Groupe Brangeon: Managing CSR Autonomously and Building a Long-Term EcoVadis Trajectory

Louis Gauthier has been managing CSR at Groupe Brangeon for four years. When he joined the company, the role did not exist yet. He structured it from scratch — only to quickly face a challenge he had not anticipated: a growing administrative workload, with no additional resources to support it.

Groupe Brangeon is a player in transportation and waste management, actively engaged in its industry through several trade bodies including the FNTR and the SNEFID. CSR pressure comes from every direction: key account clients, financial partners, and EcoVadis assessments that are constantly evolving. And Louis has limited means to address it all.

From 2 to 6 Assessments in One Year — No Tools, No Process

Within a few months, the number of EcoVadis assessments jumped from two sector-level evaluations to six in a single year. The policies, documents, and answers were largely the same — but Louis had to redo everything each time, with no structured process or tool to support him. "It became really, really heavy administratively."

The decision was made to consolidate into a single group-level EcoVadis assessment, more consistent and cost-effective. But the size L questionnaire is more demanding, and the banking stakes are real: lenders tie access to certain financing to an improvement in the EcoVadis score each year — not just maintaining it.

On top of that, key account clients like Michelin require EcoVadis certification or set minimum score thresholds to remain a listed supplier. And beyond EcoVadis, Groupe Brangeon responds to other CSR frameworks such as Label Lucie, alongside an ever-growing number of increasingly demanding client questionnaires.

Facing this scale-up, Louis decided to bring in outside expertise: to structure responses, understand the scoring methodology, and identify the right levers — without spending time he did not have.

A Method to Never Start from Scratch

The onboarding with Ditto follows a capitalization logic. The first step is an audit of the previous assessment: which documents were used, which indicators were well or poorly addressed, where the improvement margins lie. The second step is building an action plan on the platform with the Ditto coach: prioritizing areas, structuring indicators, working on response wording and policy drafting.

What Louis values most from the coaching relationship: the ability to navigate EcoVadis criteria, which change every year, and to know how to frame responses accordingly. "The rules of the game are constantly evolving. That is where having an expert makes all the difference."

The practical change on the organizational side: everything built for EcoVadis becomes reusable across other frameworks and client questionnaires. The same document library covers multiple assessments at once, significantly reducing preparation time each cycle.

The result: approximately 50% time saved on CSR policy documentation and response preparation. For someone working autonomously, that is the difference between a manageable topic and one that constantly overflows.

Improving Every Year — Without Cutting Corners

Louis's goal is not to earn the highest EcoVadis medal as fast as possible. It is about building a coherent multi-year trajectory, with quick wins on specific indicators and well-sequenced medium-to-long-term improvement areas, all aligned with banking commitments.

"You have to pace yourself. You can't gain 20 points in one year. What matters is supporting our CSR approach in a way that is progressive and consistent."

Across two assessment cycles, Groupe Brangeon improved its EcoVadis score by 7 points. The gains came largely from better anticipation: objectives defined at the end of the first cycle were documented and formalized before the next assessment, particularly in the Ethics and Sustainable Procurement themes.

The coaching relationship also plays a role in making the process less stressful. Knowing that responses are well aligned with EcoVadis expectations before submission changes how you approach waiting for the results. "It is constructive and reassuring. Knowing you've answered the right criteria lets you wait for the results with more peace of mind."

And on the business side, the progress did not go unnoticed.

What He Would Do Differently

"If I were starting over, I would have begun the coaching at the same time as the formalization of our CSR strategy. Having both the vision of what you want to build and the tool to do it — that would have saved an enormous amount of time."

Mid-sized companies that structure their CSR approach with a dedicated tool from the start avoid doing the work twice — and progress faster, with the same resources.