Understanding Supplier Explorer Tool Filters and Classifications

Once you have generated search results, you can use the filters and icons to identify small, local, and sustainable suppliers.

1. Use the location filter to enter your city, county, zip or postal code, and the distance range you would like the supplier to be located within.
2. Use the icons under each supplier’s name in the search results to identify small businesses (SBE) or those certified to be owned 50% or more by individuals in disadvantaged groups, as defined by the U.S. Small Business Administration and Federal Acquisition Regulations, or leading certification bodies.
3. You can use other filter categories shown below to narrow search results even further. See the Ownership Classifications section below for more information.

4. Look for the “ER” icon to identify environmentally-rated companies. This means that the business has taken some steps towards reducing its environmental impact. You can also use the Environmental filters to narrow search results even further. See the Environment and Emissions sections below for more information.

To find more information on the supplier’s certifications and ratings, click the supplier profile and select Certifications and Classifications from the top navigation.
 

TrustIQ is a confidence indicator from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) that is used to assess a supplier's stability and reliability.  

A company's TrustIQ score is calculated using the following factors:

• Experience: How many large companies are known to utilize the company? The higher the score, the more experience the company has doing business with corporations.
• Age: How long has the company been in business? Older firms tend to display greater stability, and have higher scores.
• Size: How large is the supplier? Larger suppliers have higher scores. This can be useful when scale is important in an engagement.

Supplier Explorer highlights suppliers that meet a wide range of ownership classifications as defined by the U.S. Small Business Administration and Federal Acquisition Regulations, or leading certification bodies. Some of the many examples include minority-owned, veteran-owned, women-owned, and disabled-owned. Hover over a classification in the Supplier Explorer filter menu to display a full definition of the classification. Interpreting icons, acronyms and abbreviations facilitates review of suppliers.

Example of Ownership Icons

Table of Acronyms and Ownership Classifications from Supplier.io

The Environmental filters allow you to narrow results by environmental attributes or certifications. Suppliers that are environmentally rated will show an “ER” icon. Below are definitions of all environmental filters:

• B Corp: Designation that the business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.
• Carbon Neutral (CN): Demonstrates an organization’s commitment to decarbonization through cutting the organization footprint and/or compensating for any emissions through the purchase of carbon offsets.
• Env-Rated (ENV): The business has taken some steps toward reducing its environmental impact on the planet, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and as a result, has earned one or more environmental ratings, either from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) or from another source tracked by Supplier.io.
• ESG Risk Steward: Classification from Impak Analytics that indicates that a business is a good steward of environmental and social risk.
• Regenerative Organic (RO): Certification for food, textiles and personal care ingredients. Regenerative Organic Certified enterprises meet the highest standards in the world for soil health, animal welfare, and farmworker fairness.
• Renewable Energy (REC): Indicates a company that uses renewable energy certificates, a market-based instrument that represents the property rights to the environmental, social and other non-power attributes of renewable electricity generation. 

Supplier Explorer provides a comprehensive overview of a supplier’s emissions which includes:

• Scope of emissions:
  • Scope 1 - Direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions  released from a company’s own facilities and operations.
  • Scope 2 - Indirect emissions from purchased energy.
  • Scope 3 - All other indirect emissions from a company’s value chain.
• Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
• Company self-disclosed emission data through the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) or emissions data reported by Impak Analytics. When available, data is provided year-over-year (YoY).
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emission factors per sector.
• Carbon intensity comparing emissions produced per unit of economic input to an industry average.

To evaluate a supplier’s Emissions data: 

1. Navigate to the Emissions tab in the company’s profile and look for the Science Based Targets box in the upper left.
   1. If Committed or 1.5 degrees appears, that indicates a strong commitment by the supplier to climate action.
2. On the same page, look for a green thumbs up in the Carbon Intensity box at the bottom of the page to indicate that the supplier’s greenhouse gas emissions are lower than industry average.