Insights from the ATMA EcoVadis Webinar Panel held on 16 April 2026.

Missed the webinar? View the recording here.

If you have opened a client RFP recently, the chances are EcoVadis came up. EcoVadis is an embedded benchmark across global mobility, in supplier evaluations, procurement criteria, and onboarding checklists. And yet a question sits behind all of it that the industry has not fully answered: are we actually driving meaningful change, or are we simply getting better at navigating the system?

ATMA brought together four exceptional voices to explore exactly that. Claire Kolly of EDLT.global, Lucie Nazir of RelocateU, Jiangmin Dang from EcoVadis, and Sanjala Hari of Schneider Electric joined moderator Holly Naylor of Relo Network Asia for a candid, practical, and at times refreshingly honest conversation. Here is what every mobility professional in Asia needs to take from it.

 

Start with the why, not the score

Before you touch the questionnaire, get clear on your purpose. This matters more in global mobility than in almost any other industry, because unlike manufacturing or financial services, mobility has no unified regulatory framework governing ESG disclosure.

That gap is exactly why EcoVadis has taken hold. It is not mandatory. No regulator requires it. But it has emerged as the closest thing the industry has to a shared benchmark, one that both buyers and suppliers recognise, that cuts across geographies and company sizes. When a corporate mobility manager in London asks their RMC in Singapore about ESG credentials, EcoVadis has become the common language.

But a common language is only useful if it is spoken honestly. Holly Naylor, who has led EcoVadis submissions at Relo Network Asia and moderated the panel, was direct on this point:

Claire Kolly was equally frank about the opportunities that EcoVadis offers:

Lucie Nazir’s own journey at RelocateU illustrates what the right intent looks like in practice. Her first instinct when completing the questionnaire for the first time was to bring in an external consultant. She quickly realised they were targeting bronze, focused on compliance documentation rather than transformation. She took full ownership of the process, embedded the work into how the business operates, and attained a gold medal and more importantly, genuine, measurable change.

• Lucie Nazir on EcoVadis in practice:

  "You end up with an EcoVadis score reflecting how strong their policies are on paper but not the real impact behind them. It would tell you how structured and well-evidenced your approach is, but not how transformative or how sustainable your business actually is."

  Lucie Nazir, RelocateU

  It is a merit system, not a penalty system

  EcoVadis starts at zero and awards points for what you have. You are not penalised for gaps. The first assessment is effectively a reality check, a baseline picture of where your management system actually stands. From there, the scorecard identifies high-priority improvement areas, and you build on those year on year. For smaller mobility businesses without dedicated sustainability teams, this reframing matters. Companies do not need to have everything in place on day one, they need to start honestly and progress consistently.

  Sanjala Hari on what clients are really looking for:

  "It's not just to get a badge or a medal. It's to actually see how serious a company is on the actions that they are taking. Customers want to see progress, not just a badge or medal."

  Sanjala Hari, Schneider Electric

  The APAC reality is different and under-served

  Unlike Europe, where the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) provides a unified regulatory baseline, Asia has no equivalent. Disclosure requirements vary significantly by market, and ESG policies are typically designed at a global headquarters with Asian offices expected to implement frameworks that were never built for their reality.

  For operators across Southeast Asia, this tension is real and daily. The opportunity, as Jiangmin Dang noted, is that EcoVadis can serve as a practical reference framework even where regulatory pressure is absent, giving companies in this region a structure to work against when no single government mandate applies.

  Jiangmin Dang on APAC:

  “Companies within this region will have very inconsistent disclosure requirements. Companies can make use of the EcoVadis assessment as an opportunity, or a reference, to improve on their current management system and plan for future actionable implementations."

  Jiangmin Dang, EcoVadis

  Sustainable procurement is the most overlooked pillar

  Across the four EcoVadis pillars, environment, labour and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement, sustainable procurement is where companies most commonly fall short. Most organisations in mobility have not yet built a systematic approach to assessing the sustainability of their own supply chains. For an RMC managing a network of moving companies, DSPs, housing providers, and immigration firms, that is a significant gap and one that will increasingly be visible to corporate clients who are themselves reporting Scope 3 emissions.

   

  Large companies have a responsibility to smaller suppliers

  Sanjala Hari shared Schneider Electric’s approach to engaging their top thousand suppliers on decarbonisation. The message was blunt: asking small suppliers for scores without supporting them to improve is not a sustainability strategy, it is a paperwork exercise. For the mobility ecosystem, which is built on networks of SMEs, this applies directly. Corporate clients have the ability to lift ESG capability across their supply chains.

   

  Practical tips for mobility companies in Asia

  Drawing directly from the panel, here is what the experts discussed:

• Getting started: Understand your purpose before opening the questionnaire. Review the EcoVadis guide, scoring principles, and platform instructions before answering. Read the help content under each question carefully, as many companies lose points by misunderstanding what is asked.
• Building your approach: Do not try to do everything at once. Start with existing policies, supplier agreements, and employee handbooks before creating new ones. Focus on two or three strong pillars and set realistic long term targets. Companies that set overly ambitious first year goals and miss them often see lower scores later.
• For smaller organisations: Distribute the workload across your team rather than relying on one person. Use EcoVadis to align employees around a shared goal. Draw on networks and trade associations for sustainability expertise. Use AI tools to help structure documentation so time can be focused on impact.
• Honesty and reporting: Be transparent about gaps. EcoVadis rewards clear action plans with defined priorities. Customers want to see progress rather than appearances. Commitments alone do not score, only documented actions and measurable results do.
• Supply chain: Do not assume suppliers share the same ESG maturity. Many smaller Asian partners are willing but lack clarity or capacity. Larger organisations should guide suppliers rather than only request scores.
• On the APAC context: Global policies are often not suited to Asian markets. Advocate for local input into ESG frameworks and use EcoVadis as a voluntary framework to build discipline, as regulatory pressure in the region is increasing.

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  Top 5 takeaways for mobility professionals

1. Know your why before you start. Whether it is a client requirement, a competitive advantage, or genuine transformation, your purpose determines the value you get out of the process.
2. EcoVadis is additive, not punitive. You are awarded points for what you have, not penalised for what you lack. Start honest, then build.
3. Sustainable procurement is the most overlooked pillar. Most mobility organisations have no systematic approach to assessing the sustainability of their own supply chains. That gap is increasingly visible to corporate clients reporting Scope 3 emissions.
4. APAC needs its own ESG conversation. Global frameworks do not translate cleanly to this region. Mobility businesses here need tools and guidance built for their market reality.
5. Support matters more than scoring. Handing a small supplier a questionnaire without helping them improve is a missed opportunity. The companies making real progress are the ones investing in their supply chains, not just measuring them.

 

ATMA will continue bringing together conversations like this one. If you want to be part of the community driving this agenda forward, please contact us.

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This article is based on the ATMA EcoVadis Webinar Panel, featuring Claire Kolly (EDLT.global), Lucie Nazir (RelocateU), Jiangmin Dang (EcoVadis), Sanjala Hari (Schneider Electric), and moderator Holly Naylor (Relo Network Asia).