Beneteau Group ramps up CSR initiative with supplier ratings

Beneteau Group is ramping up its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme, B-Sustainable, and inviting all of its suppliers to register on the EcoVadis CSR rating platform. The company has set a target of 50 per cent of suppliers to be covered by the assessment approach by the end of 2025.

Beneteau Group, a global leader for boats and leisure homes, is working with the international rating agency EcoVadis to assess its suppliers. The initiative aims to collectively bring on board all of the group’s suppliers with a view to ‘reducing environmental impacts and promoting responsible ethical and social practices’.

EcoVadis uses evidence that comes from various data sources and is based on international standards to assess a company’s CSR performance. This assessment covers 21 sustainability criteria that are grouped into four themes: environment, labour & human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. The criteria are weighted depending on the size, business sector and geography of the company being assessed.

“This initiative represents a major step forward with our commitment to incorporating sustainability criteria across our entire supply chain,” explains Delphine Planes, Groupe Beneteau VP purchasing. “We are proud to work with suppliers who share our commitment. We are convinced that this initiative will help further strengthen our supply chain and maintain the confidence and trust of our customers and partners”.

Groupe Beneteau says that for the suppliers, this is also an opportunity to showcase their CSR approach, covered by an official rating certified by EcoVadis, with their own customers. The assessment results will make it possible to provide them with support if necessary through specific action plans. To achieve this, the group’s purchasing teams are strongly involved. Some have already benefited from operations to raise awareness with the ‘Climate Collage’ workshops held in the Group in 2022.

Planes says: “Our ambition is to gradually bring on board the suppliers from our production and non-production purchasing panel. In 2022, more than one-fifth of the group’s strategic suppliers were already certified by EcoVadis, and they represented around 24 per cent of the group’s spend. Groupe Beneteau’s ambition is to support our suppliers so that the majority of them have been covered by awareness initiatives and are certified by 2025.

 “The speed of the rollout will, of course, be able to be adapted depending on the context of supply chain disruption and alternatives present on the market.”