If customers are pressuring you to step up on sustainability, you’re not alone. Every year, companies ask tens of thousands of suppliers to report their greenhouse emissions and other sustainability data.
If that pressure hasn’t hit yet, it will—soon. Despite the recent market uncertainty permeating across the globe and impacting business across sectors, the sheer number of businesses requested to report their sustainability performance and set targets through groups, like EcoVadis, CDP, and the Science-based Target Initiative (SBTi), grows yearly. Ignoring those requests is now one of a supplier’s biggest commercial risks.
We put this article together to help your business mitigate risks by and understand what customers are asking them to do and how to best respond.
Key Takeaways
- Sustainability performance is 2025’s defining supply-chain risk.
- Buyer data requests keep climbing despite economic headwinds.
- Expectations now span full ESG—not just carbon—via CDP, EcoVadis, etc.
- Manufacturers feel the heat first, but no sector is spared.
- New regs will turn “asks” into mandates; early movers gain the edge.
Supply Chain Sustainability Risks
Many predicted sustainability would stall amid geopolitical headwinds. Reality: it’s accelerating. While these issues are having an impact, in most cases, sustainability initiatives are accelerating at most of the world’s largest companies, and pressure is growing on their suppliers to help them report and reduce their impact.
In 2025, failing to meet buyer sustainability expectations is a top supplier risk. With sustainability reporting regulations kicking in, companies’ data requests are becoming broader, require more accuracy, and are increasingly non-negotiable.
Supplier Expectations Have Evolved: Beyond GHG and Targets
Until recently, many procurement teams were satisfied with a greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory or a science-based target to ensure that they reduce their Scope 3 emissions. In 2025, they want more.
- Annual reporting & demonstrable year-on-year improvement: Businesses want their suppliers to report to sustainability reporting and performance scoring frameworks like EcoVadis and CDP. This enables them to see if their supplier is improving their performance year on year.
- Expanded sustainability scope: Companies are requesting disclosures on much more than emissions, (e.g., water, biodiversity, human rights). The biggest leap in requests and disclosures for CDP reporting in 2024 was in water and biodiversity disclosures.
- Third-party verification is fast becoming table stakes: Platforms like EcoVadis, CDP, and SBTi are becoming the standard over proprietary questionnaires to ensure reporting, targets, and scores are consistent, comparable, and validated.
Supplier Pressure by the Numbers
It’s no longer just a few ambitious multinationals asking a couple of hundred suppliers, in fact companies of all sizes are increasingly looking to their own networks of suppliers to assess downstream risks.
- Over 330 companies used CDP Supply Chain to request that 75,000 companies report on their emissions in 2024.
- 1,300+ buying organizations asked 100,000 suppliers to report through EcoVadis in 2024.
- Also, in 2024, SBTi reached a milestone of 10,000 companies committed. Many of the larger companies with SBTi-aligned goals have committed to having a certain percentage of their supply chains aligned with SBTi.
Yet fewer than half of suppliers respond each year. In 2024, for example, 3,150 U.S. companies that were requested to disclose CDP data failed, meaning competitors that did disclose built a competitive advantage over them.
Supply Chain Sustainability Pressure Case Studies
Across sectors and geographies, large businesses are asking their suppliers to do more on sustainability. Here are five cross-sector examples of companies that have recently increased the pressure on their suppliers to do more on sustainability:
- Salesforce
- Publicis Group
- Astra Zeneca
- Amgen
- GM
This is just a small snapshot of the businesses requiring their suppliers to report and reduce their impact in 2025. Companies in the supply chains of these multinationals that do not help them meet their goals risk losing B2B trust and potentially contracts.
The Specific Sectors Facing Rising Supply Chain Pressure
Despite supply chain pressure being cross-sector, the majority of requests go to the manufacturing sector, as they are typically the businesses that make up most large companies’ supply chains. This includes manufacturing sub-sectors like automotive, chemicals, food and beverage, high-tech, and industrial.
To put the pressure that sub-sectors within manufacturing are feeling in perspective, the two graphs below show the percentage of businesses that reported to CDP in 2024 and EcoVadis in 2023 across all sectors.
Considering the majority of businesses reporting and being asked to report are manufacturing companies, if your manufacturing business is not receiving requests today, expect it soon.
Why Supply Chain Pressure Will Grow: Sustainability Reporting Mandates
Across the U.S. and globally in the coming years, there are dozens of sustainability reporting rules coming into force that will require businesses to engage with their suppliers for data and more.
These rules include:
- California Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253): Requires companies doing business in California that meet certain revenue thresholds to engage with their suppliers to share climate risks in 2026, and to meet Scope 3 requirements in 2027, suppliers will be asked for their Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
- ISSB-aligned Rules: More than 30 jurisdictions have climate reporting regulations based on the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB) S2, (e.g., UK, Canada, Singapore drafts). The ISSB’s climate-related disclosure rule (S2) includes Scope 3 reporting, meaning businesses will contact their suppliers for emissions data.
- EU Sustainability Reporting Rules: The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) already has businesses engaging with suppliers to share a range of sustainability data, and by 2028, that number will increase. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) will require businesses to engage with their suppliers to assess, prevent, and mitigate issues in the supply chain from 2028 onwards. A range of other rules could implicate more sustainability reporting and action for suppliers, like the EU’s Deforestation Rule, and the EU’s carbon tariff, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
In addition to these, California also has another climate reporting rule (Climate Corporate Leadership Act (SB 755) in its state legislature. This rule would put more pressure on supply chains, requiring state suppliers with more than $5 million contracts to report their emissions and those with more than $25 million to report climate risks and emissions.
With all of these regulations coming online in the coming years, suppliers of impacted companies will be asked to share accurate data to avoid non-compliance risks. Preparing today ensures you support your biggest customers’ compliance needs. Get in touch with us to make sure your company is ready ➔
How Suppliers Can Stay Competitive in 2025
Supply Chain Sustainability is the biggest risk facing businesses in 2025 and beyond. To prepare for this new normal, those who act early, invest in data, and demonstrate improvement over time will be rewarded. Here’s how to start:
- Map your buyer’s expectations: Understand what your biggest supplier wants to know. This will be different sector to sector and business to business. The best place to start is by looking at your customer’s public goals, potential exposure to regulations, or engaging them to show interest in supporting them to meet their goals.
- Get your data house in order: Start by collecting emissions data unless explicitly told otherwise, as this is what most requestors will want and regulations require. Scopes 1 and 2 are good places to start, as they will give your customers the information they need to report their Scope 3. Then, from there, you should start collecting water, biodiversity, and other data and setting achievable targets, ideally aligned with science-based targets.
- Benchmark via trusted third-party tools: Use reporting tools, like EcoVadis and CDP, and industry standards like SBTi. CDP and EcoVadis reporting allow your customers to benchmark your performance against direct competitors and industry leaders. SBTi alignment gives your customers confidence that your emissions reduction goals are in line with science and their own goals.
- Show year-on-year progress: Reporting to EcoVadis or CDP, year on year, and getting improved scores or showing progress toward emissions reduction goals builds trust and helps your biggest customers meet their goals and mitigate risks.
Turn Supply Chain Sustainability Risks into Opportunities with Good.Lab
Supply-chain sustainability is the defining risk of 2025—and beyond. With pressure building across geographies and sectors, no matter the size or avenue of business, you should expect to receive a request to share sustainability data and take action to reduce your impact. Companies that act early will gain a competitive advantage.
Good.Lab is an approved partner of EcoVadis and has helped dozens of companies answer supplier data requests through EcoVadis and CDP frameworks. We also help businesses set science-based targets and take concrete action to meet them. We help suppliers:
- Understand and align with customer sustainability requirements
- Collect all sustainability data and align it with frameworks like CDP and EcoVadis
- Ensure alignment with all upcoming regulations
- Build improvement roadmaps that ensure you improve your EcoVadis and CDP scores year-over-year
As sustainability-related risks accelerate and regulations are adopted, pressure on suppliers to act on sustainability will only increase. Start building resilience into your supply chain relationships today by measuring, reporting, and managing your sustainability performance.
