How to Avoid Wasting Time on Stakeholder Questionnaires

Whether sustainability, ESG, EHS, or quality management – questionnaires are becoming increasingly important in all areas. Companies respond to requests from EcoVadis, CDP, customers, investors, or auditors on an almost daily basis. The content overlaps significantly, but differs in detail. For the teams responsible, this means many hours of additional work and a high level of coordination.

ESG Questionnaires: The Same Topics in Different Formats

Many requirements are similar. Emissions data is requested by various parties alike. Climate targets, reduction strategies, and roadmaps are just as much in demand as policies on suppliers or risk analyses in purchasing. Social issues such as employee rights, diversity, or health and safety also appear in almost every questionnaire. In the end, companies also have to submit evidence and certificates that they have often already submitted multiple times.

For sustainability teams, EHS managers, or quality managers, this means that identical information has to be compiled again and again, often only because the wording and requests differ.

The Biggest Challenges with ESG, EHS, and QM Questionnaires

However, the real difficulty here lies not in the complexity of the questions, but in the internal process. Data is often stored in different systems, answers are reformulated from year to year, responsibilities are sometimes unclear, and tight deadlines put additional pressure on teams.

Frequently occurring problems include:

• Scattered data sources that are difficult to keep track of
• Duplicate work because answers are created multiple times
• Unclear responsibilities for data delivery and approval
• Inconsistencies in wording

This can quickly lead to delays or quality problems, especially in the case of ratings or customer inquiries. Even minor inconsistencies can undermine stakeholder confidence and weaken competitiveness.

Leveraging Synergies with a Collaborative AI Platform

A collaborative AI platform such as Sunhat provides a solution here. Instead of each department working independently, approved, collaboratively created responses, data, and evidence are bundled centrally. Unlike simple filing or SharePoint solutions, the information in Sunhat is audit-ready, consistent, and reusable at any time.

This offers several advantages:

• Emissions data or policies can be maintained once and used multiple times.
• Standard responses are available as reusable text modules.
• Approved documents and certificates are stored centrally and can be accessed at any time.
• All departments access the same database, which increases consistency and quality.

This saves valuable time not only for sustainability teams, but also for EHS, sales, and QM departments that regularly have to answer questionnaires.

AI as an Accelerator in the Response Process

AI makes the entire process more efficient and also improves the quality of results by reducing manual intervention. Platforms such as Sunhat recognize recurring questions, compare them with existing content, and suggest appropriate answers. Documents and evidence are automatically linked, eliminating the need for lengthy searches.

The advantages are obvious: less manual effort, consistent answers across departments, lower risk of errors, and significantly more freedom for strategic work.

Conclusion: Less Effort, More Impact

Questionnaires and ratings are not going to disappear – on the contrary, they will increase. Companies that centralize data and use modern technologies will gain a valuable advantage here if they already rely on an AI-supported solution.