Some time has passed since companies stopped being simple economic agents with the sole aim of bringing in profits.
Like the part of society that they are, they also have to operate in a responsible and sustainable manner to contribute to the well-being of their clients, employees, stakeholders and, in general, society and the planet as a whole.
And all while keeping in mind respect for the environment and corporate social responsibility.
At Barcelonesa, we are 100% committed to this philosophy in relation to all the decisions we take while trying to contribute to making the world a better place to the extent possible.
But we know that just saying it is not enough. We also have to prove it with actions.
In that vein, we are proud to announce that we have received the EcoVadis 2020 Silver Medal. An acknowledgement that certifies our compliance in terms of social responsibility and sustainability.
Want to know more about this certification and what it means for Barcelonesa? Well, keep reading because we’ll share all the details in this article.
What is EcoVadis
EcoVadis is the primary global organisation dedicated to rating the corporate social responsibility and sustainable procurement of companies.
Companies around the world look to this independent provider with two aims:
● To evaluate the compliance level of their internal processes in order to improve social and environmental practices and to implement improvement plans.
● To share this information with their clients and interested parties to promote transparency.
Evaluated companies receive a report with their rating broken down into multiple sections which is then shared within a large database to which EcoVadis members can request access.
What’s more, each company can see their performance level compared to the other companies in their same sector.
This helps them better understand the ratings within their own context, in addition to encouraging continuous improvement focused on achieving increasingly better social values.
EcoVadis currently has a network of over 65,000 rated companies from more than 200 sectors and 160 different countries.
What methodology does EcoVadis use for its ratings?
Now that you’re a little more familiar with this organisation, what criteria does it follow to produce its rankings?
As it turns out, EcoVadis analyses 21 aspects within each company.
These aspects are divided into four main topics:
- Labour practices and Human rights.
- Sustainable procurement.
- Environment.
- Ethics.
To determine said criteria, EcoVadis is founded on various international sustainability regulations including the UN Global Compact Principles, the International Labour Organization, the Global Reporting Initiative standards, ISO standard 26000 and the CERES principles (Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies).
The assessment results provide a score for each of these sections and an overall score between 0 and 100.
Depending on the score a company obtains, it will receive a medal of recognition which can be bronze, silver, gold or platinum.
Barcelonesa Results
After completing the EcoVadis assessment in 2020, Barcelonesa has achieved an overall score of 56/100. That places us above 79% of all companies rated by the organisation.
In recognition, the organisation has granted us the Silver Medal 2020 which is reserved for companies with scores between 54 and 66.
With regard to the breakdown by categories, we have achieved the following ratings:
- In Environment: this is the field where we performed best, with a score of 70/100. That places us among the top 3% of sector companies with the best rating. In this context, factors related to both the environment (energy use, waste management, etc.) and consumer health and safety are analysed.
- In Human Rights and Labour Practices: we achieved a score of 60/100, meaning only 5% of companies obtained a higher score. To obtain this score, various aspects have been taken into account including working conditions, worker training and safety, anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies, etc.
- In Ethics: in this case our rating is also 60/100. 26% of companies in our industry are included in this segment and only 5% of companies have higher scores. Corporate efforts to prevent bribery and corruption, to manage sensitive information, and measures to prevent anti-competitive practices are just some of the factors evaluated.
- In Sustainable Procurement: our score in this section is 40/100, and 73% of companies sit in this segment with only 14% of companies exceeding said score. Here the focus is on the company’s supply chain and checking that both its partners and suppliers guarantee good labour conditions for their employees and that they respect human rights.
At Barcelonesa, we work to become more sustainable
As you can see, receiving the EcoVadis Silver Medal means a lot to us.
Our customers, suppliers and other interested parties can be sure that we comply with the principal standards in terms of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. And all thanks to the guarantee of a such an esteemed ratings organisation as is EcoVadis.
But here at Barcelonesa we don’t want to settle.
As a company, we want to continue improving from one day to the next. That is why we are already working on a Action Plan for improvement – also accredited by EcoVadis in its report – that will enable us to be even more sustainable and responsible towards society in the coming years.
