One buyer wants EcoVadis, another Sedex. What is the difference for a supplier?

EcoVadis rates you: its analysts score your documents against 21 criteria in four themes and publish a scorecard valid for 12 months. Sedex is a yearly membership, priced per site, where you fill a self-assessment questionnaire, share it with any number of customers, and add a SMETA audit only if a customer asks.

Side by side

• What you get: EcoVadis gives a scored rating, 0 to 100, with a medal or badge if you qualify. Sedex gives your customers your questionnaire answers, any audit reports you share, and a benchmark of your management controls against peers in your industry and region.
• Who judges: on EcoVadis, analysts review your answers and supporting documents, and check public news about you. On Sedex, you self-assess; independent judgement comes from a SMETA audit at your site, when a customer requires one.
• What is covered: EcoVadis covers Environment, Labor and Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement. Sedex covers labour standards, health and safety, the environment and business ethics, with a separate Environment Self-Assessment Questionnaire.
• Unit: EcoVadis rates a group, a legal entity or a single site. Sedex membership is priced per site.
• Fees: EcoVadis subscriptions are priced by company size, plan and country. Sedex lists a yearly fee per site, at two levels. Both publish their current prices.
• Validity: an EcoVadis scorecard lasts 12 months from publication. Sedex membership lasts 12 months from joining; renew to keep your data visible.

Where your carbon figures go

EcoVadis scores energy use and greenhouse gas emissions as one of its environment criteria, and wants your figures backed by documents. Sedex's Environment Self-Assessment Questionnaire asks for Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions alongside energy, waste, water and chemicals. The same twelve months of fuel and electricity records answer both, so build them once and enter identical numbers in each.

Doing both without doing everything twice

1. Write down each buyer's exact ask: an EcoVadis scorecard, a minimum score or medal, Sedex membership, a completed questionnaire, or a SMETA audit.
2. Do not book a SMETA audit until a customer names it. Sedex itself says audits are needed only when a customer requests one.
3. Collect the documents once: policies, certificates, permits, training records, and your energy and emissions record. Both ask for the same kind of evidence.
4. Start with whichever buyer's date comes first. An EcoVadis scorecard takes about 6 to 8 weeks after you submit; Sedex onboarding takes most suppliers a few hours.

A two-site garment exporter in Tiruppur

• A UK retailer asks for Sedex; an EU brand asks for an EcoVadis scorecard.
• Sedex: membership is priced per site, so two units means two fees, and a SMETA audit only at a site the retailer names.
• EcoVadis: one assessment of the legal entity can cover both units, so one scorecard serves the brand.
• Carbon: Scope 1 and 2 for each site from the same bills, entered per site on Sedex and as a company total on EcoVadis.

The exporter is invented; the rules are from EcoVadis and Sedex.

What Senseible does here

One record behind both answers: Senseible reads your fuel and electricity bills into Scope 1 and 2 figures, each tied to its bill, so what you enter on Sedex matches what you enter on EcoVadis. It does not fill in either questionnaire for you.

• Build your carbon record once
• Sedex environment questionnaire
• What SMETA checks on carbon
• Do I have to pay for EcoVadis?
• Questionnaire support

Sources: EcoVadis, Sustainability Rating methodology disclosure (April 2026), EcoVadis Help Center, What is the EcoVadis assessment process?, EcoVadis Help Center, EcoVadis subscription costs, Sedex, supplier membership, Sedex, Environment Self-Assessment Questionnaire

Last reviewed 2026-10-30.