Achieving an EcoVadis Platinum medal: Lessons Learned from Sourcing Champions

Sourcing Champions achieved EcoVadis Platinum status this year, placing the procurement consultancy among the top 1% of companies worldwide for sustainability performance. All the more reason for Consultancy.org to explore how the firm made the leap from Platinum – and what other organisations can learn from its experience.

Established in 2014, Sourcing Champions is a boutique procurement consultancy offering services in strategy, transformation and capability development. Practising what it preaches, the firm also provides a range of sustainability and net zero focused services.

Sourcing Champions received its first EcoVadis rating in 2025, when it achieved Bronze status. Within just one year, the consultancy made a remarkable leap from Bronze to Platinum, effectively leapfrogging the Silver and Gold tiers. In practical terms, this means Sourcing Champions moved from roughly the top third of assessed companies to the top 1%, crossing two major performance thresholds in the process.

There are clear lessons to be learned from this achievement. To explore how Sourcing Champions made the leap – and how the firm is applying these lessons in its work with clients – we spoke with Robert Waalder, Rahul Rao, Bheemapos Seemawut and Sabrina Hueren.

1) Set SMART goals

“I think that, ultimately, companies should strive to be as responsible as possible,” said Bheemapos, “but it’s equally important to understand where you stand today and consider whether these ambitions should be pursued step by step.”

“At the kickoff of our own EcoVadis project, we defined our target rating for the year using the SMART goal framework: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. As this was our second year of assessment, we had a clear understanding of our capabilities and the realistic areas for improvement based on last year’s performance.”

Rahul added: “We have a clear improvement goal in mind, and EcoVadis ratings have become part of our company-level KPIs, giving us measurable accountability for our efforts. This assessment also comes at a time of growth for the company, and we’ve evaluated that achieving a higher rating is realistic given the capabilities of our team. From a project management perspective, it also makes sense, as we’ve defined clear deadlines for each milestone.”

When applying this approach to large organisations with broader procurement scopes, the firm follows the same framework. Each EcoVadis assessment project starts with a workshop to evaluate existing measures and policies, helping to identify the current baseline and define a scalable path for improvement.

“Every organisation has its own level of complexity and unique structure. Context matters just as much as ambition. This is why we always start with a dedicated workshop for our clients,” noted Rahul.

2) Understand the EcoVadis structure

“What I often see in projects is that many companies already have sustainability policies and measures in place, which is undeniably a great start,” Rahul shared, drawing on his experience supporting clients with EcoVadis assessments. “The challenge, however, is that they often don’t know how to properly map, target, and measure their efforts.”

EcoVadis has established 21 sustainability criteria based on globally recognised standards. These criteria are structured across four main pillars: Environment, Labour & Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement. To drive meaningful progress, organisations need to map their activities against these topics in a way that reflects their specific operations and priorities.

“In the Environment pillar, for example, it is crucial to identify your material topics. For a manufacturing company working with chemicals, waste management looks very different from what it does in an office setting. That’s why, during our workshops, we also guide companies through determining what is most relevant to their specific context,” said Rahul.

There are also three core management components in the EcoVadis assessment. Policies assess the scope, formalisation, and robustness of a company’s sustainability commitments, objectives, and targets. Measures evaluate the concrete actions taken to implement these commitments in practice. Reporting, in turn, focuses on the quantitative KPIs used to track and demonstrate progress.

“It is important to structure your submission and supporting evidence in a way that aligns with the management pillars,” said Bheemapos. “We make sure that each piece of evidence is clearly attributed to the relevant part of the questionnaire, ensuring full coverage.”

3) Establish efficient governance

For a boutique organisation like Sourcing Champions, the leadership team collaborates closely across the company, enabling efficient review and supervision processes.

In larger organisations, however, the process becomes more complex. “We recommend managing these projects from the top down, ensuring that the corporate sustainability strategy cascades clearly into departmental strategies, supported by a single point of contact at the leadership level. In our support services, we also help organisations establish the right structure, workflows, and reporting systems needed to ensure a successful assessment,” said Rahul.

“Cross-functional collaboration is crucial for driving initiatives, as sustainability touches every part of an organisation,” he added. “For example, in our clients’ companies, HR plays a key role in human rights topics, Procurement in Scope 3 emissions, and Compliance or Finance in areas such as legal risks and anti-corruption.”

Emphasising cross-functional collaboration, internal communication becomes essential to ensure alignment, clarity, and accountability across all departments. “Clear roles, consistent information flow, and regular updates help teams stay coordinated and ensure that sustainability initiatives are understood, supported, and effectively implemented throughout the organisation.”

4) Commit to training and awareness building

The EcoVadis assessment goes beyond a score. It must translate into real behavioural and operational change. This means that its real value lies in increasing awareness and embedding a shift in mindset. “That’s why internal training plays a critical role in ensuring that relevant topics are understood and embedded across the business,” said Rahul.

“As part of our commitment to Procurement with Purpose, we’ve delivered training on key areas such as regulations, supplier engagement, and sustainability for our clients’ procurement functions as part of the support project,” said Rahul. “Within Sourcing Champions, we also ensure that all core topics – environment, labour and human rights, and ethics – are consistently covered across the team.”

5) Benchmark to international standards

As an internationally recognised assessment system, EcoVadis encourages organisations to base their sustainability policies on global standards such as the UN Global Compact (UNGC) Ten Principles, ILO conventions, ISO 26000, ISO 14001, OECD Guidelines, and ISO 20400. “We kept this in mind when defining our policies, not only to meet assessment requirements, but to genuinely evolve into a global champion of sustainability,” said Bheemapos.

“We explicitly reference these standards in our policies and ensure strong alignment with them,” he continued. “Beyond that, we translate these principles into concrete measures and KPIs to demonstrate our commitment in practice. This best practice is also applied in our client projects.”

6) Engage with your suppliers

From an environmental perspective alone, upstream Scope 3 emissions typically account for 50% to 95% of a company’s total carbon footprint. At the same time, organisations with global supply chains must ensure that suppliers, regardless of location, operate in line with international standards and meet consistent sustainability expectations.

When addressing the responsible procurement pillar, supplier engagement plays a critical role. “We have witnessed this in many of our client projects across multiple industries, from manufacturing to consumer goods. By embedding sustainability into supplier relationships, organisations can drive transparency, manage risks more effectively, and ensure that their procurement activities align with broader ESG objectives,” said Rahul.

He continued: “It’s essential to not only define internal policies, but also extend expectations, standards, and practices to suppliers. For our clients, we review ESG clauses in supplier contracts, assess due diligence and supplier selection processes, and ensure that sustainability criteria are fully integrated into RFPs.”

7) Adopt creativity

“While becoming more responsible is a broad topic that requires significant effort, I also believe that small, everyday actions can make a real difference, and that’s where creativity comes in,” said Bheemapos. “I often ask myself: how can we break down big concepts like sustainability or human rights into smaller, practical initiatives that our team can easily take on?”

Building on this mindset, the Sourcing Champions team has implemented a range of initiatives. “For example, to promote workplace wellbeing, we introduced a healthy snack system with fresh fruit. On the environmental side, we encourage paper reuse and track our paper usage in a gamified way,” explained Waalder.

“To support diversity and inclusion, we participate in Pride events to show support for the LGBTQ community and organise activities to learn about different cultures, such as celebrating Thai New Year. These initiatives are also submitted as part of our measurable actions.”

“This works in two ways,” Bheemapos added. “It helps our team actively contribute to a more responsible way of working through everyday actions, which I believe is very powerful, as everyone plays a part. At the same time, it demonstrates our commitment in a very tangible and visible way.”