Customer & Industry Requirements
TfS member companies (April 2026)
Shared assessments in the global TfS pool
Audit checklist requirements across five categories
Regulation Overview
Together for Sustainability is the chemical industry's dominant supplier sustainability assessment and audit program, representing 63 member companies with a combined annual turnover exceeding €800 billion. For supplier and procurement teams, the primary obligation is demonstrating documented ESG performance across four assessment themes—Environment, Labor and Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement—evaluated through EcoVadis-administered scorecards and independently conducted on-site audits.
The TfS assessment pool contains over 24,000 shared scorecards as of 2025. TfS operates on the principle that "an assessment for one is an assessment for all"—meaning a single supplier evaluation is visible to every member company. Suppliers scoring below acceptable thresholds face Corrective Action Plans, procurement restrictions, or disqualification. The program now extends to Product Carbon Footprint reporting through the TfS PCF Guideline v3.0, adding Scope 3 emissions data obligations to traditional ESG criteria.
TfS compliance requires structured evidence—policies, certifications, KPIs, and third-party audit reports—covering every assessment category. When member companies update their procurement criteria, your entire evidence portfolio requires reassessment.
Direct suppliers to any of the 63 TfS member companies globally
Sub-tier suppliers invited through TfS Multi-Tier Initiative cascading programs
Chemical manufacturers, distributors, and specialty chemical producers
Raw material suppliers including mining operations (subject to enhanced eTfS audits)
Logistics and service providers in chemical supply chains
Companies seeking to maintain or win procurement contracts with TfS buyers
Key Thresholds
A TfS member requests your EcoVadis assessment. You need documented policies, certifications, KPIs, and third-party evidence across Environment, Labor and Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement—each weighted differently by industry. Your sustainability team spends weeks gathering evidence from HR, operations, procurement, and EHS departments. Half the documents are outdated. A quarter don't reference your specific entity.
Your EcoVadis scorecard is visible to all 63 TfS member companies simultaneously. A low score on one theme—even Sustainable Procurement, where most companies score lowest—doesn't just affect one customer relationship. It affects every TfS buyer evaluating your business. Day one after scorecard publication: three procurement teams request improvement plans.
TfS applies medal eligibility at the individual theme level—not overall score. A company scoring 72 overall but 28 on Sustainable Procurement is ineligible for any medal. Without structured supplier risk scoring and due diligence documentation, one weak theme disqualifies you from preferred supplier status across the entire TfS membership.
TfS PCF Guideline v3.0 requires cradle-to-gate carbon footprint calculations at the product level, with specific rules on cut-off criteria, data quality ratings, and mass balance accounting. Chemical products with complex reaction chains and multiple energy inputs require facility-level measured data. Manual hazardous substance tracking and carbon accounting at this granularity across hundreds of product lines is unsustainable.
Certivo In Action
Certivo in Action — TfS Workflow
Features Tabs
Chemical Manufacturing
Your Pain Point
Direct TfS membership obligations; dual role as both member and assessed supplier
Industrial Machinery & Heavy Equipment
Your Pain Point
Chemical inputs require TfS-grade sustainability documentation from upstream suppliers
Automotive Manufacturing
Your Pain Point
Chemical suppliers assessed via TfS feed into automotive OEM sustainability requirements
Electronics Manufacturing
Your Pain Point
Specialty chemical and coating suppliers increasingly subject to TfS assessments
Medical Devices & Equipment
Your Pain Point
Biocompatibility and chemical purity standards intersect TfS environmental criteria
Consumer Goods
Your Pain Point
Chemical ingredient suppliers must demonstrate TfS compliance across high SKU counts
Building Materials & Construction
Your Pain Point
Chemical additives, coatings, and sealant suppliers face TfS procurement requirements
Energy & Infrastructure
Your Pain Point
Chemical suppliers for battery materials, coatings, and specialty fluids under TfS scrutiny
From Manual Document Gathering to Exception Management
CORA extracts sustainability evidence automatically through AI document parsing and certificate validation. Your team focuses on exceptions that need human judgment—not manual data compilation across four assessment themes.
TfS Response Acceleration
Generate complete, audit-ready evidence packages in hours—not the 4–6 weeks of manual compilation across departments. Continuous compliance monitoring and audit readiness replaces reactive scrambling.
Proactive TfS Compliance Monitoring
When TfS updates assessment criteria or PCF methodology, Certivo reassesses your evidence portfolio through regulatory intelligence and horizon scanning. Know which gaps exist before member companies ask.
Frequently Asked Questions
What companies and suppliers are subject to TfS compliance requirements?
Any company supplying goods or services to one of the 63 TfS member companies may be invited for assessment or audit. This includes direct chemical suppliers, sub-tier suppliers through the TfS Multi-Tier Initiative, raw material providers, logistics companies, and service providers. The obligation extends globally—TfS assessments are valid across 140 countries, and results are shared with all member companies simultaneously. Certivo's centralized supplier self-service portals enable suppliers to maintain assessment-ready documentation continuously.
What are the consequences of a low TfS assessment score?
TfS assessment scores are visible to all 63 member companies. Scores below 45 make suppliers ineligible for any medal recognition, while any individual theme score below 30 disqualifies medal eligibility entirely. Member companies may restrict procurement, require Corrective Action Plans with defined resolution timelines, or disqualify suppliers from preferred status. CORA identifies theme-level gaps early and generates targeted improvement documentation before scores are published.
How does Certivo track updates to TfS assessment criteria and PCF methodology?
Certivo maintains continuous sync with TfS assessment standards and the PCF Guideline, incorporating methodology changes as they are published. When TfS updates scoring criteria—as occurred with PCF Guideline v3.0 in December 2024—CORA reassesses your evidence portfolio and alerts you to affected documentation, triggering the appropriate evidence collection and remediation workflows automatically.
What evidence formats does Certivo accept from suppliers for TfS compliance?
Certivo accepts any format: PDF policies, Excel data sheets, ISO certificates, sustainability reports, XML files, and freeform responses. CORA extracts sustainability evidence regardless of format or language through AI document parsing and certificate validation, eliminating the need to standardize supplier inputs across your chemical supply chain.
Does Certivo support TfS alongside related sustainability and regulatory frameworks?
Yes. Certivo validates supplier evidence against TfS assessment criteria, EU CSRD due diligence requirements, REACH substance obligations, RoHS restrictions, PFAS regulations, and TSCA simultaneously. The same supplier submission feeds into a centralized compliance data backbone—eliminating duplicate evidence collection campaigns and enabling integrated PLM ERP compliance thread connectivity across frameworks.