Esker's ESG leadership recognized by EcoVadis and Gaïa Research
LYON, France, and MIDDLETON, Wis. — February 21, 2023 — Esker, a global cloud platform and leader in AI-driven process automation solutions for Finance and Customer Service functions, today announced that EcoVadis and Gaïa Research have both once again presented the company with remarkable ratings for its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.
Pursuing a positive ESG performance is a key element of all of Esker's activities. Driven by the belief that technology creates positive-sum growth, the company’s focus is on offering automation solutions that can give more meaning to the workplace by reducing repetitive tasks and improving customer and supplier relationships, especially for Finance and Customer Service functions.
"Esker builds innovative solutions by placing a focus on making a positive impact not just for the people who use our technology but on the entire business ecosystem our customers operate in," said Jean-Michel Bérard, CEO at Esker. "Protecting the environment, responsibly managing vendor and customer relationships, and promoting education, diversity and inclusion have always been contributing factors in Esker’s operations.”
The success of this approach is reflected in the good results Esker received from multiple ESG rating organizations:
EcoVadis, a leading business sustainability rating platform, awarded Esker a score of 74/100 for its ESG performance. This constitutes an increase of 26 points since 2017 and places Esker in the top 5% of evaluated companies across all industries.
Gaïa Research, the ESG-ratings arm of sustainable finance and development advisory company EthiFinance, has awarded Esker a score of 68/100 in the evaluation of the company’s non-financial data. Esker has steadily increased this ranking since 2019, placing Esker well above the industry average of 54/100.
Esker also received the following rankings in 2022:
- Vigeo Eiris: Score of 53/100 (up 20 points from 2021)
- MSCI ESG Ratings1: “A” rating (on a scale from AAA to CCC)
- Sustainalytics: Score of 20.1 (medium risk level)
Esker is strongly committed to reducing its environmental footprint and has implemented a proactive approach to analyzing its greenhouse gas emissions. In order to do so, the company has established processes for determining its carbon footprint for all its locations worldwide. All French locations renewed their ISO 140012 certifications in 2022. The impact of digital technology and the energy efficiency of data centers hosting Esker’s cloud platform is continuously monitored to assist in reducing its carbon footprint.
This approach also applies to Esker’s supply chain management. The company has established a sustainable procurement policy based on fair treatment and transparent selection of suppliers. Social and environmental criteria are also taken into consideration for vendor selection. All of Esker’s vendors are asked to fill out a survey focused on ESG criteria to further encourage the adoption of ESG best practices.
Esker employees are also encouraged to participate in community events with a social or environmental purpose. To do so, they receive paid time off (France and U.S.) to volunteer at a non-profit organization of their choice.
Esker places a high value on pursuing and maintaining ethical and transparent governance. Promoting a diverse and inclusive corporate culture includes, among other things, working groups organized by employees on a volunteer basis and the development and execution of strategies aimed at increasing the number of women in the IT profession.
To learn more about Esker’s ESG strategy, visit: www.esker.com/esg
About EcoVadis
EcoVadis is a purpose-led company whose mission is to provide the world's most trusted business sustainability ratings. Businesses of all sizes rely on EcoVadis’ expert intelligence and evidence-based ratings to monitor and improve the sustainability performance of their business and trading partners. Its actionable scorecards, benchmarks, carbon action tools, and insights guide an improvement journey for environmental, social and ethical practices across 200 industry categories and 175 countries. Industry leaders such as Johnson & Johnson, L’Oréal, Unilever, LVMH, Bridgestone, BASF and JPMorgan are among the 100,000 businesses that collaborate with EcoVadis to drive resilience, sustainable growth and positive impact worldwide.
About Gaïa Research
Gaïa Research is the rating agency of the EthiFinance group, dedicated to small and medium-sized companies listed on the European stock markets. Gaïa Research is a brand of the EthiFinance group.
EthiFinance is an innovative European rating, research and advisory group serving sustainable finance and sustainable development. The Group provides investors, companies and organizations with solutions to the challenges of financing as well as environmental and societal transformation. Created in 2017, the Group is the result of the merger between Spread Research and EthiFinance, French financial and nonfinancial rating agencies both founded in 2004. EthiFinance provides its services to a wide range of leading international clients under the brands Spread Research (independent credit research), EthiFinance Ratings (credit rating agency), EthiFinance Analytics (Risk Modelling), and EthiFinance (nonfinancial rating and advisory agency).
About Esker
Esker is a global cloud platform built to unlock strategic value for Finance and Customer Service professionals, and strengthen collaboration between companies by automating the cash conversion cycle. Esker’s solutions incorporate technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) to drive increased productivity, enhanced visibility, reduced fraud risk, and improved collaboration with customers, suppliers and internally. Esker operates in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France, and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information on Esker and its solutions, visit www.esker.com. Follow Esker on LinkedIn and join the conversation on the Esker blog at blog.esker.com.
1. Disclaimer: Esker's use of any data from MSCI ESG Research LLC or its affiliates (“MSCI”), and use of MSCI's logos, trademarks, service marks or index names herein, does not constitute sponsorship, endorsement, recommendation or promotion of Esker by MSCI. MSCI Services and Data are the property of MSCI or its information providers, and are provided “As Is” and without warranty. MSCI names and logos are trademarks or service marks of MSCI.
2. Environmental management standard