DS Smith earns top sustainability rating

United Kingdom-based DS Smith has been awarded a platinum rating by Paris-based EcoVadis for its performance as a responsible and sustainable business. The packaging and paperboard producer says its platinum rating is boost from its gold rating in 2020.

The platinum rating places DS Smith in the top 1 percent of the 75,000 best-rated companies assessed by EcoVadis globally and in the top 2 percent of its industry overall, says the firm.

The company scored 90 percent for its performance in sustainable procurement with praise for its supplier engagement program and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) chain of custody certification and 80 percent on environmental issues, with commendations for its “exceptional” reporting.

DS Smith was also praised for its “commitment to sourcing 100 percent recycled or chain of custody-certified papers” and for its effort to “work to close the loop through better design and to protect natural resources as part of its ‘Now and Next’ sustainability strategy.”

According to DS Smith, companies partner with EcoVadis to strive toward a more sustainable economy with a common platform, universal scorecard, benchmarks and performance improvement tools.

“Following our recent FSC and ISO 50001 certifications  in North America, we’re thrilled that we’ve achieved a platinum rating from EcoVadis, knowing that our customers rely on the platform to assess our performance as their provider of sustainable packaging solutions,” says Keith Ledbetter, managing director and chief financial officer for Atlanta-based DS Smith North America Packaging and Paper.

Oliver Bradley, sustainability reporting manager at DS Smith, remarks, “EcoVadis sits alongside our other priority ESG [environmental, social and governance] ratings that we engage with to independently review our performance and reassure customers, investors and other partners that we are delivering strong ESG and sustainability performance throughout our business.”

This July, DS Smith published its Sustainability Report 2021 and announced that it had hit seven of its sustainability milestones – including meeting targets on the circular economy.

London-based DS Smith says it delivers “more circular solutions” for its customers and that it operates in 34 countries, employing around 30,000 people.