Deep Dive: EcoVadis Global Supply Chain Sustainability Index

EcoVadis' Global Supply Chain Sustainability Risk & Performance Index 2025 offers one of the most extensive assessments of sustainability maturity in global supply chains.

Based on 159,000 ratings conducted between 2020 and 2024 – including 49,000 in 2024 alone – the dataset analyses nearly 89,000 companies across 250 industries and 150 countries.

"This year’s edition comes at a pivotal moment for global business," comments Sylvain Guyoton, Chief Rating Officer at EcoVadis. "Geopolitical conflicts, trade tensions and rising political polarisation – from ESG rollbacks in the US to regulatory flashpoints over CSRD and CSDDD in Europe – have created a level of disruption few saw coming.

"In the face of this uncertainty, some companies are pausing, scaling back or even abandoning their sustainability efforts and commitments altogether."

Firms 'double down' on sustainability programmes

EcoVadis' report evaluates companies across four core supply chain sustainability themes: Environment, Labour & Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement.

It contrasts first-time ratings with multi-year performance to uncover progress and persistent gaps.

With a scoring system ranging from 0-100, EcoVadis classifies performance into five categories: Insufficient (0-24), Partial (25-44), Good (45-64), Advanced (65-84) and Outstanding (85-100).

In 2024, the average EcoVadis score reached 53.4, placing most companies within the Good performance band. This reflects growing adoption of foundational sustainability practices and a clear commitment to improvement, especially among companies undergoing repeat evaluations.

Sylvain continues: "In our network and beyond, we’re seeing companies respond to growing volatility by doubling down on sustainability programmes and investments. They’re gaining deeper transparency into sustainability risks and impacts throughout their supply chains, forging stronger relationships with trading partners and laying the groundwork for long-term resilience and ROI."

The top five sustainability trends of 2024

EcoVadis' report details the five key sustainability trends of 2024:

1. Sustainability Ratings Surge: Global momentum around ratings has accelerated. China overtook the US to become the second-most active country (behind France), while Africa & the Middle East led regional growth with a 42% increase. These shifts reflect a broader push for transparency and ESG disclosure across global value chains.
2. Persistent risk in first-time ratings: More than a third of companies rated for the first time in 2024 scored below 45, placing them in high to medium risk categories. The issue is most pronounced outside Europe, with 62% of first-time rated Chinese companies and 45% of those in the US falling into these bands, compared to just 12% in the UK.
3. Leaders emerging through continuous engagement: Companies engaged in multiple rating cycles are making significant gains. Of those rated more than once, 86% scored above 45 and 27% achieved Advanced status. These firms are embedding best practices and extending influence across their own supply bases.
4. Asia-Pacific advances across all themes: Asia-Pacific recorded the largest gains across all four themes, overtaking North America on Environment and narrowing the gap on Sustainable Procurement. Nonetheless, the region still trails Europe and North America in Ethics and Labour & Human Rights.
5. Sustainable procurement seems most progress, but lags behind: Although scoring improved more on Sustainable Procurement than any other theme in 2024, it remains the weakest area overall. A striking 75% of first-time rated companies scored in the high to medium risk range here.

Regional sustainability trends

Europe continues to lead on sustainability maturity with an average score of 57.8. Over a quarter of European firms now score in the Advanced range, particularly on Environment and Labour & Human Rights. Countries like Finland, Sweden and France top the regional leaderboard. However, Sustainable Procurement still trails behind, with only 14% of companies in the Advanced bracket.

North America recorded an average of 50.2, with Canada slightly ahead of the US. While large companies often underperform SMEs in this region, they also show greater likelihood of achieving Advanced status in key themes. Sustainable Procurement improved by 1.6 points in 2024 but remains a challenge, with many large firms taking limited action to engage suppliers.

Asia-Pacific showed the strongest improvement in 2024, increasing its average by 3 points to 47.3. Gains were broad-based, particularly on Environment and Sustainable Procurement. China and South Korea were standout performers, but many companies in the region remain exposed to high or medium risk.

Latin America was the only region to see a decline, with its average dropping by 0.8 points. This was largely driven by performance regressions among SMEs, especially in Mexico. However, Chile made notable improvements with a 5.2-point gain.

Africa & the Middle East experienced the fastest growth in ratings activity (+42%), yet continues to rank lowest on overall performance at 45.4. South Africa, Turkey and the UAE are leading adopters, particularly on the Environment theme.

Theme-by-theme performance

Environment

With a global average of 55.1, Environment remains a top-performing theme, showing the largest five-year gain (+6.9 points). Europe continues to lead, with two-thirds of companies achieving Advanced status. Asia-Pacific made notable gains in 2024, driven by countries such as Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong SAR (China).

However, gaps remain. Nearly half of companies in North America, Latin America and Africa & the Middle East have no environmental reporting mechanisms in place. Common best practices include renewable energy procurement, climate training and efficiency upgrades – though adoption rates vary by company size and rating cycle.

Labour & Human Rights

This theme recorded the highest average across all four categories, reaching 56.3. European companies are the strongest performers (60.5 average), while Asia-Pacific saw the greatest annual improvement (+3 points). Nonetheless, more than a third of companies in Asia-Pacific and Africa & the Middle East remain in the medium to high-risk range.

Best practices include health and safety assessments and diversity training. However, only 15% of companies offer grievance mechanisms for modern slavery and just 4% conduct proactive human rights impact assessments — revealing a clear area for improvement.

Ethics

Ethics scored an average of 49.7 globally, rebounding from stagnation in previous years. Asia-Pacific achieved the largest year-on-year improvement, led by South Korea and Singapore. Europe retains a stronger baseline, but baseline scoring has slipped slightly since 2020.

Across all companies, only 14% conduct corruption risk assessments and a mere 6% have whistleblower systems for anticompetitive practices. That said, there has been progress in areas like data protection and transaction approvals.

Sustainable procurement

Despite being the weakest-performing theme, Sustainable Procurement saw the highest improvement in 2024 (+1.9 points). The global average now stands at 43.1. Europe leads again with 46.8, while Asia-Pacific is rapidly catching up thanks to countries like Australia and South Korea.

However, 75% of first-time rated companies scored below 45, suggesting a lack of even basic supplier engagement on ESG issues. Adoption of supplier codes of conduct, sustainability risk analysis and training remains limited. Polarisation is especially stark among large companies, who are more likely to be both top and bottom performers on this theme.

Opportunity in the challenge

The EcoVadis 2025 Index paints a mixed picture of global supply chain sustainability.

On the one hand, risks remain deeply embedded, particularly for first-time rated companies; on the other, repeat engagement and collaborative initiatives are driving measurable gains.

Companies committed to structured, data-driven programmes are pulling ahead by building long-term resilience and value.

As regulatory demands grow and decarbonisation deadlines loom, the imperative for supply chain sustainability has never been clearer. Leaders are shaping the future of global commerce through transparent, ethical and sustainable supply chain practices.