EcoVadis solution chosen by RENAULT to assess suppliers' CSR performance

The EcoVadis SP solution allows global car company RENAULT to evaluate and follow the environmental and social performance of its key suppliers in over 100 countries. Thanks to the solution delivered by EcoVadis, RENAULT buyers will have access to their suppliers' evaluation, based on 21 environmental and social criteria. The automotive group's buyers will also be able to analyse the specific stakes and potential issues relating to more than 100 purchasing categories.

Together with RENAULT, and as a result of work carried out throughout 2010, EcoVadis has successfully built and delivered an innovative software platform, which makes it possible to combine the EcoVadis SP evaluations of suppliers; CSR follow-up audits by RENAULT's quality-assurance experts; the scheduling of third-party audits; and, finally, the ongoing monitoring of commitments made by suppliers, as part of the whole process.

The development of Sustainable Procurement policies corresponds to a genuine internal commitment [within RENAULT] that is being relayed at each level of the company. We have set up a 'Supplier CSR' charter together with NISSAN, and clauses about sustainable development are added to our tenders and contracts, explains Stéphane Lasfargue, Co-Innovation & Supplier Sustainable-Development Manager at RENAULT.

We wanted to go even further, however, by accompanying our suppliers and subcontractors, as part of a continuous-improvement approach of their sustainable-development performance, continues Stéphane Lasfargue. The EcoVadis platform seemed, to us, to be an excellent solution in order to strengthen this initiative with our suppliers, but also with our staff who are operational in purchasing.

EcoVadis Managing Director and co-founder Pierre-François Thaler comments: We are very happy to be able to work with RENAULT, which is the first car manufacturer to have started the implementation of such an advanced policy. EcoVadis and RENAULT, through this collaborative platform, also wish, in due course, to provide other large manufacturers with the possibility to contribute towards the improvement of the environmental and social conditions in their supply chains.

On 12 May 2010, the purchasing managers of RENAULT and NISSAN signed a CSR charter dedicated to suppliers. This charter defines the approach of the RENAULT-NISSAN Alliance in terms of security, quality, human rights, the environment, confidentiality and ethics. Simultaneously, the charter defines what is required from suppliers in relation to these issues. On 4 June 2010, in Japan, the document was unveiled during a symposium attended by 900 suppliers of the RENAULT-NISSAN automotive group.

RENAULT now wants to reinforce this policy trough a collaborative platform allowing for the evaluation (and improvement) of its key suppliers' environmental and social performance. Thanks to the solution designed, developed and delivered by EcoVadis, the international automotive group has been able to do just that.

In a recent study (page 18), UNEP/Global Compact mentioned the fact that businesses should, Make use of databases and dashboards such as [...]EcoVadis that collect and disseminate supplier audit data and provide buyers with a one-stop tool for evaluating suppliers against a set of sustainability criteria.

The Unchaining Value report was released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).