SAP: Moving Carbon Data from Averages to Actuals
Carbon accounting is just as important as financial accounting with sustainability regulations coming into play around the world.
Non-compliance doesn’t just mean financial penalties, but also risks stakeholder trust and reputation.
SAP, a provider of enterprise software for more than 230 million cloud users, has created the SAP Green Ledger to support carbon accounting and integrate it directly with financial data.
The company says this solution is the most comprehensive carbon accounting system globally.
“Enormous investments are required to abate CO₂ in order to curb global warming,” says Dominik Asam, CFO and member of the Executive Board of SAP.
“Besides smart, reliable regulation, accurate data on emissions along the supply chain is paramount to trigger the necessary investment.
“Only by moving from averages to actuals – audited at reasonable assurance – can freeriding and greenwashing be avoided, thereby protecting such valuable investment and our planet. SAP Green Ledger delivers precisely that.”
What is SAP's Green Ledger?
On the journey to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change, alongside complying with ever-changing regulations, the SAP Green Ledger can provide support to businesses.
- Relate carbon footprints to their financial impact
- Support financial optimisation alongside lowering emissions
- Facilitate carbon budgeting
- Benchmark specific business units, profit centres and departments from both environmental and financial perspectives
- Prepare for sustainability audits
- Improve supplier-based processes to tackle Scope 3 emissions.
It builds on existing ERP and financial solutions from the company that are already established in thousands of organisations around the world.
“This allows our customers to track and account for carbon footprints in relation to their financial impact,” explains Gunther Rothermel, Co-General Manager and Chief Product Officer for SAP Sustainability.
How was SAP Green Ledger created?
Accenture, Deloitte, EY and TCS (Tata Consulting Services) all supported SAP in the creation of this new sustainability solution.
“As organisations seek to gain visibility into both the financial and environmental performance of their businesses, SAP Green Ledger can provide the sustainability metrics and insights needed to enhance decision-making that reduces emissions, drives efficiencies and optimises performance,” says Stephanie Jamison, Global Resources Industry Practice Chair and Global Sustainability Services Lead at Accenture.
“As a strategic co-innovation partner, Accenture helped shape the development of SAP Green Ledger and can apply our understanding of the technology and its capabilities to help our clients get the most for their organisation.”
SAP Green Ledger’s creation also involved support from pilot customers including Covestro.
The company says that Covestro is evaluating SAP Green Ledger in an early pilot phase and testing the linking of CO₂ values to the solution as they are generated during the manufacturing of specific products in the supply chain.
“SAP Green Ledger offers new levels of precision in carbon accounting for organisations as they track, manage and report their greenhouse gas emissions, and provides leaders with a holistic view of the costs and benefits of sustainability initiatives, enabling them to make data-driven decisions that can build business resilience,” says Jennifer Steinmann, Deloitte Global Sustainability Business Leader.
“Technology solutions can help generate traceable, bottom-up emissions data,” says Veronica Poole, Deloitte Global IFRS and Corporate Reporting Leader.
“Leveraging the robust governance and controls of enterprise systems is needed to help organizations achieve the rigor that enhances corporate accountability and enables a move to reasonable assurance.”
Vikram Karakoti, TCS Enterprise Solutions Global Head, says: “With our participation in SAP's Green Ledger pilot program, TCS is embracing innovative sustainability solutions to build a better future.
“This will enable organisations to move beyond regulatory compliance and make sustainability a growth engine.
“By embedding carbon data into the enterprise planning process, organisations can unlock previously unexplored areas for growth, transformation, and environmental renewal.”
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