Which industries are leading the way on sustainability? How does industry performance vary across countries, themes and company sizes? Select the industry, then choose the regions/sizes and click “add” .
Industry Comparison
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Which industries are leading the way on sustainability? How does industry performance vary across countries, themes and company sizes? Select the industry, then choose the regions/sizes and click “add” .
Source: EcoVadis Business Sustainability Risk and Performance Index 7th edition
Light Manufacturing
Light Manufacturing groups all categories involved in the production of textiles and footwear as well as wood and paper products. Textiles, footwear and wood manufacture are, arguably, under more stakeholder scrutiny than other industries. Ongoing labor exploitation and the critical ecological impacts of fibre production as well as deforestation shed negative light on companies involved in downstream activities. The need for alternative sources of raw material and recycling is higher than ever, and transparency on working conditions will be crucial for success in the future.
Heavy Manufacturing
Heavy Manufacturing brings together a number of industries, which present significant sustainability risks. The manufacturing process often includes intense energy consumption and C02 emissions as well as the use of hazardous materials, which carry significant risk to the people and the environment. Many members of this division, particularly raw material and chemical manufacturing companies are subject to strict environmental and health and safety regulations and stakeholder pressure to improve their sustainability footprint.
Advanced Manufacturing
Advanced manufacturing includes businesses, which either require advanced manufacturing processes and technology and/or manufacture technologically advanced products (e.g. electrotherapeutic equipment). Consumer pressure for some of them to employ sustainable practices is relatively high. In the automotive industry, for instance, this pressure is generally targeted at energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, both during the production process and when the products have reached the market.
Food and Beverage
Due to its direct impact on health and safety, the Food and Beverage industry remains highly regulated and characterized by multiple national and international regulations and certifications, such as ISO 22000. Animal welfare, the ecological footprint of food and its packaging as well as organic products are increasingly top-of-mind for consumers, even if they are not always willing to more. These trends, without a doubt, have a huge impact on the scores and will likely continue to determine the sector’s CSR performance, including its supply chain.
Construction
Sustainability risks associated to the Construction sector are generally significant and include environmental and local pollution, health and safety accidents involving construction workers, child and forced labor incidents as well as corruption risks linked to land acquisition, construction permits and various approvals. All of this carries potentially severe impacts.
Wholesale, Services and Professionals
The Wholesale, Services and Professionals sector covers companies whose economic activities are all carried out by office workers, even if the activities themselves are very different from one another. Sustainability risks related to this industry division are mostly those around health and safety and business ethics, but also to the environmental and social practices of suppliers.
Transport
This sector groups together companies with activities around land, water and air transport as well as warehousing, storing and other related services. The main sustainability issues related to this sector are fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, working conditions, working conditions and employee health and safety. Logistics have become a key area for competitiveness in supply chains but have considerable implications on both the environment and society. With increasing volumes of merchandise transported across the globe, the pressure to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions is higher than ever.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
The ICT industry includes companies, whose main activities are publishing and broadcasting content in different forms, i.e. paper, software, video and audio as well as telecommunications and computer programming. The main sustainability issues these companies need to address are related to the Ethics theme, specifically responsible information management
Finance, Legal and Consulting
The Finance, Legal and Consulting sector brings together companies operating in financial services, insurance, real estate as well as those carrying out legal and accounting activities. Sustainability risks that are particularly relevant to this sector are those related to labor practices and ethics, i.e. corruption, bribery and information security
Summary Report
Summary Report
In its 7th edition, Business Sustainability Index provides insights from the sustainability ratings of more than 62,000 companies assessed between 2018 and 2022. It highlights the strides businesses of all stages continue to make on their sustainability journeys — from those rated for the first time to the veterans of the process.
The 8th edition summary report, covering data through 2023, is coming later this year. Stay tuned on https://resources.ecovadis.com/sustainability-impact