Q&A with Markus Pretzl: How TIP Group leverages sustainability ratings to drive change from within

In this Q&A, Markus Pretzl, Sustainability Director at TIP Group, takes us inside the company’s journey toward sustainability leadership in the trailers and trucking sector. Markus explains how EcoVadis ratings help measure progress, set targets and advance sustainability initiatives internally.

TIP Group has held an EcoVadis Silver Medal for three consecutive assessments, placing the company within the top 15% of 150,000+ assessed companies. What were the key motivations to pursue this?

Markus: It started with a customer requirement. One of our key clients introduced a supplier due diligence program and set a minimum EcoVadis score, so there was real commercial pressure to engage. Over time, we’ve also used our EcoVadis rating in disussions with our suppliers, as we started our own supply chain due diligence programme. EcoVadis is genuinely useful in translating complex and broad ESG topics into a single score and rating, making sustainability performance easy to communicate, benchmark, and act on.

What were the key actions and initiatives behind TIP Group's journey to the Silver Medal?

Markus: When we started the first assessment, our initial score was low. The two largest gaps were environmental data and governance frameworks. On the environmental side, this pushed us to calculate our Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, which became a real accelerator. On governance, we had assumed our existing code of conduct covered what was needed, but EcoVadis made clear we needed to be more specific. We hadn't formalised how we govern ESG topics, so we reviewed our governance backbone and addressed the gaps by establishing clearer policies and the structures needed to manage sustainability topics within the company.

What were the main challenges TIP Group had to overcome to improve its EcoVadis rating?

Markus: An EcoVadis assessment touches every part of the business — legal, procurement, HR, finance. One of the first priorities is helping teams understand why the assessment matters, how it connects to their work and the value of contributing to the process. Working through data silos, chasing down information that doesn't exist yet, figuring out how to improve your measurements, none of that happens without cross-functional coordination. And I don't think this is unique to EcoVadis. Any company that's started reporting non-financial data will recognise this. Today, sustainability is embedded in our core strategy, and that early collaboration helped create strong alignment across teams.

For companies looking to establish themselves as sustainability leaders through a rating or certification like EcoVadis — what would your advice be?

Markus: First, be clear on what a rating is and isn't. It won't make you a sustainability leader in practice — real-world impact comes from decarbonising your fleet, modernising facilities, and changing how you operate. But ratings are excellent catalysts. For us, low scores in sustainable procurement pushed us to improve our supply chain due diligence. Therefore, my recommendation is to use ratings to help drive internal alignment by connecting sustainability priorities to customer expectations. When you can show what key customers value and where improvements are needed, decision-making becomes much easier. Take policy-writing as an example: it already takes some effort, so why not go a little further and ask how it can create broader business value. For example, to reduce risks and strengthen operations. If you start there, the EcoVadis score almost becomes a bonus — a way of saying to management, "and by the way, this also moves our rating, which our customers care about."

Looking ahead, what are TIP Group's ambitions — both in terms of the company’s EcoVadis rating and the broader sustainability agenda?

Markus: We want to keep improving our score, and we believe there's room to do so. But more broadly, our ambition is to be a sustainability leader across our value chain — not just within our own operations. We've committed to science-based targets, including an engagement target on Scope 3 emissions that requires us to work with suppliers and customers on their own decarbonisation goals. That's where we see our real role: building a strong foundation within our own operations first and then using that credibility to drive change beyond our organisational boundaries, with both suppliers and customers.