WINONA, Minn. — Fastenal Company, a leader in the wholesale distribution of industrial and construction supplies, announced it has been awarded a silver medal from EcoVadis.
The award, which is based on an assessment completed by EcoVadis in late 2023, signifies that the quality of Fastenal’s sustainability management system ranks in the top 25% of all companies in all industries rated by EcoVadis.
EcoVadis uses a broad range of criteria to score companies’ sustainability programs in four main areas: environment, ethics, labor and human rights, and sustainable procurement. In addition to helping Fastenal identify opportunities to reduce risk and improve its sustainability performance, the assessment helps current and potential customers identify Fastenal as a responsible business partner.
“Today, many of our customers are looking at EcoVadis scores to evaluate our sustainability credentials and to help them make purchasing decisions,” said Dan Florness, Fastenal’s president and CEO. “So receiving a silver medal not only validates the positive steps being taken by our team, it also creates business opportunities.”
Fastenal earned its first EcoVadis medal, a bronze, in December 2022. Prior to that, the company’s sustainability programs and reporting did not merit a medal designation. This rapid improvement from receiving no medal recognition to earning a silver medal reflects a heightened and long-term commitment by Fastenal to invest in and continuously improve its processes, systems, and reporting around sustainability.
Since mid-2022, Fastenal has achieved third-party certification to the ISO 45001 occupational health and safety management standard, the ISO/IEC 27001 information security management standard, and the ISO 14001 environmental management standard. The company also completed an ESG materiality assessment, formally defined and began road-mapping its ESG strategy, created a cross-departmental ESG community of practice (to lead the execution of the roadmap), and, most recently, completed a scope 3 materiality assessment to gain a more complete understanding of its carbon inventory.