EcoVadis, the operator of the first SaaS (News - Alert) collaborative platform helping major companies assess their suppliers' environmental and social performance, recently announced that it has been chosen by three major telecommunications operators as part of a project led by the French Telecom Federation.

Bouygues Telecom, France Telecom-Orange and SFR (News - Alert) will now use the EcoVadis solutions to assess CSR performance among their suppliers around the world.

The new EcoVadis SP solution offers businesses a platform for assessing and monitoring ethical, environmental and social performance among their key suppliers in over 120 countries. With the new solutions, operators can now access their suppliers’ evaluations for 21 environmental, social and ethical criteria, considering specific issues in 150 business sectors.

French Telecom Federation companies have pledged to lessening environmental impact. Their pledge has been brought into effect through a charter signed on July 22, 2010, with the French Secretary of State for Ecology Chantal Jouanno.

Through the realization of responsible buying policies, operators are thus committed to having an ideal approach towards their partners and suppliers. Therefore, have made a decision to set up a common standard in terms of their suppliers' CSR (News - Alert) performance assessment, which will help provide reliable information and facilitate the work of their suppliers. EcoVadis was the solution selected.

Richard Lalande, the chairman of the French Telecom Federation Sustainable Development Commission, stated that the development of sustainable buying policies shows there exists a genuine, substantial momentum. FTF included a 'CSR suppliers' charter and clauses relating to sustainable development within its calls for tenders or contracts. But FTF want to go further still by supporting its suppliers and sub-contractors in an approach towards ongoing improvement in their sustainable development performance. Lalande added that the EcoVadis platform seemed to FTF to be an excellent solution in reinforcing this approach.