Suppliers to the NHS must demonstrate their commitment to environmental and social responsibility, and the Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment is a vital online tool that enables suppliers to engage with the NHS on their sustainability journey.
Helping them to align with NHS Net Zero and wider sustainability ambitions, including the NHS Net Zero Supplier Roadmap.
At Positive Planet, we guide businesses through this process, helping you complete the assessment efficiently while enhancing your sustainability credentials – an essential differentiator for NHS contracts.
What is the Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment?
The Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment is a self-assessment and reporting tool designed specifically for NHS suppliers.
It provides a consistent framework for organisations to share information about their sustainability policies, practices, and performance. By completing the assessment, suppliers can demonstrate how they are managing environmental impacts, addressing social value considerations, and supporting ethical supply chains.
Through the Evergreen Assessment, suppliers can:
- Share sustainability information with the NHS through a single, centralised route, simplifying reporting across multiple NHS organisations.
- Receive a sustainability maturity score that highlights current performance and identifies areas for improvement.
- Align with NHS priorities, including carbon reduction, social value, and modern slavery compliance.
Unlike traditional procurement scoring mechanisms, the Evergreen Assessment is typically not used directly to evaluate suppliers in procurement processes. However, there are specific cases where completion is mandatory, such as certain NHS Supply Chain Frameworks and NHS England Medicines tenders.
As sustainability expectations continue to grow across the healthcare sector, the Evergreen Assessment also helps organisations prepare for future procurement requirements.
Why the Evergreen Assessment Replaces Previous Tools
Previously, suppliers completed the Carbon, Waste and Water (CWW) Assessment via the NQC platform. The Evergreen Assessment replaces CWW to:
- Reduce duplication for suppliers
- Ensure alignment across NHS sustainability initiatives
- Provide a centralised reporting mechanism for all NHS buyers
Benefits of Using the Evergreen Assessment
For Suppliers
Completing the Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment offers several strategic benefits for organisations working with the NHS.
Benchmark Sustainability Performance: suppliers receive a maturity score that reflects their current sustainability performance and alignment with NHS expectations. This allows organisations to benchmark their progress and identify key areas for improvement.
One Conversation with the NHS: the Evergreen platform creates a standardised approach to sustainability reporting. Suppliers can provide information once and share it across multiple NHS organisations, reducing administrative burden and improving consistency.
Support Internal Planning: the insights generated from the assessment can support internal decision-making, helping businesses build stronger sustainability strategies, develop improvement plans, and inform future investment in environmental and social initiatives.
For NHS Organisations
The Evergreen Assessment also delivers significant benefits for NHS procurement teams and sustainability leaders.
Improved Supply Chain Transparency: by collecting sustainability data from suppliers in a structured format, NHS organisations gain clearer insights into the environmental and social performance of their supply chain.
Streamlined Communication: a centralised system enables NHS buyers to access supplier sustainability information more easily, helping to facilitate more productive conversations around improvement and collaboration.
Support Contract Management: the maturity scores generated by the assessment provide a useful starting point for discussions between NHS organisations and suppliers, encouraging alignment with broader sustainability objectives.
Understanding Evergreen Maturity Levels
The Evergreen Assessment evaluates suppliers across four maturity levels, reflecting alignment with NHS sustainability priorities:
Why Positive Planet Can Help
Navigating the Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment can be complex. At Positive Planet, we specialise in supporting suppliers to:
- Complete the assessment efficiently and accurately
- Understand your sustainability maturity and pathway to improvement
- Align business strategy with NHS Net Zero ambitions
Our expertise ensures that your organisation not only meets compliance requirements, but also leverages sustainability to enhance reputation, competitive advantage, and future procurement opportunities.
Take Action Today
Suppliers looking to work with the NHS or enhance their sustainability credentials can benefit from early completion and strategic alignment with Evergreen.
Contact Positive Planet today to get expert guidance on completing the Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment and putting your organisation on the path to Net Zero and sustainable procurement excellence.