Supplier sustainability questionnaire: readiness checker

What a supplier sustainability questionnaire is, and why you have one

Large organisations increasingly have to measure and report emissions that sit outside their own walls. In the GHG Protocol, the accounting standard almost every questionnaire is built on, those value-chain emissions are Scope 3, split into 15 categories, and the goods and services a company buys from its suppliers are one of them. A customer cannot report its Scope 3 honestly without data from the businesses it buys from. That is why the questionnaire has arrived: the customer is passing part of its own reporting job down the chain.

There are four common triggers. A large private customer is working towards a target and needs supplier data. A public-sector buyer is running a procurement where a Carbon Reduction Plan is a condition of bidding. A customer in the EU is reporting under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and asks its suppliers for figures. Or a bank or investor wants evidence before lending. Smaller suppliers are rarely under a legal duty to report themselves; the pressure is commercial. But commercial pressure is real: an unanswered questionnaire can cost a place on a framework or a tender shortlist.

The formats you are most likely to receive

• EcoVadis. An online assessment that rates suppliers across four themes: environment, labour and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement. EcoVadis says its assessments are checked by analysts, so answers need documents behind them.
• CDP supply chain. Some customers ask suppliers to disclose through CDP. Expect questions on emissions, targets and governance; your Scope 1 and 2 footprint is the starting point.
• Sedex and ethical trade audits. Requests through Sedex, often tied to a SMETA audit, centre on labour standards, health and safety and business ethics, so the social and ethics policies matter most.
• The customer's own questionnaire. Usually a spreadsheet or portal covering the same seven areas as the checker above, with free-text boxes and file uploads.
• A Carbon Reduction Plan under PPN 006. For central-government contracts with an estimated value above £5 million a year, procurements advertised on or after 24 February 2025 follow Procurement Policy Note 006. The plan must confirm a commitment to net zero by 2050 in the UK, report Scope 1, Scope 2 and a defined subset of Scope 3, be signed off by a director (or equivalent senior leadership), be published on your UK website and be updated at least annually. Our ESG for tenders and PQQs page covers the tender side in more detail.
• Requests built on the VSME standard. EFRAG delivered its voluntary sustainability reporting standard for non-listed SMEs (VSME) to the European Commission on 17 December 2024. It has a Basic Module and a Comprehensive Module and was written to standardise the many ESG data requests that banks, investors and larger customers send to smaller suppliers. If an EU customer sends a VSME-shaped request, the same seven areas apply.

The seven things almost every questionnaire asks for

1. A Scope 1 and 2 footprint for a recent 12-month period: fuel, gas and company vehicles (Scope 1) and purchased electricity (Scope 2), converted with recognised factors such as the UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting. Our carbon footprint and baseline page explains how the boundary is set.
2. A view of Scope 3. Few small suppliers have full Scope 3 figures, and buyers know it. What they want is evidence that you have screened the categories and know which ones matter. The Scope 3 and supply chain guide sets out a spend-based first pass.
3. A reduction target with a base year and a date, and a plan for getting there. Our net zero roadmap page covers the order measures usually go in.
4. A written environmental policy, signed and dated by a director. It is the document most often requested as an upload.
5. Social and ethics policies: health and safety, modern slavery, anti-bribery and a supplier code of conduct.
6. A named owner at director level who signs off what is submitted.
7. Evidence: bills, policies, certificates and your footprint workings, ready to attach.

How the checker scores you

Questions 3 to 9 are scored. Each answer earns 2 points for the first option, 1 for the second and 0 for the third, so the maximum is 14 points, shown as a percentage. A score of 75% or more reads as ready to answer most questions; 40% to 74% as partly ready; under 40% as not ready yet. Questions 1, 2 and 10 are not scored: they change the advice you see, because an EcoVadis assessment, a tender Carbon Reduction Plan and a customer's spreadsheet each put the weight in different places. The method is deliberately simple and transparent so you can see why you got the result you did. It is a starting point for your own work, not an assessment of your business.

If the deadline is close: the order of work

With a few weeks, work in this order. First, gather twelve months of fuel and electricity bills and build the Scope 1 and 2 figure, because almost every other answer refers back to it. Second, write and sign the environmental policy and name the director who owns it; both take days, not months. Third, screen Scope 3 at category level and say plainly which categories you have estimated and how. Fourth, set a target you can defend, even if it is modest. Last, put every document in one folder so the upload stage takes minutes. If the request is a Carbon Reduction Plan for a tender, check the PPN 006 requirements above first, because the plan has a set format and must be published before you can rely on it.

What not to put in a questionnaire

Do not estimate a figure you cannot explain, claim a certification you do not hold or describe a target the board has not agreed. Buyers compare answers year on year, rating platforms ask for documents, and environmental claims made to customers can be challenged. The Competition and Markets Authority's Green Claims Code sets out the principles for claims made to consumers, and the same discipline is good practice in business-to-business answers: truthful, clear, and backed by evidence. It is better to say "we have not yet calculated Scope 3 category 4; we will by the next reporting year" than to guess.

Who runs this site, and what happens if you send an enquiry

This site is run by SEO Dons Ltd (Company No. 16766013). It is not a rating agency, an auditor or a certification body, and the checker does not certify anything. If you send your result with a question, we reply by email. There is no obligation, and we never sell your details. For what the work behind a questionnaire typically involves, see the ESG cost guide.