GRI 308 Supplier Environmental Assessment

The two GRI 308 disclosures

308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria: Percentage of new suppliers screened using environmental criteria during the reporting period. Environmental criteria include: GHG emission performance; energy efficiency; water use; waste management; hazardous chemical use; biodiversity impacts; and compliance with environmental regulations.

The screening approach should be risk-based — applying more intensive environmental assessment to suppliers in high-risk sectors (manufacturing, agriculture, mining, chemicals) and high-risk geographies, with lighter-touch screening for lower-risk service suppliers.

308-2 Negative environmental impacts in the supply chain and actions taken: Number of suppliers assessed for environmental impacts; number identified with significant actual or potential negative environmental impacts; percentage where improvements were agreed upon; percentage where relationships were terminated as a result of assessment.

The combination of 308-1 (screening rate for new suppliers) and 308-2 (assessment outcomes for existing suppliers) tells the complete supply chain environmental risk management story — covering both onboarding controls and ongoing monitoring.

Environmental criteria in supplier screening

Designing effective environmental screening criteria requires balancing comprehensiveness with practicality — too many criteria overwhelm suppliers; too few miss material risks.

Minimum viable criteria set for initial screening: Environmental management system in place (ISO 14001 or equivalent); GHG emissions reported (any methodology); environmental regulatory compliance record (no major violations in past 3 years); hazardous chemical management policy (where relevant to the supplier's activities).

Enhanced criteria for high-risk sectors: GHG emission intensity per unit of product (for category 1 Scope 3 calculation); water use and stress area operation disclosure; specific chemical compliance (REACH SVHCs, RoHS for electronics, pesticide residue standards for food); biodiversity impact assessment for suppliers with land-use activities.

Screening tools: EcoVadis provides ESG ratings for suppliers including environmental criteria — widely used in large company supply chain programmes. Sedex SMETA includes environmental criteria alongside social. CDP Supply Chain questionnaire collects detailed climate data. Custom questionnaires work for highly specific environmental criteria but require more internal resource to evaluate.

For CSRD Category 1 Scope 3: the environmental screening programme that satisfies GRI 308-1 simultaneously supports your ESRS E1-6 Category 1 data collection strategy. Suppliers who complete environmental screening have provided at least partial GHG and energy data — improving the quality of your spend-based Category 1 estimate and potentially enabling supplier-specific calculation for high-spend screened suppliers.

GRI 308 and CSDDD environmental due diligence

GRI 308 environmental supply chain assessment overlaps significantly with CSDDD's environmental due diligence obligations — building one programme for both creates significant efficiency.

CSDDD environmental scope: CSDDD requires due diligence on environmental adverse impacts in the value chain — specifically violations of multilateral environmental agreements (Paris Agreement, Convention on Biological Diversity, Stockholm Convention POPs, Minamata Convention mercury, Basel Convention hazardous waste).

GRI 308 and CSDDD alignment: The environmental criteria used in GRI 308 screening — GHG emissions, hazardous chemicals, waste management — directly correspond to CSDDD environmental adverse impact categories. A supplier that passes GRI 308 environmental screening criteria is demonstrating compliance with CSDDD-relevant environmental standards.

For supply chain environmental due diligence documentation: GRI 308-2 outcomes data — number of suppliers assessed, impacts identified, improvements agreed, relationships terminated — provides the evidence trail for CSDDD environmental due diligence effectiveness. Supervisory authorities reviewing CSDDD compliance will assess whether the due diligence programme is credible — GRI 308 annual disclosure provides public evidence of programme scale and outcomes.

Combined supplier assessment: Rather than running separate GRI 308 environmental and GRI 414 social supplier assessments, most companies conduct integrated assessments covering both environmental and social criteria simultaneously — through EcoVadis ratings, SMETA audits, or bespoke supplier assessments. Integrated assessments reduce supplier burden and improve assessment coverage.

Frequently asked questions