![\"sustainability-illustration-690\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sapweb20\/2009\/03\/sustainabilityillustration690.jpg?resize=690%2C300&ssl=1\" "\\"sustainability-illustration-690\\"")
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SAP recently announced its sustainability strategy<\/a>, including aggressive carbon reduction targets, a new cross-functional sustainability organization, and sustainability solutions for customers. More information is available on SAP\u2019s sustainability pages<\/a>.<\/p>\n Research published last year by the Economist Intelligence Unit<\/a> provides a thorough review of organizations\u2019 sustainability initiatives today \u2013 and the extent companies are having difficulty devising useful targets and aligning social and environmental objectives with financial ones. (Additional summaries of the Economist data for North America<\/a> and Western Europe<\/a> are available).<\/p>\n There\u2019s a broad consensus that sustainability covers a \u201ctriple bottom line\u201d that encompasses social, environmental, and economic dimensions. SAP defines it as \u201cholistically managing economic, social and environmental risks and opportunities for increased profitability\u201d:<\/p>\n Sustainability is rapidly become a business necessity: expected by consumers, enforced by new regulations, and encouraged by economic incentives.<\/p>\n According to the Economist survey, most executives (57%) believe that the benefits of pursuing sustainable practices outweigh the costs, and expect better environmental practices to attract new customers, improve products, and increase profitability.<\/p>\n \u00a0 A more recent Economist Intelligence Unit survey also showed that far from slowing movement towards more sustainability, the current economic turbulence is accelerating the trend, with 47% of respondents planning to reduce carbon emissions and energy use, and 27% planning to create lower-carbon-footprint products.<\/p>\n SAP announced it will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions down to 2000 levels by the year 2020 \u2013 a total reduction of 51% compared to 2007. SAP published its first Sustainability Report<\/a> last year, which was rated a \u201cC\u201d by the Global Reporting Initiative<\/a>. It already leads the software sector<\/a> in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and appears in the FTSE4Good<\/a> index. SAP also appears in the Global Challenges Index<\/a>, which recognizes transparency and anti-corruption efforts, and the Global 100<\/a> list of the most sustainable large companies in the world.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n SAP\u2019s sustainability initiatives include:<\/p>\n To drive and coordinate all aspects of its sustainability efforts, SAP is forming a new cross-functional sustainability organization, which will be led by Peter Graf, SAP\u2019s first chief sustainability officer and EVP Sustainability Solutions.<\/p>\n The global team will oversee all sustainability-related initiatives, from the creation of solutions that enable sustainable business processes for customers to SAP\u2019s own sustainability operations, including key social, economic and environmental programs.<\/p>\n SAP\u2019s sustainability framework is based on the strategic use of IT as a catalyst for change, and includes:<\/p>\n SAP wants to help its customers holistically manage sustainability, in areas such as people health and safety, product safety and stewardship, environmental performance, resource efficiency, sustainability performance management, and \u201cgreen IT\u201d.<\/p>\n Environment, Health, and Safety Management. <\/strong>This new product combines SAP Environment, Health & Safety, SAP Environmental Compliance, SAP REACH Compliance and Technidata Compliance for Products, to help companies with:<\/p>\n Sustainability Performance Management.<\/strong> SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius, Strategy Management, and Risk Management software allows customers to set up sustainability dashboards, define and cascade goals and initiatives, and tie them to sustainability key performance indicators.<\/p>\n Energy Data Management application. <\/strong>Provides utilities the means to manage energy profiles, offer real-time pricing and complex billing, and optimize energy settlements with the goal to improve energy efficiencies. This product enables a \u201cSmart Metering\u201d capability between a utility and its customers.<\/p>\n Recycling Administration application. <\/strong>Helps ensure compliance with worldwide recycling legislation for packaging, batteries and WEEE<\/a> (waste electrical and electronic equipment), across SAP and non-SAP software, across the enterprise and beyond, giving businesses the real-time visibility they need to ensure effective business operations and corporate accountability.<\/p>\n Supply Chain Management application. <\/strong>Helps companies plan and design their supply chains, consolidate orders and optimize shipments, thus reducing CO2<\/sub> emissions and overall energy consumption.<\/p>\n Product Links:<\/p>\n Corporate sustainability pioneers were typically defending themselves against reputational or regulatory risk rather than looking for financial gains. But now leading companies are moving to \u201csustainability 2.0\u201d \u2013 exploiting the new opportunities that have arisen, and working closely with customers and partners on co-innovation.<\/p>\n Successful sustainability requires coordination across the organization, and according to the Economist survey data, relatively few organizations have been able to implement clear standards in all areas of sustainability.<\/p>\n In particular, organizations struggle to apply sustainability policy to the extended supply chain. Over 40% of companies rated their performance in controlling the environmental and human rights standards of their suppliers as below par \u2013 worse than any other area\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and only one-fifth have implemented supplier controls in the last five years. In addition, organizations are less likely to report on supply chain human rights standards than any other area, and change is unlikely anytime soon: only 35% consider action here an important priority.<\/p>\n This is even more surprising given that there are many public examples of disastrous consequences from socially or environmentally damaging supply chains. Indeed, social auditing arose largely because of the embarrassing behavior of suppliers to developed-world organizations.<\/p>\n The root problem is that today\u2019s global supply chains are very complex, with multiple levels of subcontracting, and there\u2019s little transparency. This makes the chains very hard to \u201cpolice\u201d.\u00a0To combat the issue of global supply chain transparency, SAP has been a keen proponent of Business Network Transformation<\/a>, where companies work more closely with their increasingly interdependent ecosystem of customers, partners, and suppliers to drive transparency, growth and profitability. The drive to sustainability reinforces this trend.<\/p>\n SAP is already working with partners with deep sustainability-related expertise to provide implementations and support co-innovation with customers, and working with technology partners on SAP relevant Green IT benchmarks, projects and standards.<\/p>\n SAP intends to continue collaborating with customers about their current and anticipated needs and seeking co-innovative customers to work with on sustainability. To achieve this, SAP teams will leverage existing communities such as customer communities<\/a>, Industry Value Networks<\/a>, Business Process Expert community<\/a>, SAP EcoHub<\/a> and Enterprise Services Community<\/a>, to drive co-innovation activities and channels for sustainability solutions.<\/p>\n In particular, SAP customers and employees are invited to join in the sustainability dialog<\/a> on the SAP Collaboration Workspace, where you can start discussions, take part in a SAP sustainability survey<\/a> or view the survey results<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here are the results of the survey — using SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius<\/a>, of course:<\/p>\n [kml_flashembed fversion=”8.0.0″ movie=”http:\/\/sapvote.com\/flash\/dashboard.swf” targetclass=”flashmovie” publishmethod=”static” width=”690″ height=”505″]<\/p>\nWhat is Sustainability, Anyway?<\/h2>\n
![\"economist-coherent-sustainability-strategy\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sapweb20\/2009\/03\/economistcoherentsustainabilitystrategy.jpg?resize=350%2C280&ssl=1\" "\\"economist-coherent-sustainability-strategy\\"")
Sustainability means different things to different people — the UN Commission on Sustainable Development<\/a> lists over 40 issues that it can cover<\/a>, including such topics as \u201csustainable tourism\u201d, \u201cpoverty\u201d, and \u201cmountains\u201d. Given this distinct lack of consensus over what sustainability means, it\u2019s perhaps unsurprising that most organizations are still figuring out what sustainability means for their business and how to implement it.<\/p>\n\n
Sustainability Benefits<\/h2>\n
![\"sustainability-worries\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sapweb20\/2009\/03\/sustainabilityworries.jpg?resize=690%2C356&ssl=1\" "\\"sustainability-worries\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"economist-biggest-benefits-and-profits_s\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sapweb20\/2009\/03\/economistbiggestbenefitsandprofits-s.jpg?resize=690%2C473&ssl=1\" "\\"economist-biggest-benefits-and-profits_s\\"")
<\/p>\nSustainability is More Important Than Ever<\/h2>\n
![\"economist2\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sapweb20\/2009\/03\/economist2.jpg?resize=690%2C381&ssl=1\" "\\"economist2\\"")
<\/p>\nSAP\u2019s Carbon Footprint<\/h2>\n
![\"SAP](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sapweb20\/2009\/03\/internal_sustainability.jpg?resize=494%2C263&ssl=1\" "\\"SAP's")
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![\"sap](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sapweb20\/2009\/03\/sappaloalto.jpg?resize=150%2C167&ssl=1\" "\\"SAP")
SAP\u2019s Sustainability Organization and Framework<\/h2>\n
![\"Peter](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sapweb20\/2009\/03\/petergraf.jpg?resize=85%2C113&ssl=1\" "\\"Peter")
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Sustainability Products<\/h2>\n
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Sustainability 2.0: Collaboration and Co-Innovation<\/h2>\n
![\"economist-standard-processes\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sapweb20\/2009\/03\/economiststandardprocesses.jpg?resize=706%2C348&ssl=1\" "\\"economist-standard-processes\\"")
<\/p>\nCollaborative Sustainability with SAP<\/h2>\n
![\"SAP](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sapweb20\/2009\/03\/image.jpg?resize=690%2C393&ssl=1\" "\\"SAP")
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<\/a><\/p>\n![\"economist-data-chart2\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sapweb20\/2009\/03\/economistdatachart2.jpg?resize=690%2C397&ssl=1\" "\\"economist-data-chart2\\"")
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