. What does that mean for your EcoVadis assessment?

In short: Changes to mandatory sustainability reporting do not remove the need for businesses to demonstrate their sustainability practices to customers. EcoVadis helps customers assess suppliers’ policies, actions and results across environmental and social issues, ethics and sustainable procurement. Some require a minimum score to award or renew contracts, making a voluntary assessment a commercial priority. And because medals depend on percentile rankings, maintaining last year’s score does not guarantee the same medal.

The past few weeks have brought a run of headlines suggesting sustainability reporting is getting lighter in some places. In the EU, the Omnibus package narrowed the scope of the CSRD, alongside revisions to the European Sustainability Reporting Standards. And on 7 September, the UK government opened a consultation on modernising corporate reporting, including proposals to simplify non-financial reporting requirements. In Australia, proposed increases to the thresholds defining large proprietary companies could also affect which businesses must prepare sustainability reports.

If you supply goods and services to larger companies, it is tempting to read this as “ESG paperwork is going away”. That is only half the story. The legal requirements might be narrowing for some businesses, but customer expectations may still apply.

An EcoVadis rating may be requested directly by a client or through a tender, supplier onboarding process or contract renewal, even where your business is outside mandatory reporting requirements.

What changed

• CSRD now covers the largest companies. After the Omnibus, mandatory EU reporting applies to companies and groups above both thresholds with more than 1,000 employees and over €450 million net turnover.
• Smaller suppliers gain a value-chain cap. For financial years from 1 January 2027, companies reporting under the CSRD cannot require suppliers with fewer than 1,000 employees to provide more than a short list of data points from the EU’s voluntary standard, when the data is for their own CSRD report.
• The standards are leaner. The revised ESRS enter into force on 10 November 2026 and apply to financial years from 1 January 2027.
• The UK is consulting on lighter strategic reporting. Environmental, employee, social, human rights and anti-bribery disclosures would be required only where financially material. Existing climate-related financial disclosure requirements are unaffected by this proposal, as they are still under review. The consultation closes on 30 November 2026.
• Listed companies move to ‘comply or explain’. Under the FCA’s final rules, published on 30 September, listed issuers will report against the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards or explain departures, for periods from 1 January 2027, with one year transitional relief on Scope 3 disclosures, and a two-year relief for wider UK SRS S1 disclosures.

What didn't change: why customers ask for an EcoVadis rating

An EcoVadis rating is not a legal requirement. Customers may request one as part of their own supplier assessment processes. Their procurement teams use it to onboard, compare and monitor suppliers. It often appears as a requirement, or a scored criterion, in tenders and contract renewals.

EcoVadis gives customers a structured view of how a supplier manages sustainability: how it treats employees, addresses its environmental impact, conducts business ethically and manages its own suppliers. The assessment brings together evidence of policies, actions and results across these areas, helping customers evaluate the practices behind a supplier’s commitments. Some customers set a minimum EcoVadis score as a condition for participating in tenders or remaining an approved supplier. For those businesses, an assessment that is voluntary in law can become a commercial necessity.

Customers may also need supplier information to assess sustainability risks or calculate Scope 3 emissions. These needs can lead to requests for ratings, questionnaires or specific data, even where a supplier has no mandatory reporting obligation of its own.

See how we support Scope 3 and supplier data.

The bar keeps moving

EcoVadis medals are relative. They depend on your percentile rank against every company EcoVadis rated in the previous 12 months, at the moment your scorecard is published. Gold means the top 5%, Silver the top 15% and Bronze the top 35%. Each of the four themes (environment, labour and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement) also needs a score of at least 30 out of 100.

As more companies are assessed and improve, the score needed for each medal can rise. In practice, resubmitting last year’s evidence without reviewing it risks relying on documents that are no longer valid or sufficient, potentially lowering your score as well as affecting your medal. And a score that held a medal last cycle may not hold it this cycle, even if nothing at your company got worse.

Talking about your medal after 27 September. EU rules on misleading green claims to consumers have applied since 27 September 2026. EcoVadis says its medals are not certifications or product labels. In practice: say your sustainability management was rated by EcoVadis, not that you are ‘EcoVadis certified’. Link to your EcoVadis Recognition Page, which has been required for public use since January 2026. Stop promoting a medal once its 12 months have passed, and keep it off product packaging.

Four checks to make this quarter

1. Map who is asking. List the customers, tenders and renewals that request EcoVadis.
2. Reread your last scorecard. The corrective action plan shows which themes pulled the score down.
3. Build evidence all year. Policies, KPIs, data trends and supplier engagement carry weight, and none of them can, nor should, be created in the few weeks the questionnaire is open.
4. Reuse what you already have. Evidence built for EcoVadis overlaps with customer questionnaires, VSME-style data requests, CDP and UK SRS reporting. One evidence base can serve them all.

What this looks like in practice

In a past project, a business came to us with genuine sustainability values but no auditable policies, and no bandwidth to build them. In year one, we ran a gap analysis, supported in drafting the policies and KPI reporting, built the evidence package and managed the submission, helping the business achieve an EcoVadis Silver medal in its first assessment.

In year two, under EcoVadis’ tighter medal rules, we formalised supplier ethics, diversity and environmental metrics: the business achieved Gold in 2024, placing it among the top 5% of companies assessed in the previous 12 months. In 2025, after a year spent focusing on supplier engagement, the business raised its score and kept its Gold medal despite tougher EcoVadis assessment requirements and a scoring system change. Read the case study: from Silver to Gold

Frequently asked questions

Is EcoVadis a certification?

No. EcoVadis rates how a company manages sustainability, based on the evidence it submits, and the rating is reassessed rather than awarded once. A medal is valid for 12 months and is not a product label. Describe it as ‘rated by EcoVadis’, not ‘certified’.

Does the CSRD value-chain cap mean we can refuse an EcoVadis request?

Not on its face. From 2027, the cap limits the sustainability data a CSRD-reporting company can require from suppliers with fewer than 1,000 employees for its own report under the voluntary standard. A customer can still make a rating a condition of a tender or contract depending on the circumstances and applicable law. Check the purpose of each request, and take legal advice on specific cases.

What score do we need for an EcoVadis Gold medal?

There is no fixed score. Medals are based on percentile rank, which shows how your company performs relative to other assessed companies. Gold requires the 95th percentile or above, placing your company in the top 5% of companies EcoVadis rated in the previous 12 months, with at least 30 out of 100 in each of the four themes and subject to other medal eligibility criteria. The score that earns Gold can change from one cycle to the next.

Is EcoVadis mandatory in the UK?

No law requires an EcoVadis rating. The pressure is commercial: customers, tenders and contract renewals. That is why requests continue even as reporting rules narrow.

Where to start

Fewer rules do not mean fewer requests. If a customer has asked for your EcoVadis rating, or your reassessment is coming up, we can manage the process end to end, from gap analysis to platform upload, working as an extension of your team.

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