Updated: 10 June, 2025

Facing your first EcoVadis assessment can feel overwhelming, especially the thought of writing EcoVadis policies if you don't have them already. For many, policy writing is a pain point. How to create them from scratch? But here's the good news: creating the essential sustainability policies EcoVadis looks for doesn't have to be a monumental task.

EcoVadis views formal, documented policies as the bedrock of your sustainability management system. They are tangible proof of your commitments. This guide will show you which Ecovadis policies matter for your submission, how to approach their creation quickly and effectively, and leverage Ecovadis policy examples and Ecovadis policy templates to get a head start.

Quick Navigation

• 1. Why Policies are Your EcoVadis Starting Point
• 2. The "Must-Have" EcoVadis Policies and Codes: An Overview
• 3. Foundational Environmental Policy
• 4. Labour & Human Rights (L&HR) Policy Suite
• 5. Your Ethical Framework Policies
• 6. Foundational Supplier Code of Conduct
• 7. Quick Tips for Effective (& Quick!) Policy Creation
• 8. Essential Policies FAQ
• 9. Your Shortcut to Submission-Ready Policies
•  

Why Policies are Your EcoVadis Starting Point

If you want to demonstrate your company's intent and governance structure for managing Environmental, Social, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement issues, you need policies and codes of conduct. They are the "Plan" in the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle that underpins robust management systems. Even if you're new to EcoVadis and lack extensive historical performance data (Results), strong policies (Policies) backed by initial implementation steps (Actions) can build a solid foundation for your score. Policies and codes carry a significant weight (25%) in each of the four theme scores.

EcoVadis requires policies to be:

• Relevant: Addressing your company's specific impacts and the activated criteria in your questionnaire.
• Up-to-Date: Typically reviewed within the last 8 years, though more frequent reviews are best practice.
• Credible & Official: Company-branded, formally dated, and signed/endorsed by senior management. Documents created solely for the assessment without real internal adoption are often flagged.

The "Must-Have" EcoVadis Policies and Codes: An Overview

While EcoVadis tailors its questionnaire, a core set of documents is generally expected to demonstrate a foundational sustainability management system. These cover the four key themes:

1. Environment: Environmental Policy
2. Labour & Human Rights: L&HR Policy (umbrella), Health & Safety Policy, Equal Opportunity Policy
3. Ethics: Code of Ethics/Business Conduct, Anti-Corruption Policy, Whistleblower Policy, Data Protection/Information Security Policy
4. Sustainable Procurement: Supplier Code of Conduct, Sustainable Procurement Policy

Let's break these down.

1. Foundational Environmental Policy

• EcoVadis Importance: Addresses the Environment theme, covering energy, GHG emissions (Scope 1-3), water, waste, pollution, and biodiversity and more.
• Essential Components:
  • Clear commitment to environmental protection, legal compliance, and continuous improvement.
  • Specific objectives for key areas (energy, water, waste, emissions).
  • Assigned roles and responsibilities.
  • Commitment to regular review and top management endorsement.
• "EcoVadis in Reverse" Example: Waaree Energies' "Environmental Policy (DOC-WEL-POL-01)" is a public example, detailing commitments and specific 2025 and 2030 targets across Energy Efficiency, Air Pollution, Waste, Carbon Emissions, Water and more.

2. Labour & Human Rights (L&HR) Policy Suite

This theme is critical and often requires a few interconnected Ecovadis policies.

Comprehensive L&HR Policy (Umbrella)

• EcoVadis Importance: Provides an overarching framework for your commitment to worker well-being and human rights.
• Essential Components:
  • Commitment to international standards (ILO Core Conventions, UN Guiding Principles).
  • Coverage of H&S, working conditions, social dialogue, career management, prohibition of child/forced labour, and DEI.
  • Accessible grievance mechanisms.
• "EcoVadis in Reverse" Example: FineToday Group's "Human Rights Policy" aligns with UN Guiding Principles and covers their value chain.

Robust Health & Safety (H&S) Policy

• EcoVadis Importance: A heavily weighted aspect, especially for operational/manufacturing businesses (but usually already in place in companies).
• Essential Components:
  • Commitment to a safe workplace and accident prevention.
  • Process for risk assessment and hazard control.
  • Emergency preparedness procedures.
  • Incident reporting and investigation.
  • Employee training and consultation on H&S.
• "EcoVadis in Reverse" Example: Gerresheimer AG demonstrates a target-driven approach to Health & Safety that is integrated into its corporate strategy through its Group Occupational Safety Policy, building a safety culture through awareness campaigns, setting a 80% Lost Time Incident Rate (LTIR) reduction target by 2028, and deciding to achieve 100% certification of its production sites to ISO 45001 by 2025 (with 94% already certified by 2024).

Effective Equal Opportunity Policy

• EcoVadis Importance: Demonstrates commitment to non-discrimination, fairness, and an inclusive workplace.
• Essential Components:
  • Clear prohibition of discrimination and harassment (list protected characteristics).
  • Commitment to equal opportunities in recruitment, promotion, and pay.
  • Confidential grievance channels for issues related to discrimination and harassment, with non-retaliation clauses.
• "EcoVadis in Reverse" Example: Scott Bader demonstrates leadership here as one of the first ISO 30415 certificate holders for D&I and transparent UK Gender Pay Gap Report.

3. Your Ethical Framework Policies

Ethics is foundational to trust and a strong EcoVadis score.

Overarching Code of Ethics / Business Conduct

• EcoVadis Importance: Sets the overall ethical tone and guiding principles for the entire organisation.
• Essential Components:
  • CEO/Leadership message emphasising commitment to integrity.
  • Core company values (honesty, fairness, respect).
  • Compliance with laws.
  • Guidelines on conflicts of interest, fair dealing, and use of company assets.
  • Summary of anti-corruption, data protection, and whistleblowing principles (can link to specific policies).
• "EcoVadis in Reverse" Example: FineToday Group's "Code of Conduct and Ethics" is comprehensive and available in multiple languages, a best practice for global companies. It is "signed" by the CEO, has a clear scope, and is organised around the company's relationship with its key stakeholders.

Specific Anti-Corruption Policy

• EcoVadis Importance: Addresses bribery, fraud, and other corrupt practices – a high-risk area.
• Essential Components:
  • "Zero Tolerance" statement for all forms of bribery and corruption.
  • Clear definitions (bribery, facilitation payments, gifts).
  • Rules for gifts, hospitality, and an explicit prohibition of facilitation payments.
  • Requirements for due diligence on third parties.
  • Commitment to accurate books and records.
• "EcoVadis in Reverse" Example: Ansell Limited's Anti-Bribery & Corruption Policy reinforces their zero-tolerance stance by explicitly prohibiting kickbacks, improper payments, and facilitation payments. This document is publicly accessible on their Governance webpage, which serves as a good demonstration of how your company could approach transparency and a well-structured ethical framework.

Clear Whistleblower Policy

• EcoVadis Importance: Essential for enabling safe reporting of misconduct and demonstrating accountability.
• Essential Components:
  • Encouragement to report suspected wrongdoing.
  • Multiple, accessible, and confidential reporting channels (e.g., dedicated email, hotline).
  • Crucially: A strong, explicit non-retaliation clause.
  • Outline of the investigation process.
• "EcoVadis in Reverse" Example: Scott Bader's "Group Whistleblowing Policy" is a clear, publicly available document detailing their process and use of an external hotline, "Safecall."

Essential Data Protection / Information Security Policy

• EcoVadis Importance: Critical for "Responsible Information Management," especially with GDPR and other privacy laws.
• Essential Components:
  • Commitment to protecting confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA) of data.
  • Compliance with relevant data privacy laws (e.g., GDPR).
  • Principles for access control and secure data handling.
  • Procedures for information security incident management.
  • Commitment to employee training on data security.
• "EcoVadis in Reverse" Example: ZTE Corporation's Business Code of Conduct is a strong and comprehensive code addressing the protection of data security, privacy, and intellectual property. The document forms the foundation of the company's Information Security and Privacy Management system. This system is externally audited and (3rd-party) certified to ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 standards.

4. Foundational Supplier Code of Conduct

• EcoVadis Importance: Acts as the formal rulebook you provide to your suppliers, defining your company's standards and requirements for environmental, social, and ethical performance. For EcoVadis, it's tangible evidence of your actions to manage sustainability issues within your supply chain.
• Essential Components:
  • Supplier Expectations (Supplier Code of Conduct elements):
    • Ethical Principles: A zero-tolerance stance on bribery and corruption, with clear rules on fair competition and data protection.
    • Labour & Human Rights: Prohibition of child and forced labour, alongside requirements for a safe workplace, fair wages, and non-discrimination.
    • Environmental Management: Expectations for managing waste, emissions, and water, and for promoting the use of sustainable materials.
  • A clause requiring suppliers to formally sign the code.
  • Process for supplier selection/evaluation considering sustainability.
  • Commitment to supplier engagement, development on sustainability and the right to verify compliance.
• "EcoVadis in Reverse" Example: Verescence's "Supplier CSR Charter" (French + English version linked) shows detailed expectations across all four themes, mechanisms for enforcement and verification and cascading requirements through the supply chain. Verescence reports having more than 2,400 suppliers with 100% strategic supplier sign-off and 51% of those being signed up to EcoVadis too.

Quick Tips for Effective (& Quick!) Policy Creation

1. Use a Standard Structure: For each policy, include: Title, Policy Statement/Purpose, Scope, Definitions (if needed), Commitments/Objectives (qualitative, and quantitative if possible), Roles & Responsibilities, Implementation Mechanisms (briefly), Training & Communication, Monitoring & Review, Version Control & Top Management Endorsement (signature & date).
2. Focus on Activated Criteria: Review your EcoVadis questionnaire to see which criteria are most relevant ("activated") for your company. Prioritise detailed policy content for these areas.
3. Leverage Existing Materials (Carefully!): If you have informal guidelines or procedures, formalise them. If you use external Ecovadis policy templates (like those in our Starter Kit), thoroughly customise them to reflect your company's actual practices, risks, and commitments. Generic, unadapted templates are easily spotted and devalued by EcoVadis.
4. Management Buy-in is Key: Ensure senior management reviews, understands, and formally approves/signs each policy. This is necessary for credibility.
5. Plan for Communication: Briefly outline in each policy how it will be communicated to employees. This sets the stage for providing "Action" evidence later.

Essential Policies FAQ

Why are policies a crucial starting point for an EcoVadis assessment?

Policies are the bedrock of your sustainability management system. They are tangible proof of your company's commitments, form the "Plan" in the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, and carry a significant weight of 25% in the scoring for each of the four EcoVadis themes.

What are the 'must-have' policies for a foundational EcoVadis submission?

A core set of documents is expected. This includes an Environmental Policy; a suite for Labour & Human Rights (L&HR Policy, Health & Safety Policy, Equal Opportunity Policy); an ethical framework (Code of Conduct, Anti-Corruption, Whistleblower, Data Protection); and a Supplier Code of Conduct for Sustainable Procurement.

Which specific policies are needed for the Labour & Human Rights (L&HR) theme?

The L&HR theme typically requires a suite of three interconnected policies: a comprehensive umbrella L&HR Policy covering international standards, a robust Health & Safety (H&S) Policy focused on accident prevention, and an effective Equal Opportunity Policy to ensure non-discrimination.

What is the role of a Supplier Code of Conduct in an EcoVadis assessment?

The Supplier Code of Conduct is the formal rulebook you provide to your suppliers. It defines your company's standards for their environmental, social, and ethical performance and acts as tangible evidence that you are actively managing sustainability issues within your supply chain.

What are some quick tips for creating effective EcoVadis policies from scratch?

To create policies quickly and effectively, use a standard structure for each document, focus on the criteria EcoVadis has "activated" for your company, ensure senior management formally approves and signs them, and thoroughly customize any templates to reflect your actual company practices.

For a complete overview of all document requirements across all four themes, download the free "EcoVadis Document Checklist"