DFGE becomes the first Consulting Partner in the German-speaking region of EcoVadis, the leader in supply chain sustainability ratings. This partnership will help companies to better answer their clients’ requests for an EcoVadis assessment, as well as to improve CSR performance.
Greifenberg/München, 4th February 2016 – The DFGE Institute for Energy, Ecology and Economy has, since 1999, been providing consulting and auditing services to realize a Green Vision integrated into corporate business processes. The sustainability experts have signed a partnership with EcoVadis. EcoVadis operates the first collaborative platform providing Supplier Sustainability Ratings for global supply chains. More than 25,000 companies use EcoVadis’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) assessment, including thousands in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which provides a rating and scorecard on their environmental, social/labor, and ethical practices. The partnership will allow DFGE to better support their customers and their supply chains in participating in EcoVadis. DFGE’s services around EcoVadis include training workshops, starter packages and complete services which minimize efforts regarding time and resources for suppliers.
An alliance to expand transparency in sustainability reporting in the supply chain
“Over the past few years, there has been increasing interest from companies we evaluate to better understand their EcoVadis scorecard results, and to improve their performance and rating. EcoVadis has launched this partner program not only to ensure the integrity of our service by not training or consulting the same companies we rate, but also to select partners specialized in this expertise. We are very glad that DFGE will empower suppliers in the DACH region to optimize their response and improve their CSR performance,” David McClintock, Marketing Director at Ecovadis.
“We see a growing need for supporting services – participating in EcoVadis is quite comprehensive and requires sustainability know-how that many companies along the supply chain are just getting started with or have not implemented yet. We are very happy to become an EcoVadis partner and help our customers and their suppliers to ease the important participation in EcoVadis” states Dr.-Ing. Thomas Fleissner, CEO and founder of DFGE.
Social and environmental impacts are located in the supply chain
There is a need for transparency in the supply chain. Indeed, with the increase in subcontracting, some social and environmental impacts are no longer located at the company level but within the supply chain. For example, in 2013, when the Rana Plaza complex collapsed in Bangladesh due to lack of compliance in health and safety requirements, the whole supply chain was scrutinized, including clients.
Companies implement sustainable procurement to mitigate risks (e.g. of supply disruption or brand damage), reduce cost, and grow revenue by monitoring and managing social, ethical and environmental impacts. It consists of buying more environmental and social-friendly products and of including sustainability factors in their supply chain management: requests for information, assessments, audits, etc. The objective is to understand the sustainability management system implemented at the supplier level and then improve it in a risk-management perspective.
EcoVadis links suppliers and clients around sustainability
EcoVadis provides a concrete solution enabling CSR transparency in the supply chain. Companies subscribe to EcoVadis and require their suppliers to be assessed by EcoVadis on their sustainability management. This analysis is carried out by EcoVadis experts and the results are then published on a collaborative platform, accessible by both buyers and suppliers, in the shape of a scorecard.
Suppliers complete a questionnaire on environment, labor practices, fair business practices and sustainable procurement and provide documents to show their policies, actions and reporting regarding these topics.
DFGE will help suppliers to manage their response to the EcoVadis Assessment
DFGE is now an official consulting partner, helping suppliers apprehend this level of granularity and to support suppliers in fulfilling the requirements of their clients.
EcoVadis trusts DFGE in providing trainings and pre-checks of responses. Trainings are about EcoVadis principles, the questionnaire and platform management. They aim at empowering suppliers in completing the questionnaire and responding to clients’ requests. DFGE will also provide response checks to make sure that the answers are aligned with EcoVadis requirements and methodology. With more than 15 years of experience in sustainability data management, DFGE can help suppliers to find and improve the right documentation. DFGE also offers complete service packages that reduce company’s investment in time and resources and prepare all requested information to submit to EcoVadis.
On top of that, DFGE can also provide guidance to explain the results of the scorecard, conduct an improvement plan, consolidate the sustainability management system by providing dedicated documents such as the carbon footprint, a CSR report based on GRI guidelines, among others.
About EcoVadis
EcoVadis is the first collaborative platform providing sustainability ratings and performance improvement tools for global supply chains. EcoVadis’ easy-to-use CSR scorecards help companies to monitor suppliers’ environmental, business ethics, and social practices across 150 purchasing categories and 110 countries. Over 130 industry leaders such as Deutsche Telekom, Henkel, Merck, DB, Knorr-Bremse, Deutsche Post-DHL, Nestle, Air France-KLM, Renault-Nissan, ING Bank, Schneider Electric, Heineken, Johnson & Johnson, and Nokia use EcoVadis to reduce risk, drive innovation and foster transparency and trust among over 25,000 trading partners. More at http://www.ecovadis.com
About DFGE
The DFGE– Institute for Energy, Ecology and Economy provides consulting and auditing services to realize a Green Vision integrated in corporate business processes. Strategic advice on topics like technology, energy and emissions is expanded to business related and socio-economic aspects. Services range from consultancy in developing and managing customized analysis for testified Carbon footprint to validation of analysis methods and results for sustainable accuracy. As independent Institute DFGE’s work is based on advanced scientific and research methods and institutionalized standards. More at https://dfge.de
The DFGE disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of the given information. All opinions and estimates included in this report constitute DFGE’s judgment as of the date of this report and are subject to change without notice. DFGE shall have no liability for errors, omissions, or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners
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DFGE – Institut für Energie, Ökologie und Ökonomie
Wolfgang Berger
Kreitstr. 5
86926 Greifenberg
Germany
Phone +49.8192.99733-20
www.dfge.de
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http://blog.dfge.de
PR Kontakt
DFGE – Institut für Energie, Ökologie und Ökonomie
Kreitstr. 5
86926 Greifenberg
Germany
Phone +49.8192.99733-20
