SUSTAINABILITY
Sedex is built around ethical trade auditing rather than desk-based scoring alone, centred on Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit( SMETA) alongside Self- Assessment Questionnaires( SAQs). Suppliers register, complete a tailored SAQ and then link to buyers to share audit results, with Sedex offering multilingual outreach and support to increase participation.
For procurement teams, the platform centres on site-level visibility. For every factory, farm or facility, buyers can see a risk rating, audit results and any open corrective actions, with screening, corrective action tracking and reporting running across the whole supply chain.
This is backed by real audit activity at scale. In 2025 alone, more than 250,000 site-level issues were resolved through Sedex.
The platform can also store both SMETA and other recognised
third-party audits side by side, helping avoid duplicate audits and carry corrective actions across multiple customers.
Sedex has also begun extending its audit model beyond traditional manufacturing, piloting an adapted version of SMETA specifically for service-based supply chains such as cleaning, logistics, catering and security.
“ Service providers are an essential part of supply chains – yet they often fall outside of traditional risk assessments. Less than 3 % of Sedex-registered sites fall within these industries,” said Ross Heritage, Chief Technology Officer at Sedex.
“ We’ re bringing the robustness of the SMETA methodology to provide a practical due diligence solution for these activities – enabling better risk management, more responsible practices and more resilient supply chain operations.”
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