ESG rating: how to obtain it and why it matters for SMEs
Who assigns ESG scores, how the questionnaires work and how an SME improves its rating with documented data.
The ESG rating is a score that evaluates a company's performance on environmental, social and governance topics. For large listed companies it is assigned by specialised agencies; for SMEs it arrives more often in the form of questionnaires: those of platforms like EcoVadis and those of banks. In both cases, whoever has documented data wins.
Who assigns the ratings and how
ESG rating agencies collect public information and questionnaires, weight them according to a proprietary methodology and produce a score. For SMEs the typical channel is the supplier evaluation platforms (EcoVadis, chain-leader questionnaires) and the bank ESG questionnaires integrated into credit files.
What the evaluators really look at
Three things above all: measured data instead of statements (the Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions calculated with a declared methodology), documentary evidence supporting each answer, and trajectory: reduction targets with measurable progress. A questionnaire filled with "yes" without attachments is worth little.
How to improve the score
The most efficient path for an SME: build the VSME ESG report as a single database, and from there answer the individual questionnaires reusing indicators and evidence. Every number in the Envify report is linked to the source document, so the attachments requested by the evaluators are already ready.
The second multiplier is the reduction plan: a quantified target with actions in progress moves the score more than any statement of principle.
