Article

How hard is it to get a Bronze or Silver medal? EcoVadis' rising standards in 2026

In brief

Expert insight — François Dequenne: the thresholds keep on rising. If you upload the same evidence as last year, you may not be standing in the same place anymore. Even if your documentation has not changed, the medal threshold has: you could already be several points behind your medal target before the assessment begins. Start by checking where your current score falls relative to the updated thresholds; then review your previous evidence and identify which areas need stronger policies, clearer actions, more recent documentation, or better performance data.

"To maintain the same medal, you must improve. To increase your medal, you have to showcase substantial improvement year on year."

Why will last year's strategy no longer suffice?

Since EcoVadis moved to a percentile-based system in 2024, achieving and keeping medals has become progressively harder. Medals go to top performers over the previous 12 months — you compete against every other improving company, not a static benchmark. Between July 2025 and January 2026 alone, the Silver threshold jumped four points.

Simply replicating last year's strategy will not deliver the same result. To keep your medal you must demonstrate measurable improvement; to advance, substantial progress across multiple indicators.

What should you take away from 2025?

"A sustainability report does not become a strong EcoVadis evidence document the week before submission. Three to four months to build it, additional time for external assurance on top. Organisations that treat reporting as a parallel work stream — developed alongside their assessment, not assembled for it — arrive at submission with everything in place."

Learning #1 — Structure your assessment scope correctly from the beginning

The most frequent and costly 2025 mistake: scoping misalignment. Three assessment scopes exist:

• Group assessment: an entire legal entity and all its subsidiaries together.
• Entity assessment: a single legal entity with no subsidiaries.
• Site assessment: a specific geographic location without its own legal entity name.

Scoping affects scoring directly. A group assessment fed with policy documents covering only one subsidiary gets those documents rejected — low Policies scoring. If two subsidiaries out of ten hold ISO 45001, Coverage scores low because only 20% of operations are covered. Fix the assessment level before starting; report any mergers or acquisitions to EcoVadis immediately; align every document with the chosen scope.

Learning #2 — Much higher requirements for the Reporting score

Reporting accounts for 14% of the overall score, and EcoVadis raised the bar in 2025: public disclosure and comprehensive sustainability reports are now the minimum for high scores. An advanced or outstanding Reporting score requires:

• KPI coverage above 85% of your material criteria — a Gold and Platinum requirement — quantitative metrics for each activated criterion across all four themes, not just EcoVadis' specific KPI requests
• Three consecutive years of data in the same document, with the latest period no older than 2 years
• A public sustainability or annual report — without one, your Reporting score is capped at 50/100 regardless of internal data
• Alignment with recognised standards: GRI ("in accordance"), SASB, IFRS S1 & S2, ESRS or VSME
• A materiality analysis — the foundational step that determines which ESG topics belong in your reporting
• External verification by an accredited independent third party

Building a solid report takes three to four months, plus assurance lead time: start well before your assessment period.

Learning #3 — Audits can score in place of certifications

For smaller companies, ISO certifications can be costly. Good news: sustainability-related audits can score instead, under conditions — a standalone audit (not contributing to a certification), covering more than 30% of total operations, on topics material for you, with the complete report from a qualified or accredited external auditor. Valid examples: Sedex SMETA (closely aligned with the EcoVadis methodology), amfori BSCI, TfS for chemicals; even second-party customer audits by a qualified external auditor. It contributes less than a certification (ISO 14001 contributes up to 100 points on environmental management systems) — and beware: major or minor non-conformities in the report can cost points or feed your 360° Watch indicator.

What is changing in the 2026 methodology?

Change #1 — Choosing environmental material topics. EcoVadis continues its materiality customisation pilot: organisations in specific industries (pharmaceutical manufacturing, plastics, electronics, some agriculture) are asked whether topics such as water, air pollution, product use, product end-of-life and customer health & safety are material to their operations. If not, related questions deactivate. To prove non-materiality, provide a comprehensive materiality assessment: the significant ESG topics, how the organisation impacts each, and the topics not considered material with the reasoning. Caution: contradictory information (360° Watch findings, processes visible in other documents) leads EcoVadis to reactivate the topic.

Change #2 — Enhanced 360° Watch methodology. A new mitigating/aggravating factor: stakeholder consensus — the level of certainty expressed by relevant, credible stakeholders about a finding's adverse nature. Higher consensus raises severity; low or disputed consensus avoids over-penalisation. Anticipate findings through the Live News function and verify they reflect your organisation's actual scope and responsibilities.

Change #3 — VSME reporting framework recognition. EcoVadis now formally recognises the EFRAG VSME standard — the simplified EU framework for SMEs outside CSRD scope. Reporting aligned with the VSME Basic Module can reach 75/100 on Reporting (other criteria met); Basic + Comprehensive Modules can reach the full 100. A streamlined path for EU-exposed SMEs to strong submissions and emerging European reporting expectations.

What action plan for 2026?

• Verify your assessment scope at the outset of each cycle — documentation must align perfectly with group, entity or site level.
• Elevate reporting maturity: work towards a public report aligned with GRI, ESRS or VSME, with KPIs covering all relevant topics.
• Stay informed: follow EcoVadis methodology updates and monitor 360° Watch findings proactively through Live News.
• Prepare a robust (double) materiality assessment — the foundation for the EcoVadis assessment and wider ESG practice.

"Coverage is the indicator that most clearly reflects whether sustainability is actually embedded in how an organisation operates. A certification at 20% of your sites, a training programme reaching 30% of your staff — these numbers tell EcoVadis exactly where your management system is strong and where it still needs to reach."

The pathway to EcoVadis excellence isn't about gaming the system: it's about genuinely strengthening sustainability management and demonstrating that progress through compelling evidence.

Key takeaways

• Thresholds rise every cycle: Silver ~68 → 73 and Gold ~77 → 81 between July 2025 and August 2026. Standing still means falling behind.
• Scope misalignment (group/entity/site) is the most costly avoidable mistake.
• Reporting = 14% of the score. A public report gates any score above 50/100; three years of data and 85% KPI coverage are the Gold and Platinum bar — start 3-4 months ahead.
• Qualified standalone audits (SMETA, BSCI, TfS) can substitute for certifications, at lower value and with non-conformity risk.
• 2026: materiality customisation, stakeholder-consensus-weighted 360° Watch, and VSME recognition (Basic = up to 75, Basic+Comprehensive = 100 on Reporting).