Question

Once we have our scorecard, where do we focus first — and is the Corrective Action Plan enough?

Your scorecard's Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is the starting point: EcoVadis ranks improvement priorities by weight within each theme. But the CAP reflects what EcoVadis sees, not what is fastest or most achievable for your organisation — and it is not a comprehensive roadmap: it shows the most impactful improvements without granular detail per finding, and companies relying on it alone often miss a cluster of lower-priority actions that together move the score meaningfully.

A realistic roadmap combines three filters: the CAP priorities, the effort required per gap, and the score impact of closing it. Apply them in order: check all four theme scores first — below 30, address the root cause immediately, since a theme under 30 eliminates medal eligibility regardless of the average. Then review the highest-weighted themes for your profile, identifying whether each gap is in Policies (fast), Measures (medium-term), Reporting (systematic investment) or Certifications (long-term). Quick wins — policy updates, formalisation of existing practices, KPI documentation, an expired policy, a missing KPI summary, a Code of Conduct without acknowledgement records — can close five to ten points within a single cycle if targeted correctly. Multi-year programmes (ISO certification, public reporting) belong in the next one-to-two-cycle plan.

Beyond the CAP: a methodical review of every activated criterion — what maximum score is available, what was achieved, what specific evidence is missing — systematically uncovers improvement actions the CAP does not surface. That criterion-level analysis (the core of ESGIM's Insights Report service) is what drives material score movement.