The JARGONFREE Compass Scorecard
The Compass Scorecard provides a structured way to assess how sustainability-related commitments and requirements currently operate across contracts and supply chains and how a company may gradually strengthen its implementation pathways over time.
| Dimension | Inactive | Reactive | Proactive | Transformative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attitudes | No awareness. “This does not concern us.” | Sustainable contracting is addressed mainly in response to external requirements or practical problems. | Sustainable contracting is integrated into management systems and day-to-day decision-making. | Sustainable contracting is used strategically to support improvement, collaboration, and long-term change. |
| Relevance | No sustainability-related content, or it is ignored. | Generic, copy-pasted clauses with limited relevance or operational value. | Commitments and requirements are tailored to identified risks, relationships, and implementation needs. | Commitments and requirements are outcome-oriented, context-specific, and co-created across the supply chain where appropriate. |
| Architecture | Content is missing, scattered, or difficult to locate. | Content exists but is fragmented across documents with limited visibility and weak connections to practice. | Content is organised and connected across the contract stack, with attention to where decisions and actions take place. | Content is aligned across contracts, functions, and relationships, supporting coordinated action and implementation across the supply chain. |
| Language & Design | Unclear language, jargon, poor structure. | Limited attention to contract clarity, usability, or implementation. | Contract content and communication are structured to support action and implementation. | Clear, accessible, and actionable contract communication supports implementation, collaboration, and effective use in practice. |
| Feasibility & Realism | Sustainability-related content is disconnected from business reality (e.g. pricing, timelines, capabilities). | Some alignment, but gaps remain between sustainability-related requirements and operational realities. | Sustainability-related content is aligned with roles, capabilities, resources, operational realities and implementation needs. | Sustainability-related content is realistically calibrated and aligned with business models, relationships, and continuous improvement across the supply chain. |
| Action & Implementation | Responsibilities and follow-up are unclear or absent; contracts are hardly used in practice. | Responsibilities and follow-up are partial or reactive; contracts are used inconsistently in practice. | Responsibilities, workflows, and follow-up mechanisms are connected to implementation practices. | Contracts are embedded into organisational practice, actively used, monitored, and continuously improved across the supply chain. |
The Scorecard helps you reflect on how approaches to sustainable contracting differ across the key scorecard dimensions:
- attitudes
- relevance
- architecture
- language & design
- feasibility & realism, and
- action & implementation.
The four approaches introduced in the Scorecard – inactive, reactive, proactive and transformative – describe different ways in which contracts may be used to support sustainability across organisations and supply chains. Where sustainability-related content remains absent, fragmented, or disconnected from organizational practice, companies may face increasing legal, operational, commercial, and reputational risks.
The proactive and transformative approaches align closely with proactive contract thinking, where contracts are approached not only as legal safeguards, but also as practical tools for guiding collaboration, implementation, coordinated action, and the achievement of sustainability goals. Contract design, information design, and plain language support this shift by helping make commitments and requirements clearer, more actionable, and easier to embed into organisational practice.
Different functions, business units, product categories, or supply chain relationships within the same company may reflect different approaches across the scorecard dimensions. Likewise, implementation and embedding may vary across dimensions within the same organisational context.
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