ANTWERPEN, Belgium — Specialty chemicals distributor Azelis announced that its corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance has been awarded the EcoVadis Gold rating for the second time in a row. EcoVadis is a provider of business sustainability ratings, intelligence and collaborative performance improvement tools for global supply chain. Its CSR assessment methodology covers 198 purchasing categories, 155 countries and 21 CSR indicators. The EcoVadis Gold rating was an important prerequisite for Azelis’ membership to Together for Sustainbiliy (TfS), a global initiative for sustainable supply chains, which the company announced recently.

With a score of 70 points out of 100, Azelis received its second EcoVadis Gold rating in a row, an increase of two points versus its last rating. The company again secured its spot in the top 1% of distributors assessed by EcoVadis and top 2% of the 60,000 suppliers assessed by EcoVadis in all categories. Azelis was assessed on four pillars: environment, labor and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement.

With Azelis’ membership of TfS and UN Global Compact, the company reinforces its ambition to be a catalyst of change when it comes to sustainable business models and to becoming a benchmark for the industry.

Maria Almenar, Group Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (SHEQ) and Sustainability Director, commented, “In 2018, we were awarded the EcoVadis Gold rating for the first time, making us the first specialty chemicals distributor to receive this award. To now obtain this prestigious accolade for the second time in a row is a wonderful recognition of our group-wide efforts and commitments to implement the same high standards for our CSR performance across all regions in which we operate. We are convinced that CSR and sustainable innovation should continue to play an integral role in our business model.”

The Azelis CSR program, which was launched on a group level in 2017, is based on internationally recognized initiatives such as ISO 26000. It goes one step further than the Responsible Care and Responsible Distribution programs, which Azelis uses as a basis. In 2017, the company became a signatory member of the United Nations Global Compact and in February 2020 Azelis joined TfS. Azelis has four CSR pillars of its own: resources and environment, labor and human rights, fair business practices, and sustainable procurement.