How SAP Uses Software to Make Supply Chains Sustainable
Software giant SAP’s solutions touch 87% of global commerce, giving it a huge impact on sustainability worldwide.
Through its emphasis on sustainability, the company is helping to influence the emissions and practices of businesses throughout global supply chains.
Christian Klein, CEO at SAP, says: “In 2023, SAP achieved carbon neutrality in its own operations and continues to focus on achieving net zero by 2030 along our value chain.
“Further, we intend to make an even bigger contribution to sustainability by helping our customers accelerate their respective journeys. Roughly 1,000 new customers chose SAP’s sustainability solutions in 2023 alone.”
SAP
SAP is a German multinational software company founded in 1972.
It is the world’s leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) software vendor and the largest Germany company by market capitalisation.
Christian explains: “Our solutions touch 87% of global commerce and help keep companies, economies and global business resilient in volatile times.”
The company has been named the software industry leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for 16 consecutive years.
In 2023 it had revenue of US$34.2bn and more than 106,000 employees.
Sustainability within SAP
Alongside the company’s ambitious net zero goal, it aims to act as an enabler and an exemplar for its customers.
In 2023 it hit its carbon neutrality goal two years ahead of schedule and has managed to recycle or reuse 93% of its discarded equipment.
SAP is introducing an environmental management system (EMS) reflecting the ISO 14001 standard at its sites and aims to increase this scope to cover 100% of its major company-owned sites by 2025.
It has also reduced its Scope 1 and 2 energy consumption by 11%.
SAP’s sustainability solutions
97% of the greenest companies in the world run SAP and the company has the best ESG score in the software industry.
Henkel uses SAP Responsible Design and Production to make tax compliance and green impact easier.
To sell products from Henkel’s brands in Spain and the UK, the company must comply with tax laws on plastics and provide customers with sustainability data on its products.
Dr Nora Mundschenk, Corporate Director for Finance Tax and Trade Group at Henkel, says: “At Henkel, we are committed to leadership in plastics reduction and offering greener options for our customers.
“SAP Responsible Design and Production and SAP Services and Support are going to help us do that.”
SAP Cloud for Sustainable Enterprises is a flexible solution bundle of applications focused on sustainability to support companies in sustainability management.
These solutions can also be selectively implemented to operationalise specific areas of sustainability performance.
Daniel Schmid, Chief Sustainability Officer at SAP
Daniel says that there can either be sustainable business or no business.
He says: “I am a firm believer that sustainability cannot be an add-on topic. For long-term success, companies need to truly embed sustainability in their business strategy, processes and operations end-to-end.”
In his role at SAP, Daniel helps to drive the company’s sustainability initiatives at scale for the company and clients it serves to the benefit of all its stakeholders.
He started his career in a start-up that was acquired by SAP and became part of a board project in 2008 to develop the company’s first strategic approach to sustainability.
Since 2014 he has been globally responsible for sustainability at SAP.
Daniel holds a degree in industrial engineering from the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany.
He is also Chair of the Board of econsense, a forum for the sustainable development of German business.
Daniel will be speaking at Sustainability LIVE London 2024 next month as part of a panel on AI in Sustainability.
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