Answer your Volkswagen Group S-Rating request and stay nominatable across the group.
A Volkswagen Group brand has asked your site for a positive S-Rating, and it probably landed on you because nobody else owns it. It is one rating for your site, built on a sustainability questionnaire and, for some sites, an audit. Get it right and you can be nominated for new work across the whole group. This page explains what the rating asks, what VW publishes and what it does not, and how to answer without becoming a sustainability expert.
One rating for your site, valid across every group brand
Needed before you can be nominated for new work
The score VW keeps private, explained honestly
If the request is already in your inbox
You do not need to turn it into a broad ESG project.
You need a clear read of what your site's size puts in scope, the right policies in place, the environment certificate if your site is large enough, and any audit actions closed. We prepare the pieces the S-Rating actually turns on.
VW publishes the requirements. It does not publish the score.
The S-Rating is one rating for your site, decided before a business relationship begins, on environmental, social, and corruption risk. Whether the request came from Audi, Porsche, MAN, or Volkswagen itself, the rating and its requirements are the same. What is public is which policies you must have and how the audit works. What is not public is the exact score a larger site needs to hit, and anyone who quotes you a number is guessing.
A positive rating gates the whole group, not one brand.
The S-Rating is one rating per site, shared across Audi, Bentley, Porsche, SEAT, Škoda, MAN, Scania, and Volkswagen. Without a positive one, your site cannot be nominated for new work at any of them, not just the brand that asked.
VW does not publish the score you need to hit.
For sites of 100 or more employees, VW asks for a "sufficient score" plus an ISO 14001 or EMAS certificate, but the number itself is confirmed nowhere. What is publishable is the minimum policy requirements and how the audit is graded, and that is what we work from. We do not pretend to know a threshold VW keeps internal.
There are no grey areas.
VW's own framing is that a site can be awarded or cannot be awarded. Refuse an on-site check, or leave a corrective action plan undone, and the result is a C or a "-" rating that keeps the door shut until it is fixed.
Getting the S-Rating right keeps your site nominatable across every Volkswagen Group brand, and leaves you with the policies and proof the next audit will ask for.
From first read to a rating you can stand behind.
We read the request, confirm what your site's size and role put in scope, check your policies and certificates against it, build what is missing, and support you through the questionnaire and any on-site check. You keep your own portal login and submit yourself, because it is your company's answer.
Read the request and confirm what applies
We read the request, check the deadline the sourcing decision is working toward, and confirm what your site's headcount puts in scope, from the minimum policy questions to the ISO 14001 or EMAS certificate larger sites need.
Check your policies and certificates against the requirements
We compare your Code of Conduct, human-rights, health and safety, ethics, and environmental policies, plus any management-system certificate, against the minimum requirements, and give you a clear list of what is missing and what to fix first.
Build what is missing and prepare the answer
Where you need a policy or a management-system document you do not yet have, we help build it. Where the environment questions need carbon numbers, we work them out, so the answer is accurate and backed by proof.
Support the on-site check and any corrective plan
If your site is audited, we help you prepare, and if findings come back we help you write and close the corrective action plan inside the time allowed.
A positive rating, kept current.
The first response does the heavy lifting: the policies, the certificate, and a clean questionnaire. After that, the job is keeping the rating good so a renewal or re-audit never catches you in the middle of an RFQ.
The first response does the heavy lifting. Here's what next year looks like once it's in place.
Positive rating recorded
Your rating shows in your logged-in area on the group portal and counts across every brand. One rating, one place.
On-site check, if your risk calls for it
Higher-risk sites are audited, often to the RSCI standard shared with other car makers. An audit result stays valid for three to five years depending on the standard.
Keep certificates and policies current
A lapsed ISO 14001 or EMAS certificate, or a new questionnaire version, can drop your rating even if nothing else changed.
Refresh before it bites
We watch the dates so a renewal or re-audit is handled ahead of your next sourcing decision, not during it.
Fixed fees, quoted after your free review.
Final price depends on how ready your policies and certificates are, how many sites are in scope, and whether you need carbon numbers or new policies built. The free review confirms it before you commit. Getting certified to ISO 14001 or EMAS is a separate step with a certification body; we prepare the policies and management-system documents behind it.
Get a fixed-fee quoteFree request review
$0
You have an S-Rating request, a questionnaire invitation, or a deadline and want a plain read of what it needs and a quote before anything begins.
Evidence and gap review
From $3k
You want your policies, certificates, and documents checked against the minimum requirements, the carbon numbers for the environment questions worked out, and a clear list of what to fix before you submit.
Full response support
From $8k
You need help answering accurately, building any missing policies or management-system documents, and closing the gaps that cost points, through to a submitted answer.
Ongoing support
From $3k/mo
You face these requests all year, from the S-Rating, CDP, EcoVadis, and customers directly, and want a standing part-time sustainability team instead of a scramble each deadline.
Built from real supplier reporting work.
Keslio has already supported enterprise customer supplier reporting work. Details are anonymized for confidentiality.
Relevant client
Microsoft supplier, service-business context
Keslio supported an outsourced marketing services provider supplying Microsoft.
Result
Accepted reporting work
The engagement covered annual GHG emissions calculations and consultant-letter reporting that was accepted.
Repeatability
Three annual cycles
The client returned across three consecutive disclosure cycles, which is the refresh behavior this offer is built around.
Have the Volkswagen Group request in front of you?
Paste it below. We will read it first, check the likely scope and deadline, and reply with a clear response and what it costs. If you need to send files, mention that and we will reply with the best way.
Best fit if you already have an S-Rating request, a questionnaire invitation, a portal instruction, or a deadline from a Volkswagen Group brand.
The free review does not include the questionnaire response, calculations, certification, or the on-site check itself.
See what the buyer has published, and how we work from your exact wording.
The official links below show what the buyer has published. We still work from the exact wording, portal instructions, and deadline you received, not a generic template.
All buyers and platforms
Every buyer and platform we help suppliers answer
See how we help suppliers answer requests from Microsoft, Salesforce, Google, Amazon, Cisco, HP, Dell, CDP, EcoVadis, and more.
See all buyers and platformsOfficial materials
Official Volkswagen Group supplier materials
The public links below are the buyer's own materials. We still work from the request wording, portal instructions, and deadline you received, so the response fits your situation.
Questionnaire
What the SAQ itself asks
The S-Rating is built on the Drive Sustainability questionnaire. This page walks through what it asks section by section and how it is scored.
Read moreCommon questions
Short answers for the first questions a Volkswagen Group supplier usually has before sharing the request.
Which Volkswagen Group brands does this cover?
The S-Rating is one rating per site, valid across the group: Audi, Bentley, Porsche, SEAT, Škoda, MAN, Scania, and Volkswagen, plus their regional entities. A request from any of them is answered the same way, and one positive rating counts for all of them.
What score do I need if my site has 100 or more employees?
VW asks for a "sufficient score" plus an ISO 14001 or EMAS certificate, but it does not publish the number. We work from what is published, the minimum requirements and how the audit is graded, and do not pretend to know a threshold VW keeps internal.
What if my site has fewer than 100, or fewer than 10, employees?
Sites with 10 to 99 employees must meet the minimum policy requirements: a Code of Conduct and human-rights, health and safety, ethics, and environmental policies. Sites of nine or fewer can apply for an exemption. We confirm which case you are in before quoting.
What happens in an on-site check?
For higher-risk sites VW runs an audit, often to the RSCI standard shared with other car makers. Below 100 points you get a corrective action plan; below 50, a follow-up audit after the plan. We help you prepare and close the actions.
My rating came back negative. Can it be fixed?
Usually yes. A negative, C, or "-" rating is recoverable once the missing requirements or audit findings are closed. What keeps it negative is refusing an audit or leaving a corrective plan undone.
What data will you need from me?
Your existing policies and certificates, your management-system documents if you have them, and for the environment questions your energy use, electricity and fuel bills, and any targets you have set. We give you a clear list, and "not sure" is a fine starting point.
Is Keslio affiliated with Volkswagen Group?
No. Keslio is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by Volkswagen Group, Drive Sustainability, NQC, or SupplierAssurance. We help suppliers respond, and we do not guarantee any score or rating outcome. There is no official S-Rating consultant program, so anyone claiming to be an accredited S-Rating advisor is not.
Tell us what you need.
Bring us the sustainability request, reporting deadline, or strategy question you are facing. We will read it and suggest a practical first step, and the first conversation is free.