EcoVadis Announces Winners of 2018 Sustainable Procurement Leadership Awards

PARIS and NEW YORK, April 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- EcoVadis, the leader in supply chain sustainability ratings, today announced the winners of its second annual Sustainable Procurement Leadership Awards and Sustainability Leadership Awards, including Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé and Faurecia. Winners were announced at EcoVadis' annual Sustain conference in Paris.

Following a successful inaugural ceremony in 2017, the awards recognize companies partnering with EcoVadis that demonstrate sustainability and sustainable procurement excellence, and are driving progress around the globe. The awards cover several categories, including: stakeholder engagement, supplier engagement, supplier portfolio CSR performance improvement, program leadership, regional performance, and more.

"As more organizations leverage supply chain sustainability for business growth, they raise their procurement practices to a new level," said Pierre-Francois Thaler, co-CEO, EcoVadis. "We have seen a strong increase in the quality of the applicants and our 2018 winners exemplify the leadership and execution in procurement required to make sustainability a strategic competitive business advantage."

Nominees were evaluated on strategy and approach, procurement integration, scale and coverage, and program results across four main categories: 

Sustainable Procurement: Stakeholder Engagement
Winner: Johnson & Johnson

This award honors best-in-class practices of driving internal engagement to roll out global sustainable procurement programs. Judges assessed nominees on a variety of criteria, including the number of training sessions, the percentage of trained buyers and the percentage of buyers on the EcoVadis platform.

"It is a terrific honor for Johnson & Johnson to receive this award, as it is a reflection of our commitment to our Health for Humanity 2020 goals, and the great partnership we have with our suppliers to bring their best CSR performance forward," said Len DeCandia, Chief Procurement Officer of Johnson & Johnson.

Honorable mentions: Air Liquide, Saint-Gobain

Sustainable Procurement: Supplier Engagement
Winner: Faurecia

The Supplier Engagement award acknowledges excellence in engaging suppliers in sustainable procurement programs. Judges assessed initiatives such as training programs, supplier's development program plans, and efforts to train and reward suppliers for sustainability and CSR performance.

"Faurecia is extremely pleased to receive this award which recognizes the diligent work of our team, as well as of our suppliers, in embracing sustainability as key driver of business value," said Nathalie Saint-Martin, Vice-President Purchasing at Faurecia.

Sustainable Procurement: Best Supplier Portfolio CSR Performance Improvement
Winner: Nestlé

This category recognizes the company's portfolio that demonstrates the highest percentage of suppliers improving their CSR performance and EcoVadis average score. All active (2017-present) EcoVadis buy-side customers were considered for this award. Nestlé was presented the award based on EcoVadis' analysis of the data.

"It is an honor for Nestlé to receive this award, as it is a reflection of our commitment to Creating Shared Value, and the strong partnership we have with our suppliers to develop and consolidate their sustainability practices," said Benjamin Ware, Manager of Responsible Sourcing, Nestlé.

New in 2018: Outstanding sustainable procurement program leadership
Winner: Valerie Monk, Head of Third Party Oversight, GlaxoSmithKline

Introduced this year, this award recognizes one individual with outstanding contribution to driving a sustainable procurement initiative forward within their company.

Sustainability Leadership Awards
EcoVadis also awarded Sustainability Leadership Awards for rated suppliers based on their EcoVadis score in the following categories:

• Best regional performance (Eligibility: small and medium-sized businesses of under 1,000 employees).
• Best industry category performance (Eligibility: small and medium-sized businesses of under 1,000 employees).
• Best performance of a multi-entity corporate group (using the EcoVadis Corporate Group product to manage their assessments).

Sustainability Leadership: Best corporate group performance

This award recognizes the companies using EcoVadis Corporate Group to measure and harmonize CSR performance across all their entities (e.g. subsidiaries, business units, local operating companies, etc.). The "Best Group Engagement" award recognizes the best coverage of a company's footprint. The "Best Subsidiary Performance" recognizes the highest average score performance.

• Best group engagement: Toyota Material Handling Europe
• Best subsidiary performance: Vinci Energies SA

Sustainability Leadership: Best regional performance

This award recognizes the best EcoVadis score performance in six geographic regions.

• China: ATLINKS HOLDINGS LTD
• North America: CBM OF AMERICA INC
• South America: PLANTACOES E MICHELIN LTDA
• APAC (outside China): TAE SUNG PHILS CO INC.
• Middle East and Africa: DIVERSEY MAROC SA
• Europe: DE DIETRICH THERMIQUE SAS

Sustainability Leadership: Best industry category performance

This awards the highest EcoVadis score among companies who completed an EcoVadis assessment in 2017, in each of 10 macro-categories and two corporate categories:

• Construction: Tso Sas (Chelles Site)
• Light Manufacturing: Steelcase SA
• Wholesale / Tertiary Services: Pixelis SAS
• Heavy Manufacturing: Voestalpine Schienen GMBH
• Transport: Bedel Groupe Transfert SA
• Advanced Manufacturing: De Dietrich Thermique SAS
• ICT: DCS SA
• Food & Beverage: SVZ International BV
• Finance / Legal / Consulting / Advertising: Gecina SA
• Primary Materials: Imi Fabi LLC

About EcoVadis: EcoVadis is the world's most trusted provider of business sustainability ratings, intelligence and collaborative performance improvement tools for global supply chains. Backed by a powerful technology platform and a global team of domain experts, EcoVadis' easy-to-use and actionable sustainability scorecards provide detailed insight into environmental, social and ethical risks across 188 purchasing categories and 150 countries.  Industry leaders such as Johnson & Johnson, L'Oréal, Nestlé, Faurecia, Schneider Electric, Michelin and BASF are among the more than 45,000 businesses on the EcoVadis network, all working with a single methodology to evaluate, collaborate and improve sustainability performance in order to protect their brands, foster transparency and innovation, and accelerate growth.  Learn more on ecovadis.com, Twitter or LinkedIn.

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SOURCE EcoVadis