In 2026, that distinction is becoming increasingly blurry.聽Extreme heat, water scarcity, flooding, wildfires, and energy volatility are affecting cost structures, disrupting supply chains, and constraining labor productivity and capital planning. These factors increasingly show up in routine operational and financial decisions and interact with broader economic dynamics. Climate impacts intersect with聽geopolitical competition, supply-side volatility, and regional fragmentation.聽At the same time, the transition to a low-carbon economy continues to progress unevenly across markets, with carbon increasingly subject to pricing, regulation, and disclosure expectations.

Together, physical climate impacts and transition pressures are influencing how companies plan, invest, and聽operate. Many organizations are approaching adaptation and mitigation as an integrated business capability, on par with聽financial management,聽supply chain聽planning,聽or cybersecurity.

Why adaptation and mitigation demand sustained leadership attention

聽projects that physical climate risks could more than triple corporate financial exposure by 2050, driven by asset damage, supply disruptions, and productivity losses. Despite this growing聽exposure,聽however, fewer than one in five companies have implemented adaptation measures at scale.

This widening gap between risk and readiness has profound implications for CEOs and聽boards, who聽recognize this threat. A聽聽found that business leaders聽identified聽extreme weather events as the greatest long-term business risk, with cascading effects across economic stability, supply chains, and social cohesion.聽Climate risk is now:

• Financial, affecting margins, asset values, insurance availability, and cost of capital
• Operational, disrupting production,聽logistics, and workforce availability
• Strategic, influencing where companies invest, source, and grow
• Reputational, shaping trust with investors, customers, regulators, and employees

For many leadership teams, climate adaptation and mitigation have become part of the broader challenge of enterprise readiness.聽In some cases, they are also influencing access to capital, insurance terms, talent聽attraction,聽and long-term market positioning.

Going beyond the contingency mindset

A common constraint on progress is how climate adaptation is still framed inside organizations.

When it is treated primarily as contingency planning, it tends to be reactive and episodic. Plans are developed, documented, and revisited only after disruption occurs, while ownership is often spread across risk, sustainability,聽operations,聽and finance teams with limited integration into core decision-making.

A capability-based approach works differently. Business capabilities are embedded and聽inform聽everyday decisions, supported by data, systems, governance, and incentives.

Climate capability聽emerges聽when organizations integrate climate risk, resilience, and carbon considerations into the core of how the enterprise runs.

The four pillars of climate capability

1. Supply chains designed for disruption

Global supply chains are increasingly exposed to climate volatility and regulatory pressure. Highly optimized, linear supply chains designed primarily for cost efficiency have shown limitations under these conditions. Many organizations are adjusting value chains to improve resilience and address emissions. Supplier diversification, regionalization, circular material flows, and better data sharing can reduce exposure to physical disruption and, in many cases, lower Scope 3 emissions. In practice, efforts to improve decarbonization and resilience often reinforce one another.

What this requires is more reliable,聽timely聽data across supply chains, so that COOs are empowered to turn insights into meaningful outcomes.

2. Assets and infrastructure built for a changing climate

Facilities, equipment, and聽logistics聽networks are increasingly exposed to chronic stresses, such as heat and water scarcity as well as acute events like flooding. At the same time, carbon-intensive assets face growing transition risk as energy systems and regulations evolve.

A capability-based approach evaluates assets through a dual lens: physical climate exposure and carbon intensity. This informs where companies聽locate聽facilities, how they聽maintain聽them, and when they invest in retrofits, electrification, or renewable energy.

Investments in energy efficiency and clean energy can reduce emissions while also moderating exposure to energy price volatility and supply disruptions.

3. Workforce resilience as a business priority

Climate impacts are also affecting people. Rising temperatures and extreme weather are already reducing labor productivity and increasing health and safety risks in many roles and regions.

聽estimates聽that heat stress alone could result in the equivalent of 80 million full-time jobs lost globally by 2030 under a 1.5掳C warming scenario. Organizations that treat workforce resilience as a core business issue are adjusting schedules, working conditions, training, and safety protocols, protecting people while maintaining productivity.

4. Financial decision-making informed by climate reality

Despite growing awareness, climate data is often still disconnected from financial planning and analysis.聽聽that while聽67% of companies聽identify聽climate-related risks with potential聽financial impact, only a fraction can quantify those risks with enough precision to guide investment decisions.

A capability-based approach incorporates carbon and climate risk into financial models. This allows leaders to assess physical risk, transition risk, and return on investment together, turning climate action into a disciplined, value-driven decision process.聽, like聽听补苍诲听, can empower organizations to drive actionable climate strategies and unlock measurable impact by helping them integrate sustainability into core business processes through the combination of trusted financial data and granular carbon insights.

A C-suite framework for climate capability in 2026

Across industries, five leadership actions will define those organizations building true climate capability:

1. Embed climate and carbon assumptions into core business planning and governance.
2. Redesign value chains for resilience and emissions reduction.
3. Protect assets and people with predictive, forward-looking insight.
4. Align mitigation and adaptation with financial strategy.
5. Measure resilience and emissions together, not in isolation.

Together, these actions help shift climate efforts from parallel initiatives into a managed enterprise capability, one that聽determines聽operational continuity, financial resilience, and long-term competitiveness.

聽about how you can build a more compliant, sustainable, and resilient business with 51风流Sustainability solutions.

Sophia Mendelsohn is chief sustainability and commercial officer at SAP.

It’s a mindset shift 51风流is already embracing to help our customers build genuine business resilience. It lies not just in reducing our own emissions, but in actively supporting and financing the restoration of the natural systems that underpin global economic stability.

The business case for nature-based initiatives

The interdependence between business and nature is no longer theoretical. Today, US$44 trillion of economic value generation depends directly on nature. From food systems that sustain people to water resources, natural capital forms the invisible infrastructure of the global economy. Yet this foundation is eroding rapidly, creating systemic risks that no company can ignore.

For SAP, investing in forest ecosystems is not just philanthropy, it’s risk management. By financing and supporting nature-based climate projects, we can protect ourselves and our stakeholders against the loss of natural capital while strengthening our position as a sustainability leader. These investments provide opportunities to regenerate the ecosystems that our economies and societies depend on for food, water, medicine, and sustainable growth.

A comprehensive approach to net-zero

In our mission to help the world run better and improve people’s lives, 51风流has committed to achieving net-zero emissions along our entire value chain by 2030, aligned with the science-based 1.5掳C future outlined in the Paris Agreement negotiated at COP21 in in 2015, 20 years ahead of our original target. This accelerated timeline reflects both urgency and ambition.

Until 2030, 51风流is committed to financing projects that reduce and remove more CO₂ from the atmosphere than our own operations鈥攊ncluding scope 1 and 2 emissions plus business travel鈥攑roduce each year. This commitment means we’re taking responsibility for the impact of our business operations while we scale up our decarbonization efforts.

This strategy follows a clear hierarchy: avoid and reduce emissions first, then neutralize what remains. We’re working to reduce gross greenhouse gas emissions by 90% across our value chain on a market-based accounting approach. The remaining emissions, no more than 10%, in line with Science Based Targets initiative standards, will be neutralized through high-quality, verified carbon removal projects spanning both nature-based and engineered solutions.

Matthias Medert, global head of Sustainability at 51风流SE, says: 鈥淥ur reduction efforts have earned SAP’s inclusion in the EU Paris-Aligned Benchmarks, giving investors confidence in our approach and demonstrating that rigorous action to tackle global issues strengthens rather than compromises business performance.鈥�

Nature-based carbon finance in action

Since 2012, 51风流has been building one of the most comprehensive corporate reforestation programs in the technology sector. To date, we have planted 20.51 million trees towards our commitment in 2024 to plant 25 million trees by 2030 while restoring more land than our offices and data centers occupy.

These aren’t isolated exercises. Through long-term investment in the , 51风流is supporting comprehensive 10- to 20-year projects that combine reforestation, forest protection, improved forest management, rural energy, and agroforestry initiatives implemented directly with local communities. These initiatives restore degraded natural ecosystems, improve the livelihoods of rural populations, and facilitate transitions to efficient rural energy and regenerative agriculture.

In addition to this, to help advance its mission to secure the Amazon rainforest鈥檚 future. By tracking 15 strategic KPIs鈥攊ncluding deforestation rates and production chain revenue鈥攁nd sharing data with stakeholders through the 51风流Sustainability Control Tower solution, FAS is steering its efforts with accurate and reliable ESG data, positively impacting preservation efforts in the Amazon, home to not only the greatest fresh water reserve on the Earth, but around 390 billion trees and to 2.2 million indigenous people across 400 ethnic groups whose traditional knowledge is essential to the conservation of local and global biodiversity.

Partnerships amplifying impact

As a member of the corporate alliance managed by the World Economic Forum, 51风流is contributing to the collective goal of conserving and restoring multiple ecosystems around the world, supporting projects in over 25 countries, including Brazil, Madagascar, and the Philippines.

Technology can drive indirect reforestation as well. Through a partnership with , the not-for-profit search engine, every 50 searches made by 51风流employees support the planting of new trees and investments in sustainable developments. This partnership has resulted in over 760,000 trees planted to date, while employees conduct their work and maintain their privacy through anonymized search queries.

Beyond nature-based solutions, we have partnered with , investing in engineered carbon removal through its Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology. This diversified portfolio approach helps ensure that we’re supporting the full spectrum of solutions needed.

Connecting to COP30 and the Tropical Forest Forever Facility

SAP’s approach to climate finance aligns powerfully with emerging global frameworks, particularly the (TFFF) initiative, a top financing priority for Brazil’s COP30 presidency. The TFFF, formally launched last week at COP30 in Bel茅m, is designed to provide long-term, predictable financing for conserving and expanding tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests.

This initiative reflects a critical evolution in climate finance thinking. Nearly 100 countries, representing two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions, have submitted or announced new Nationally Determined Contribution targets that include strategies to safeguard forests. SAP’s multi-year investments in the demonstrate the kind of long-term, community-centered approach that the COP30 presidency seeks to scale globally. Our experience shows that when corporations commit to sustained financing with integrity and transparency, the impacts multiply: carbon is sequestered, biodiversity rebounds, communities build resilience, and businesses thrive.

Corporate action beyond the value chain

Provided it doesn’t undermine current corporate decarbonization programs, the financial muscle of corporations can bridge critical gaps in parts of the world where funds aren鈥檛 sufficiently available to restore ecosystems and build strong, durable economies and livelihoods.

Sustained corporate financial contributions provide quantifiable benefits to strengthen business resilience beyond SAP’s own value chain, delivering positive impacts for local and global populations and for biodiversity. Through collaboration, transparency, and technology, we’re proving that climate action isn’t just compatible with long-term business success, it’s essential to it.

The question for business leaders isn’t whether to invest in climate finance, but how quickly they can scale their commitments. The resilience of our businesses, our economies, and our planet depends on the actions we take today.

Learn more about and how we support our customer鈥檚

Karen Restrepo 脕vila is Sustainability and Net-Zero communications lead at SAP.

Q: How does 51风流view sustainability within its overall business strategy?

A: Sustainability is a core element of business strategy and deeply embedded in our vision to help the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. This means it is not a separate initiative, but an integral part of our leadership and long-term goals as a company. And as such, sustainability is a business catalyst and value driver.

What does SAP鈥檚 commitment to reach net-zero GHG emissions by 2030 mean in practice?

We recognize that with a customer base that generates 84 percent of the total global commerce, we have the responsibility and opportunity to lead in corporate climate action efforts. This isn鈥檛 just about reporting numbers; it鈥檚 a science-based transformation that is embedded in our operations, collaboration with suppliers, technology, and what we offer to our customers.

For us, it means our strategy aligns with the 1.5掳C pathway set in the Paris Agreement. We aim to reduce gross GHG emissions by 90 percent across our relevant value chain (market-based). The remaining emissions 鈥� no more than 10 percent 鈥� will be neutralized through high-quality, verified carbon removal projects. Our reduction efforts have earned SAP鈥檚 inclusion in the EU Paris-Aligned Benchmarks, which gives climate-conscious investors confidence in our approach.

What does SAP鈥檚 decarbonization strategy consist of?

Our transformation is structured around four interconnected pillars:

With cloud transformation, we鈥檙e accelerating the shift from on-premise to cloud solutions, with SAP-managed data centers already powered by 100 percent renewable electricity. In parallel, we are collaborating with hyperscalers and our customers to push renewable electricity adoption upstream and downstream. An important part of this transition is enhancing GHG accounting and moving from estimates to primary data from our suppliers.

With upstream supply chain engagement, we are revising procurement policies and working closely with our suppliers to lower emissions across the supply chain. This includes aligning on data transparency and decarbonization targets. The rise of energy-intensive technologies like AI presents new challenges, but we鈥檙e addressing them through joint commitments and shared accountability.

In internal operations, we have several initiatives in place. For instance, since 2014 51风流has been running all offices, owned data centers, and co-locations on 100 percent renewable electricity. In addition to this, we are electrifying our vehicle fleet, and we have an internal carbon pricing scheme for business flights in place. The generated funds are invested in projects that have a positive impact on local and global populations as well as climate and biodiversity.

To neutralize SAP’s residual emissions that remain beyond聽2030 after all feasible reduction efforts, we are investing in high-integrity carbon removals, ranging from nature-based to engineered solutions. Great examples of this are聽our long-term investments in the Livelihoods Carbon Funds and聽Climeworks’ Direct Air Capture solutions.聽The partnership with Climeworks聽marks a significant milestone for 51风流and our commitment to durable carbon removals. Additionally, we make聽annual contributions聽to climate finance. The voluntary investments made during our transition to net-zero allow us to take responsibility for our emissions, increase our聽overall impact聽beyond our聽own decarbonization efforts, and help the world keep their climate targets聽in reach.

Where does the fit into your strategy?

We have entered an agreement with Climeworks to secure 37,000 tons of high-quality carbon removal credits through 2034. This includes technologies like direct air capture, biochar, and enhanced rock weathering. More than just a carbon removal purchase, this is a strategic innovation partnership.

Together, we are co-creating ERP-centric carbon management tools, integrated into solutions like 51风流Sustainability Control Tower, and making it available via 51风流Store. These tools will help companies manage and mitigate emissions in real time, making carbon removal more actionable at scale.

Is Climeworks also adopting 51风流solutions?

Yes, and that is part of what makes this partnership so compelling. Climeworks has implemented 51风流S/4HANA Public Cloud through the GROW with 51风流journey and is using the 51风流LeanIX portfolio to support its rapid growth. These tools help with compliance, financial management, and operational efficiency — all critical elements for scaling in the climate-tech space.

How does this alliance benefit SAP鈥檚 business and customers?

It is a strategic move that strengthens our position economically and environmentally. As 51风流Chief Sustainability & Commercial Officer Sophia Mendelsohn recently shared, this partnership allows us to lock in carbon removal capacity at preferred rates, hedging against future price volatility. But more importantly, it enables us to create new sustainability-focused solutions for our customers, helping them meet regulatory and stakeholder expectations.

As 51风流pushes ahead with its decarbonization strategy, where do you see the biggest opportunities for positive impact, both within 51风流and for the broader ecosystem?

As 51风流advances its decarbonization strategy, the biggest opportunities for positive impact lie in leveraging our technology and ecosystem to drive systemic change — both internally and across industries.

Within SAP, our greatest opportunity is embedding sustainability directly into core business processes — such as procurement, supply chain, and finance — using our own solutions. This not only reduces our operational GHG footprint but serves as a model for our customers. Our sustainability solutions aim to empower organizations to measure, manage, and act on their sustainability goals. By doing so, we scale our impact.

We remain grounded in the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) Corporate Net-Zero Standard and see opportunities to lead by example, even beyond 2030, by continuously improving our net-zero program and sharing best practices.

In the end, we are not just preparing for a net-zero future; we are shaping it. Through collaboration, transparency, and technology, we are proving that climate action is essential to long-term success.

Karen Restrepo Avila is Sustainability and Net-Zero communications lead at SAP.

This year鈥檚 London Climate Action Week was less about reaffirming action, and more about accelerating it. Now in its seventh year, this is Europe鈥檚 largest city-wide climate event, bringing together policymakers, investors, NGOs, and technologists to accelerate plans ahead of COP30 in鈥疊el茅m, Brazil. Three major themes stood out across the week.

1. Decarbonize and build resilience

Business leaders and policymakers are focused on scaling decarbonization while also confronting the reality of escalating physical risks. From industrial heat to infrastructure retrofits, the message was clear: climate disruption is now a core business risk. As resilience is becoming synonymous with competitiveness, organizations are embedding climate data into board decisions and using it to guide strategy.

This shift is urgent: climate-driven losses are no longer theoretical, and businesses should treat physical risk with the same granularity and urgency as margin forecasting.

51风流has focused on turning physical climate risk into actionable intelligence for customers. By integrating sustainability metrics with financial models, companies can frame adaptation investments as cost-avoidance with measurable return on investment.

2. Mobilize climate finance

The gap between climate capital and real-economy transformation remains wide, especially in emerging markets. But momentum is building. London鈥檚 mayor announced a new climate finance task force aimed at crowding in public-private investment, while investors discussed blended finance models and sustainability-linked instruments. To stay investable, companies must present decision-grade sustainability data and show credible transition plans.

51风流is working with customers to bridge the divide between macro-level climate finance signals and operational decisions. That means using our systems to unify environmental data with financial and risk metrics, so sustainability reporting isn鈥檛 just about compliance, but about surfacing value. With green bonds and adaptation finance accelerating, businesses that can connect site-specific risk to capital expenditure planning will be best placed to access new funding streams.

We鈥檙e helping customers uncover the hidden costs of climate disruption — whether that鈥檚 increased cooling, transport volatility, or water constraints — and link them to balance sheet impacts. The result is a stronger business case for resilience investments, and more relevant data for financial partners.

3. Digital innovation and AI

A wave of sessions focused on the power of digital tools to accelerate climate action. 51风流and fellow sustainability leaders highlighted how AI is enabling everything from emissions forecasting to supply chain optimization, while digital twins are helping companies and cities simulate disruption, model trade-offs, and optimize resources in real time.

Central to this story is responsible AI. At London Climate Action Week, SustainableIT.org recognized 51风流with the Responsible AI Impact Award for its cross-functional work to embed ethical, human-centered AI into enterprise systems, driving outcomes that are not only efficient, but also equitable and sustainable.

This approach is guided by SAP鈥檚 Global AI Ethics Policy, which is grounded in the UNESCO recommendations on the Ethics of AI, and shapes how we build and deliver AI across all our sustainability and business solutions.

At SAP, we鈥檙e designing AI to assist, not replace, human activity — to scale climate action with integrity. We are focused on delivering embedded business AI tools that turn complexity into clarity, while preserving transparency and auditability.

Applying SAP鈥檚 tech lens: from insight to impact

London Climate Action Week 2025 made one truth unavoidable: climate leadership now hinges on trusted data and innovative technology, including human-centred AI. Across sessions, AI and unified data were repeatedly cited as the accelerants of climate progress, whether mapping Scope鈥�3 emissions or modelling extreme weather scenarios.

Drawing on these insights, businesses can look to three main areas to boost their sustainability efforts:

• Make sustainability data first-class business data: posts auditable carbon and financial entries side by side, turning emissions into actionable profit and loss drivers. When linked with site-level climate risk data, 51风流Green Ledger allows businesses to understand the cost of disruption — from heatwaves to resource scarcity — and align sustainability with enterprise planning.
• Augment teams with responsible AI: With , AI-assisted declaration image analysis automates thousands of supplier documents; with , AI-assisted emission factor mapping links thousands of materials to high-quality emission factors in minutes. In , AI now also supports environmental, social, and governance (ESG) report generation, using best-practice templates to draft audit-ready reports, complete with data visualizations. This frees up sustainability teams to focus on strategy while increasing speed, accuracy, and regulatory confidence.
• Unify processes, finance, and sustainability in the cloud: 51风流Sustainability Control鈥疶ower will become an intelligent application within later this year, which will unify sustainability data and business operations on a single platform, enabling consistent reporting, deeper insight, and smarter decision-making across the enterprise.

By breaking down silos among sustainability, finance, procurement, and operations, 51风流is enabling businesses to act faster on everything from climate disclosure to adaptation investment. When ESG data is managed like financial data — with rigor, governance, and relevance — it becomes a strategic asset.

Together, these capabilities turn the rallying cry of London Climate Action Week 2025 鈥渇rom morality to materiality鈥� into a practical playbook: embed sustainability where business happens and use responsible AI to scale impact without compromise. From emissions to adaptation to finance, the future of climate leadership is not just digital, it鈥檚 enterprise-deep.

Monica Molesag is global head of Sustainability Communications at SAP.

The energy transition is creating a profound shift across industries and global economies. Amplified by technological innovation and intense competition, it is reshaping sectors and shifting economies toward renewable energy. This change is not only an environmental necessity but also a catalyst for economic growth, challenging the traditional dominance of fossil fuels. With capital investments increasingly directed toward renewable energy infrastructure, investors are aligning their priorities with sustainability, signaling that profitability and environmental stewardship can coexist. Yet, the ongoing prominence of oil and gas underlines the complexity and scale of this transition. 

In parallel, the circular economy is gaining momentum as businesses address the dual challenges of material scarcity and carbon reduction. At COP29, there was significant discussion about how a circular approach focused on rethinking supply chains, redesigning products, and optimizing resources could reduce dependency on finite materials while driving sustainable economic growth. By adopting circular economy principles, businesses can minimize waste and keep valuable materials in circulation, contributing to a more resilient and sustainable future. 

The Role of Business in Transforming Climate Commitments into Tangible Outcomes 

One of the central discussions at COP29 was the need for harmonizing global standards for carbon reduction and accounting. Foreign policy players, along with the private sector, stressed the importance of mobilizing finance for sustainable capitalism. In particular, there was a call for clearer and standardized reporting frameworks to simplify the process and ensure transparency. One critical area was the importance of accurate data collection for carbon markets and product-level carbon accounting, which can help businesses engage consumers and reduce emissions. 

There are three ways technology plays a pivotal role in addressing some of these challenges: 

• is available in every organization鈥檚 ERP system, so it鈥檚 time to start automating data collection and reporting processes to ease some of the regulatory burden.
• Companies should leverage IT spending to support sustainability initiatives, specifically to optimize climate solutions and create circular products.
• Companies must shift focus on the to pinpoint areas with the most significant impact.

From Policy to Practice: How Technology and Global Standards Can Accelerate Climate Action 

Empowered by technology and guided by clear policies, businesses have a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between high-level climate commitments and actionable, on-the-ground strategies. 

Central to this is aligning sustainability and financial priorities. Effective demands collaboration between chief sustainability officers and chief financial officers, as climate change has evolved from an ethical and environmental issue to a pressing financial imperative. 

To accelerate progress, we need globally harmonized policies, rigorous carbon accounting frameworks, and advanced technology solutions. By embedding AI-driven innovation, robust reporting standards, and actionable insights into business operations, we can ensure that COP events, such as COP29 in Baku, are remembered as turning points 鈥� not just discussions. While the challenges ahead are formidable, the opportunities for transformative action are even greater 鈥� and is here to lead the way on a low-carbon, future. 

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Sophia Mendelsohn is chief sustainability and commercial officer at SAP.

With automated Emission Factor Mapping in 51风流Sustainability Footprint Management and AI-assisted ESG Report Generation in 51风流Sustainability Control Tower, 51风流can support companies in setting meaningful environmental targets, ensuring compliance, and managing carbon footprints with heightened efficiency and accountability.

鈥淪ustainability executives are on board with artificial intelligence. More than half say improving data analysis and consolidation using AI are top actions they will be taking over the next three years to enhance ESG capabilities.鈥�

Addressing the Strategy Execution Gap in Sustainability Reporting, KPMG, February 2024

Emission Factor Mapping in 51风流Sustainability Footprint Management

To calculate product carbon footprints accurately, companies must assign emission factors to thousands of purchased products. Ideally, emission factors are provided directly by suppliers, but often companies need to use industry averages based on product attributes like name, category, or location. Up until now, this mapping process has been a manual, time-consuming, and error-prone task that required expertise in lifecycle assessment (LCA), determining the environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the lifecycle of a product, process, or service.

To help make this process easier and more efficient, 51风流has introduced an AI-based capability within the solution. for purchased products and services and can assign a similarity score to each recommendation.

For the mapping, 51风流generates embeddings for both, emission factors from LCA databases and product data from the ERP system. Embeddings are vector representations 鈥� numerical representations of textual information to provide context and meaning of a text. Both sets of embeddings are saved in 51风流HANA Cloud vector engine.

The system compares these embeddings to help identify the quality of the mapping and provide suggested results. This helps businesses reduce manual effort by up to 80% and calculate product and corporate carbon footprints quicker and with greater precision, even without LCA experts. It can also accelerate their sustainability reporting timelines and help them respond faster to regulatory demands.

AI-Assisted ESG Report Generation in 51风流Sustainability Control Tower

In addition, 51风流embedded a generative AI-powered reporting capability within 51风流Sustainability Control Tower. Creating sustainability reports that align with internal strategies and meet external standards, such as the CSRD, is essential for staying compliant and transparent. However, gathering relevant environmental, social, and governance data and drafting these reports can be highly resource-intensive, involving multiple teams and complex data sources.

That鈥檚 why SAP鈥檚 AI capability helps generate comprehensive ESG report drafts based on best-practice templates and the company鈥檚 available ESG metrics. Once users select a template, , create graphs to visualize the data, and generate a polished report draft. That helps companies spend up to 98% less time collecting ESG metrics and up to 80% less time in creating a report.

Some key benefits of the feature include:

• Efficient data utilization: The AI-powered solution leverages large language models and SQL grounding techniques, which help transform natural language inquiries into precise database queries that access real-time data from structured databases. That鈥檚 how it transforms raw data from customers’ systems into accurate, comprehensive reports tailored to specific timeframes.
• Visualization: The AI generates insightful textual content through SQL-based data retrieval, helping to ensure data integrity and compliance. Additionally, it creates visually appealing charts and tables to help enhance report clarity and understanding.
• Automated verification: Our robust system prioritizes data security by avoiding direct SQL query execution and employing a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) process to help safeguard against informational discrepancies.

The Future of AI in Sustainability

The use cases above are just the beginning. AI鈥檚 potential to transform sustainability management is enormous, and at 51风流we are accelerating the creation of use cases to be at the forefront of our customers鈥� sustainable transformation journeys. For example, users will be able to interact through natural language with SAP鈥檚 AI copilot that can offer actionable recommendations and simulations to help improve environmental and social performance. And we will continue to apply AI to make the acquisition of sustainability data easier.

Using SAP鈥檚 ERP-centric, cloud-based, AI-enabled approach, we鈥檙e working to ensure AI鈥檚 massive potential turns into both real business transformation and sustainability outcomes. AI and technology can help us better understand and monitor the environment, improve energy efficiency, optimize resource management, and develop innovative solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

As COP29 convenes in Baku, it is essential for global leaders and decision-makers to fully explore AI’s transformative role in addressing climate change. The urgent demands of this crisis call for the kind of innovative, AI-driven solutions that can unlock greater precision, efficiency, and impact. By leveraging AI not only to streamline business operations but also to set and meet ambitious environmental goals, we are shaping a future where technology empowers businesses to thrive responsibly, contributing actively to a sustainable and resilient planet.

Gunther Rothermel is chief product officer and co-GM for 51风流Sustainability.

While it鈥檚 relatively straightforward to control and reduce a company’s direct emissions, mitigating those that arise along the whole supply chain requires a lot of time, collaboration, and data sharing. One major challenge companies face is outdated tools, such as spreadsheets or questionnaires, and disconnected processes to collaborate with their network. Furthermore, the lack of standardized carbon footprint calculations and exchange methods has led to a variety of different approaches to collect and report on data, resulting in many organizations relying only on industry averages rather than actual numbers.

Managing carbon to accelerate a net-zero future makes measurability critically important. That is where technology and innovation can make a real difference. With 51风流Sustainability solutions and our ERP-centric, cloud-based, AI-enabled approach, we support our customers to use integrated sustainability data and embed it holistically into their core business processes.

What Is 51风流Sustainability Data Exchange?

51风流Sustainability Data Exchange helps facilitate standardized carbon data exchange between partners along the supply chain, supporting organizations to move from estimates to actuals in their upstream emission data. The application allows users to share emissions data to help implement their net-zero strategy and take climate action by identifying products or processes with high potential for CO2 reduction, avoiding double emissions counting, and optimizing footprints with actual supplier data. It helps drive scalability, standardization, and trust in carbon data exchange across the supply chain.

51风流Sustainability Data Exchange is seamlessly embedded into the 51风流landscape, connecting to for master data replication and integrating with to help enable accurate product carbon footprint calculations on a large scale.

To Harness the Power of Networks, Standardization Is Key

To be able to exchange carbon footprint values, standardization and interoperability with industry networks and frameworks are key, as they foster co-innovation and collaboration without a loss of data sovereignty. 51风流Sustainability Data Exchange is interoperable and compliant with the new standards set by the automotive network and the Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT) by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development ().

PACT, for example, developed the global standard for calculating and exchanging consistent, comparable, and credible emission data that occurs along a company鈥檚 value chain and is outside its direct control, known as scope 3 emissions. Catena-X works closely with PACT to establish a joint standardization foundation on carbon accounting and sharing while adding industry-specific extensions.

Catena-X has certified 51风流Sustainability Data Exchange for its sustainability use case. , a tier 1 automotive supplier, was one of the first customers to harness the application when it faced challenges in calculating its product carbon footprint in a standardized way to exchange product carbon footprint values with both customers and suppliers. With 51风流Sustainability Data Exchange, WITTE Automotive can integrate the supplier footprints it receives through the Catena-X network, precisely calculate the product carbon footprint of parts and components, and publish the calculated values of its finished products within the network.

鈥淭his open and collaborative data ecosystem perfectly reflects SAP鈥檚 vision to enable every organization to become a network of intelligent, sustainable enterprises and gives the companies leveraging the Catena-X automotive network access to a broad portfolio of 51风流solutions, from enabling the traceability of products across multiple parties in the supply chain to tracking and calculating the scope 3 emissions.鈥�

– Christian Klein, CEO, 51风流SE

In addition, 51风流Sustainability Data Exchange embraces the power of , leveraging the depth and breadth of a global network trusted by millions of businesses, through which nearly US$6 trillion of annual commerce is executed via over 750 million transactions.

A Core Pillar of the Green Ledger

Having an accurate view of carbon emissions across the entire supply chain not only enables data exchange but can have a real impact on the bottom line. Many companies want to make carbon an integral part of the corporate balance sheet, measuring and managing it with the same precision as cash 鈥� therefore treating carbon like money. The use of 51风流Sustainability Data Exchange and 51风流Green Ledger, which will be generally available at the end of 2024, can provide a strong basis for making financial decisions.

Start the 51风流Sustainability Data Exchange product tour to learn more.

51风流Sustainability solutions can support even more than carbon management and environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-related disclosures. Check out our to learn more about support for operational compliance and material transition and subscribe to the to stay up-to-date.

Gunther Rothermel is chief product officer and co-GM for 51风流Sustainability.

Two weeks ago, 51风流joined global business leaders, political changemakers, decision-makers, and representatives from civil society for a week of focused discussions on the transition to a low-carbon, circular economy. Across dozens of in-person and virtual sessions, 51风流reaffirmed its commitment to enabling a more sustainable world through an ERP-centric, cloud-based, AI-enabled approach.

At Climate Week, SAP鈥檚 focus on AI, precise carbon accounting, and expanded commitments to nature conservation highlighted its proactive approach to addressing the climate crisis.

AI鈥檚 Role in Advancing Sustainability

A major topic during New York Climate Week was the role of . Key discussions highlighted how AI can assist chief sustainability officers (CSOs) and their teams in managing the complex data necessary for effective sustainability initiatives. By processing disjointed and multimodal data, AI empowers companies to monitor, predict, and optimize their systems, leading to improved sustainability outcomes across supply chains and energy grids.

AI serves not only as a tool for automation but also as a strategic ally, embedding sustainability into core business processes. Last month, 51风流shared two innovative AI-driven use cases: 51风流Sustainability Control Tower, AI-assisted ESG report generation and emission factor mapping capabilities. These capabilities help companies enhance carbon footprint calculations and streamline sustainability reporting. With real-time data, companies can make decisions faster and align with their sustainability goals.

However, the discussions also acknowledged the challenges associated with AI deployment, including high energy consumption, potential biases, and data privacy concerns. Addressing these challenges is crucial for ensuring AI’s sustainable application.

Sector-specific applications of AI were also explored. In the energy sector, AI can optimize consumption patterns, while in construction and consumer goods it can aid in waste reduction and resource efficiency. By integrating AI with 51风流solutions, companies can enhance supply chain optimization, route planning, and demand forecasting.

Toward More Precise Carbon Accounting

Another critical topic at Climate Week was the need for companies to accurately track, report, and manage their carbon emissions while aligning their environmental impacts with financial operations. To thrive in today鈥檚 regulatory landscape, organizations must adopt robust sustainability management systems. With regulations like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) on the horizon, businesses are transitioning from voluntary to mandatory reporting, navigating over 600 global regulations and frameworks.

To address these challenges, 51风流will make the 51风流Green Ledger solution generally available in December 2024. This innovative solution can integrate carbon and financial data, helping provide the real-time visibility essential for precise carbon accounting. This integration not only helps enhance compliance, but can also allow companies to gain a competitive edge by speeding up action towards sustainability.

Expanding Commitments to Nature Conservation

Starting in 2024, 51风流is enhancing its net-zero strategy by committing to nature conservation and financing global climate projects for carbon removal and carbon reduction. It aims to plant and protect 25 million trees by 2030 and invest in wetland conservation. These initiatives align with SAP鈥檚 goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2030, 20 years ahead of the original timeline.

51风流believes that financing climate projects beyond its value chain is essential to restoring ecosystems and fostering resilient, low-carbon economies. This comprehensive approach supports broader climate action and shifts corporate perceptions, demonstrating that sustainability is integral to long-term business success, not merely an operational add-on.

Leading the Charge

Through an ERP-centric, cloud-based, AI-enabled approach, 51风流is well-positioned to lead the charge toward a more sustainable future while enabling customers to navigate the complexities of climate action. As always, collaboration and commitment from all sectors will be vital in driving truly meaningful change, and COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, will be an opportunity for the sustainability community to unite in accelerating global action, fostering new partnerships, and advancing innovative solutions.

By integrating technological innovation with strategic sustainability initiatives, 51风流is not just adapting to the evolving landscape of sustainability, but is actively shaping it and charting the course for a resilient, low-carbon economy where businesses can thrive while safeguarding the planet for future generations.

Hear from 51风流Sustainability executives and customer Ambipar at Climate Week 2024 and listen to our on how data and tech drive corporate sustainability.

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Monica Molesag is sustainability communications lead at SAP.

In our effort to align with the to build a 鈥減eaceful, sustainable, and promising future for all,鈥� we look to the following priorities to influence our decision-making and inspire others to take action in incorporating positive economic, social, and environmental impact into their end-to-end businesses.

1. The Benefits of Ecosystem Building

At the crux of gatherings like UNGA 79 and Climate Week is bringing the top minds and leaders in government, private, social, and academic sectors together to discuss collaborative solutions to pressing issues. Understanding the value of working together to create networks of resources enables sharing knowledge, funding, or diverse perspectives with each other to achieve your goals.

Multilateral partner ecosystems offer an opportunity to play to each other鈥檚 strengths. For example, 51风流is not the expert in creating social and environmental impact; that expertise resides within the social sector. However, 51风流understands the critical role technology can play in creating promising results in addressing issues like climate change and creating a more . At the same time, governments set the guidelines for policies that influence climate action. Each of us has a role to play and it is important to understand how we can best work together to deliver results and accelerate change.

When participating in conversations on key global issues, like climate change, remember that collaboration between government, private, and social sectors is paramount in catalyzing a positive shift in business to make progress on the .

2. The Importance of Education

Education is a fundamental human right and a key driver in economic development. Next to partnership, prioritizing education and skills development is necessary to remain resilient in a rapidly changing world and help bridge the digital divide in under-resourced communities. Yet, it is not often a topic of conversation at convenings like Climate Week.

Climate disasters disrupt the education of nearly and continues to increase. The skills gap is growing. More than half the workforce have jobs that do not match their education level or help citizens adapt to climate change and the green transition. Universal education has an impact on climate change. Financing education can significantly reduce carbon emissions, up to 51.48 gigatons by 2050 in low and lower-middle income countries. Young impact entrepreneurs known as also see climate action as one of the most important issues they face and use education as a tool 鈥淸鈥 for reducing inequalities and creating change.鈥�

During Climate Week conversations with partners like UNICEF鈥檚 , 51风流is hoping to collaborate across sectors and embrace innovative strategies to educate and foster a new generation of environmentally skilled workforces. By building cross-sector collaboration in areas like education, we gain access to new perspectives in social innovation and a wider talent pool as we work toward a more fair, sustainable world.

Advocating for education initiatives and partnerships within climate conversations is important. Education underpins the vitality of the broader business ecosystem, nurtures the next generation of talent, and creates a pathway to environmental progress.

3. The Opportunity of Intergenerational Leadership

When discussing ecosystem building and education, we cannot forget young voices. Young people are at the frontline of issues like climate change, but often fail to appear in key decision-making spaces. 51风流embraces the idea of intergenerational collaboration, bringing together diverse perspectives across the business. For example, , with support in part from SAP, conducted a in which 96% of respondents believed intergenerational collaboration holds significant value and can generate positive change when faced with global challenges.

Youth offer intersectional voices that hold a unique moral authority over issues like climate justice. In addition, they bring innovative and tech-driven approaches as digital natives in an everchanging world. When private, public, and social sector organizations tap into the potential of young experts, business and the world as a whole benefit.

With more than half the world under the age of 30, it鈥檚 imperative to ensure equitable representation of youth voices during the upcoming convenings, like and .

For more information on how 51风流is helping the world run better and improving people鈥檚 lives all year round, visit .

Selina Henn is a strategy and operations associate for Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP.

51风流is also committed to finding solutions to climate change and working across generations to make it happen. As the world鈥檚 largest provider of enterprise application software, 51风流plays a complementary role to organizations like UNICEF. With a unique ability to help the world鈥檚 largest companies achieve more across their value chains and drive sustainability at their core, there is enormous potential to use 51风流technology for good. Coupled with its , there is also a long-standing commitment to accelerate solutions by connecting corporate financial and nonfinancial resources with the .

Air pollution is a complicating factor of climate change. On , the world looks at this issue that is not locked within borders, making it difficult to address. It warms the global climate, exacerbating natural disasters and risking the health of millions of underserved people living in vulnerable areas.

In Mongolia, air pollution is particularly problematic as the country deals with rapid urbanization and a harsh climate. The country has a strong reliance on burning coal because it is inexpensive and readily available. Coal represents 90% of the energy used and is a huge economic export, creating jobs and wealth in a high-need country. Even though coal was banned in Mongolia鈥檚 capital city in 2019, coal use has led to enormous levels of smog and mounting for thousands of citizens. In a country known as the 鈥淟and of the Eternal Blue Sky,鈥� local youth like are not willing to accept this reality.

Enkhuun was just 17 when she co-founded , an organization leveraging data and technology as a differentiator in solving pollution. With family members affected, she had deeply personal reasons to create tangible action. She quickly understood the value of leveraging technology to scale solutions to the masses and built a centralized source of air quality data for Mongolian communities. 鈥淭hese are all tech-based tools that we use to reach more audiences and more people than we could otherwise,鈥� she said. Today, with information available in English and Mongolian, Breathe Mongolia has become a go-to source for air quality data in the region.

With on the horizon, taking place during the annual , 51风流will step forward to represent the value of working with young innovators like Enkhuun with GenU. GenU was founded in 2018 as part of UNICEF aiming to equip youth with the necessary skills and resources to participate in key conversations around pressing global issues.

When given the opportunity, youth bring an impressive passion for creating impact, coupled with a , that allows decision-makers to channel new solutions. Breathe Mongolia is one of the millions of impact organizations operating globally and putting people and planet first. 51风流wants to ensure its success and that of the more than operating globally, many led by young people. Together with leading youth social impact partners like , , and (WAFF), 51风流is hoping to close the opportunity gap and ensure that youth have the resources they need to innovate and fulfill their potential. This commitment for youth inclusion extends beyond Climate Week and UNGA. Throughout the year, 51风流and its leadership team lead by example, involving expert young leaders in the company鈥檚 innovation strategy and sustainability programs, opening doors that provide them with a seat at the table.

Whether you are attending Climate Week or participating virtually from home, every sector and individual has a role to play to combat issues like climate change. To better understand the challenges that youth face and the potential to incorporate youth voices in challenging projects, leverage The Possibilists on young changemakers and WAFF鈥檚 on intergenerational collaboration.

If you are a young climate innovator based in North America or Sub-Saharan Africa, we also encourage you to check out resource support through .

Selina Henn is a strategy and operations associate for Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP.

Based in Germany, aquatherm is a global manufacturer of polypropylene pipe systems for plant construction and building services. Polypropylene is a material known for its ecological properties and high temperature and pressure resistance.

Climate protection, green energy, and clean water: with all these, wants to contribute to preserving the natural foundations of life everywhere in the world. Its sustainable products, comprehensive service, and expert knowledge are part of its commitment to a climate-neutral life. The production line covers 17,000 articles across six lines for various applications, such as connection to heating and cooling, heating and cooling networks, and potable water.

With about 500 employees, the company operates in 70 countries via a strong partner network.

In 2022, aquatherm implemented as its core business system and integrated a legacy solution to manage its production processes. But it heavily relied on manual data input, resulting in poor data quality and a high risk of human error. To meet increasing demand for its products and keep up with the company’s growth, aquatherm aimed to optimize its production processes by incorporating the latest technology.

Streamlining Operations and Automating Processes

Patrick Keller, 51风流technical consultant, Digital Manufacturing, aquatherm, explained: “We wanted to streamline operations across nine manufacturing divisions and six production lines, minimize manual input, reduce interfaces, and track performance on the production floor. Our objective was also to gain visibility into machine activities, comparing key performance indicators across machines, workers, and production areas. In addition, we wanted to establish comprehensive traceability throughout the production process to swiftly address any issues.鈥�

The solution was to implement a cutting-edge manufacturing execution system that was adaptable for the future and able to eliminate any manufacturing errors quickly by leveraging real-time machine data and KPIs. “After careful consideration, we decided to utilize 51风流Digital Manufacturing for collecting machine data to automate processes. Overall, our intention is to utilize as many products as possible within the 51风流cosmos,鈥� Keller said.

is a manufacturing execution system (MES) provided as a cloud solution that can support sustainable, risk-resilient manufacturing operations through a resource-efficient, Industry 4.0 approach. It helps optimize production processes by connecting the business systems with the shop floor equipment and can enable execution, visibility, and analysis.

Establishing a Single Source of Truth to Improve Visibility

51风流Digital Manufacturing is currently implemented at one of the production areas, providing aquatherm with insight into machine performance and any issues that arise. It allows the company to check indicators from machines, like production times, and helps reduce downtime. As 51风流S/4HANA Cloud is integrated with 51风流Digital Manufacturing, information is pulled from 51风流S/4HANA Cloud and transferred back from 51风流Digital Manufacturing, enabling real-time insights to help improve decision-making.

鈥淲e appreciate the benefits of this cloud-based solution, as we get quarterly software updates and new features,鈥� Keller said.

One of the challenges aquatherm faced was obtaining necessary and correct machine data from various machine manufacturers with different standards. By working with 51风流and its partner , it developed a standard machine template to use for each machine. 鈥淏y utilizing the , we avoided custom development and stayed within our existing processes without the need for significant change to production processes,鈥� Keller said. 鈥淲ith support of BA Business Advice, we went live within only six months, after a three-month proof of concept,鈥� he added.

The overall benefits aquatherm achieved include:

• Achieved a 100% unified overview of manufacturing operations
• Experienced 90% less time spent on PC-based tasks through automated data exchange, freeing machine operators to focus on their core role
• Established a single source of truth for manufacturing operations, significantly improving visibility
• Improved data quality and freed up time for machine operators by eliminating manual processes and interfaces
• Empowered key stakeholders with accurate, real-time data for more transparent production management and informed decision-making
• Laid the foundations for enhanced data analytics and AI solutions to support future optimizations, helping to boost overall production efficiency

Future Plans to Boost Overall Production Efficiency

Looking to the future, aquatherm plans to roll out the solution across all production areas. Moreover, it plans to leverage the to even better control production operations and further integrate the 51风流S/4HANA Cloud data exchange with 51风流Digital Manufacturing in both directions. It also plans to utilize and the to help exchange data between 51风流Digital Manufacturing and industry-specific standard data sources.  

鈥�51风流Digital Manufacturing has enabled us to digitalize and automate our production processes thanks to a single source of truth. Accurate, real-time data ensures that there are no blind spots, so we can keep our operations running smoothly,鈥� Keller said.

Karin Fent is senior director of Global Customer Success Digital Supply Chain at SAP.

Top photo courtesy of aquatherm.

Since 2009, 51风流has been on a sustainability journey with the objective to create positive economic, environmental, and social impact within planetary boundaries. Along the way, we have learned a great deal about measuring economic, social, and environmental performance and integrating sustainability into our business strategy. Central to this effort has been a continuous effort to decarbonize our business. Setting ambitious targets and leveraging digital solutions have proven crucial. 

Raising our ambition to achieve net-zero emissions is a key element of our approach to sustainability, which looks across the interconnected areas of holistic steering and reporting, climate action, the circular economy, and social responsibility. 

What Does Net Zero Mean? 

Net zero is a state where the greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere are balanced by removal out of the atmosphere. Corporate net-zero pledges have gained significant traction as , representing an annual aggregate revenue of US$27 trillion, are committed to net zero.  

There are and how companies can achieve it. 51风流follows the Science Based Targets initiative鈥檚 (SBTi) , which provides a credible and independent assessment of corporate net-zero target setting in line with climate science. The continually improving standard enables companies to align their climate actions with limiting global warming to 1.5掳C. 51风流became a member of SBTi in 2017 and was the first German company with a science-based carbon reduction target for 2050. In 2019, 51风流raised its commitment and adopted a鈥�1.5掳C science-based emissions reduction target. We announced our net zero by 2030 ambition in early 2022, bringing this commitment forward by 20 years. 

Achieving net-zero emissions across our entire value chain means that all our emissions across all emission sources need to be either eliminated or, up to certain limits, compensated for. These emission areas, known as scopes, include those from our own operations, those generated by the energy we purchase to run operations, and finally, the largest area, external emissions such as those incurred by employee travel, items procured, and customer data center use. 

Targeting Our Entire Value Chain 

SAP’s net-zero plan is implemented through a comprehensive and integrated approach that involves all functions in the company, customers, suppliers, partners, and other stakeholders. We have established a cross-company program team involving experts from different lines of business to plan and implement our net-zero transformation. Reducing emissions from the use of 51风流software will be the primary area for reductions, followed by purchased goods and services. The 51风流net zero by 2030 approach includes: 

• Accelerating the transformation of on-premise customers to the cloud through our market-leading RISE with 51风流and GROW with 51风流offerings
• Enhancing direct investments in renewable energy sources and operating our internal and external data centers on 100% renewable electricity
• Reducing emissions by improving the energy efficiency of best-in-class data centers 鈥� our own, our co-locations, and hyperscalers 鈥� with sustainable programming and a cloud carbon footprint calculator for all 51风流cloud solutions
• Strengthening engagement with key suppliers to commit to net zero and deliver carbon-neutral products and services
• Electrifying the vehicle fleet, promoting green mobility, and enabling hybrid work situations
• Compensating for emissions by investing in high-quality, nature-based solutions, such as reforestation, renewable energy, and community development, that have verified environmental and social benefits
• Enabling our customers and partners by adding sustainability features and functions into our core offerings, such as 51风流S/4HANA, 51风流Ariba solutions, and 51风流SuccessFactors solutions, and by giving them tools, guidance, and best practices to measure, manage, and reduce their emissions through our including 51风流Sustainability Footprint Management, 51风流Sustainability Data Exchange, 51风流Sustainability Control Tower, and 51风流Responsible Design and Production
• Accurately measuring and reporting emissions using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the Science Based Targets initiative and showing progress and performance through platforms such as CDP, EcoVadis, and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index

Capturing the Opportunities of Net Zero 

We have many achievements to build on, but we also are charting new territory. 2030 is not far away. The challenges increase the farther we move upstream and downstream into our value chain. Despite the complexities, there are enormous opportunities ahead as we establish further success with our net-zero efforts. 

From a business perspective, focusing on net zero means reducing risk, improving SAP’s operational efficiency, and delivering cost savings by reducing our energy consumption and waste and optimizing our processes and resources. Net-zero action helps increase our market competitiveness by creating new products and services that meet the growing expectations of customers, partners, and regulators for low-carbon and sustainable solutions. We鈥檒l also be better at attracting and retaining top talent who are increasingly discerning about their employer’s sustainability actions. We鈥檒l offer a compelling case to investors who used focused criteria to inform their holdings. Finally, we鈥檒l continue to enhance our reputation with industry media and analysts as a leader and innovator in sustainability. And most importantly, we鈥檒l reduce our overall carbon emissions to provide much-needed relief for the over-accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.  

With an increased sense of urgency, we recognize the responsibility, as well as the opportunity, to step up and drive a faster transformation toward a sustainable future. Not only must we accelerate our own net-zero transformation, but we must help other businesses and industries reinvent themselves as well. Only a fundamental transformation of our global economy will allow us to limit global warming to 1.5掳C. It鈥檚 vital that we build sustainability into the very nature of how we do business.

Daniel Schmid is chief sustainability officer at SAP.

Reflecting on the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), the scale of SAP鈥檚 transformative potential 鈥� helping companies record, report, and act on net-zero targets and beyond 鈥� has never been clearer.

I observed two key trends that will advance climate action in meaningful ways 鈥� a shift towards simplifying data sharing and a transition to sustainable energy 鈥� where 51风流is poised to help.

A Shift Towards Simplifying Data Sharing

In recent years, more and more companies have made net-zero commitments 鈥� often before knowing how to execute these lofty goals. At COP28, I saw business leaders wrestling with how to deliver on these commitments and publicly report on progress amid growing public pressure. They face two significant data challenges: the need for cooperation across the value chain and collaboration around a common language for data exchange.

While many companies successfully measure their own emissions, reaching net zero requires an understanding of Scope 3 emissions, indirect emissions that occur in the value chain, where approximately of carbon emissions fall. This means that to get to net zero, businesses need to share emissions data across the value chain. This requires a high level of collaboration and information sharing among businesses and their suppliers. 51风流Sustainability Data Exchange can simplify this process by tracking actual Scope 3 carbon emissions data, not averages and estimates, and facilitating cross-company data sharing.

With solutions like 51风流Sustainability Data Exchange, more companies can measure their carbon emissions data and share it across the value chain. However, this proves futile if companies cannot exchange data in a common format. They need to exchange information and understand what it means. Today, many emissions and accounting technology solutions fail to speak the same language with one another. To overcome this obstacle, 51风流works closely with the (PACT), hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), to create a harmonized data exchange system. Together, we are establishing the methodology and technical infrastructure for product-level greenhouse gas emissions data exchange and measurement so businesses can share real carbon footprints across the supply chain with increased interoperability. 

No entity can conquer the decarbonization challenge alone. But, with cooperation across the value chain around Scope 3 emissions and collaboration around standardized carbon emissions data, we can move close to net zero together.

A Transition to Sustainable Energy

Given the focus on how to deliver on net-zero commitments and decarbonize operations, businesses look to energy as one crucial path to accelerate progress. Beyond aiming for net zero, geopolitical tensions underscore the urgency of bolstering energy security and diminishing reliance on overseas providers. As governments pursue energy independence and implement emissions regulations, corporations are compelled to adhere and transparently track their progress.

As companies face growing pressure from all sides, the pace of the sustainable energy transition intensifies, realizing unanticipated benefits along the way. For example, firms experience enhanced reputations and boosts to market value. And, in the search for cost-effective and efficient energy mixes, many companies find improved operations. A surge in production efficiency often accompanies reduced emissions. These changes inspire more diverse business models, identify new revenue streams, attract new clients, and yield a broader customer base.

As businesses move toward alternative energy sources, fostering transparency and trust through accurate data tracking and measurement proves challenging. Take green hydrogen as an example. Generated by the electrolysis of water using renewable sources like solar or wind energy, it offers a carbon-emission-free energy solution. However, fostering demand for green hydrogen requires a high level of transparency to ensure authenticity, build trust among consumers, businesses, and governments, and measure its environmental impact. 

51风流works closely with governments, the CEO Alliance for Europe, H2Global, and Hydrogen Europe to address the critical need for transparency across the entire lifecycle of green hydrogen 鈥� from production to distribution. Establishing a digital layer for green hydrogen guarantees its authenticity and differentiation from other grades of hydrogen aiding certification and proof of origin. This creates a clear market for green hydrogen, helping consumers understand its intrinsic value and positive environmental impact. utilizes an energy-efficient blockchain method that helps provide this visibility into the hydrogen journey and can enable auditable volume movements among various partners.

While digital technologies actively drive the transition to renewable energy, we recognize the indispensable role of collaborative, action-oriented partnerships in propelling these efforts forward. Ahead of COP28, 51风流joined global efforts led by the to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, accelerate the clean energy transition, and scale up investments in renewables. 51风流also supports the , a business initiative urging governments to phase out fossil fuels. The future requires collaboration with all stakeholders 鈥� value chain partners, NGOs, industry groups, and more.

As the conference concludes, the real work begins. Reflecting on last week and the resounding call for global climate action, 51风流remains committed to helping our customers simplify data sharing and transition to sustainable energy. The technology and the data exist. Now, we need to deploy these tools effectively and harness them to drive meaningful impact across a vast ecosystem of organizations. A sustainable future starts today, and the responsibility lies with each one of us doing our part.

Learn more about 51风流Sustainability at .

Sophia Mendelsohn is chief sustainability and commercial officer and co-GM for 51风流Sustainability.

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that industry plays an even more ineluctable role in scripting the future of humanity, one that involves sustainable social, environmental, and economic development.

As a global challenge, the climate crisis calls for businesses and countries to move beyond their siloed approaches, commitments, and climate pledges to fully embrace sustainability. The of “no one left behind” requires global partnerships.

With more and more countries investing in resilient infrastructure, there is a growing need to improve our existing industrial infrastructure. Here, technological innovation will be key. Technology is no longer the limiting factor for organizations to become sustainable businesses, rather it is the enabling agent in going green.

Sustainable development calls for institutional and value changes as well as cultural adjustments. As organizations worldwide look to don the green cape, behavioral change and transformation in business processes will be critical in making green technology mainstream. It must be incorporated into mainstream policies to promote national and international cooperation.

In 2024, sustainability will not just be the right thing to do, it will become a core strategic imperative for businesses. In addition to managing top- and bottom-line, forward-looking organizations are now focusing on sustainability as the third dimension to drive business growth. Managing the will be critical to enterprise success as customers, employees, and even investors increasingly turn toward companies that are pro-actively deploying sustainable business practices.

A Shared Responsibility Between Private Sector and Technology Leaders

In the battle against climate change, the private sector and technology leaders bear a significant responsibility. The crucial role businesses play in contributing to environmental goals underscores the importance of partnerships with key stakeholders — be it ecosystem partners, governments, non-governmental organizations, or citizens. The focus is on global and local examples where collaborative efforts have illustrated tangible impact achievable through cross-sector collaboration.

Partnerships that leverage the distinctive strengths and resources of each sector demonstrate how collective action can lead to meaningful change. The collaborative approach is presented as imperative for tackling the complexity of climate challenges.

Governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and citizens are not merely spectators, but active participants in the collective effort to combat climate change.

Governments wield significant influence in shaping policies and regulations that set the tone for environmental stewardship. Their commitment to sustainable practices and climate-friendly policies is pivotal. Businesses, as drivers of economic activity, hold a dual responsibility 鈥� not only to operate profitably but also to do so in an environmentally conscious manner. NGOs play a crucial role in advocacy and action, acting as watchdogs and catalysts for change. Citizens, too, are integral, as consumers and advocates who influence the demand for sustainable practices.

The Path to a Low-Carbon Future Is Circular

The path to a low-carbon future is circular. The good news is that a circular economy is not just about fixing environmental wrongs but brings about opportunities and drives positive impact across industries, sectors, and lives. Working toward a circular economy can protect human health and biodiversity in many ways, including better use of natural resources, such as protecting water and land, thus mitigating the climate crisis.

Organizations like 51风流are leading this shift with an aim to become carbon-neutral in their own operations by 2023.

At 51风流Labs India, 97% of the energy consumed at the Bengaluru campus comes from green energy sources. Additionally, 70% of the transport services are run on electric vehicles with a network of 65 charging stations at the campus for employees. This environmentally conscious approach extends to food sourcing, actively supporting local farmers and communities. Moreover, there has been a seamless replacement of disposable items like cutlery and containers with sustainable alternatives. Dedication to paperless operations is evident in the success of apps like Appane, Physio app, and the digital printing and stationery request system,which collectively contribute to a substantial reduction in paper consumption. The transition from traditional paper food coupons to a user-friendly app developed externally is a clear demonstration of an innovative approach to sustainable practices.

To drive sustainable business practice, it is important to first measure carbon footprint, assess and reduce emissions, increase resource productivity through circular processes, and run safer, sustainable business processes. 51风流is uniquely positioned to help firms tackle this challenge and become sustainable enterprises with its suite of technology solutions.

Through partnerships, innovative practices, and a holistic approach to sustainability, all the stakeholders need to come together to shape a future where businesses thrive in harmony with the environment.

Sindhu Gangadharan is senior vice president and managing director of 51风流Labs India and head of 51风流User Enablement.

The Sustainability Funding Round, hosted by our Chief Sustainability Officer, Daniel Schmid, brings together 51风流sustainability leaders from over 60 51风流sites worldwide to promote and finance sustainability initiatives brought forward by the 51风流sustainability champions and environmental management system leads. This year’s funding round was dedicated to supporting SAP鈥檚 transition to a low-carbon, circular business and saw record-breaking participation.

More than 60 proposals were submitted from sustainability champions across the globe, including ideas on improving our physical office environment, enabling employee volunteering, and raising sustainability awareness for zero emissions and zero waste. A jury consisting of experts from Global Real Estate & Facilities (GRF), Sustainability, Global Sourcing & Procurement, 51风流Corporate Social Responsibility (51风流CSR), Global Communications, and winners of last year鈥檚 funding round thoroughly evaluated all submissions. The 25 highest-rated ideas have received funding from sustainability leaders across the globe and are being implemented until the end of the year.

Here is a look at some of the funding winners.

鈥�2tonnes鈥� Immersive Workshop, France

What is measured can be managed. Understanding the size of our actions and collective decisions and calling for a lead to action is a good practice. The 鈥溾�� immersive workshop helps us understand our carbon footprint and how to reach two tons per person by 2050. 2tonnes is a best-of-breed carbon awareness workshop used by the French government. Around 350 51风流employees have already been trained across multiple workshops.

One of the main challenges was to find like-minded people to take part in the workshops. This was mitigated with the help of leaders motivating their respective teams and adding the workshop as a part of their team activity. The aim is to continue the project in 2024 and train another 500 employees, accounting for 50% of the total number of employees in Levallois, France.

Waterloo and Montreal 4 Trees, Canada

To foster climate action, contribute to SAP鈥檚 goal to plant 21 million trees, improve air quality, protect biodiversity, and support the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration initiative, this initiative focused on planting trees in Montreal and Waterloo, Canada.

Around 130 native trees were planted in Waterloo in collaboration with Let鈥檚 Tree Wilmot, a non-profit organization part of Wilmot Horticulture Society. The project will contribute to community establishment and support reforestation efforts to reestablish a missing forest stratum or prevent erosion due to illicit trial creation. Around 75 trees and shrubs were planted in September in Montreal to enhance Mount Royal, an urban forest at the center of Montreal that is visited by more than 6 million people every year. The project will contribute to the conservation of the mountains and keep the ecosystem strong and resilient.

Green Art, Argentina

This project aims to use the circular economy to transform waste into a work of art to show we can add value to things considered unusable. The idea is to work with sustainable artists to create a piece of art using recycled materials that will be displayed permanently at the 51风流offices in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The materials will be obtained in a cleanup with employees from Buenos Aires and e-waste from our offices. The project envisions reusing waste, transforming it into art, and spreading awareness about reducing and recycling waste among employees when they take part in waste collection and when they view the art. Employees have already cleaned up a river and have gathered the necessary waste materials for the project. Creating the artwork will start as soon as the artist is onboarded as a supplier.

The 2023 funding round was a tremendous success and showed that employees from all fields and locations can help lead the way towards zero emissions and zero waste.

Reforestation projects have long played a crucial part in storing and removing CO₂ from the atmosphere and are one of the keys to a low-carbon future. For more than a decade, climate action has been at the top of SAP鈥檚 corporate agenda along with the three other key sustainability focus areas 鈥� holistic steering and reporting, circular economy, and social responsibility.

One of the company鈥檚 climate goals is to foster biodiversity and nature-based solutions to combat climate change. The provides transparency on SAP鈥檚 financial, social, and environmental performance and targets; information on measures to reduce CO₂; and progress on SAP鈥檚 journey to achieve net zero along its value chain by 2030. For example, 51风流runs all its offices and data centers with 100% renewable electricity, delivers sustainability management solutions to customers, and has financed the planting of more than 15 million trees to date to restore ecosystems and foster sustainable development. Since 2021, 51风流has been part of , a corporate alliance committed to conserving, restoring, and growing 1 trillion trees by 2030.

Planting trees might sound simple, but reforestation projects must be in harmony with the needs of the local community and ecosystem to avoid doing more harm than good in the long run. This is where scientific tree planting projects have a vital role to play.

Project Highlight: The Carbon Community

Charitable donations from 51风流support scientific plots in 51风流Forest UK at , based in Wales, UK.

The Carbon Community鈥檚 mission is to optimize nature-based solutions to combat climate change. SAP鈥檚 donations have contributed to a landmark carbon study that started two years ago.

This study 鈥� the world鈥檚 first 鈥� investigates how sequestration of CO₂ in trees and soil can be accelerated by combining two nature-based climate solutions. This aligns with SAP鈥檚 strategy of using nature-based solutions whenever possible to fight climate change.

To be as sure as possible that planted trees deliver the anticipated benefits, 51风流works with reputable and experienced partners like The Carbon Community that have been subjected to a rigorous selection and monitoring process.

Other Trusted Partners

SAP鈥檚 longest partnership is with , where 51风流investments have funded the planting of over 13 million trees in Senegal, Rwanda, India, Indonesia, Guatemala, and Mexico. These investments with LCF help the environment and the local community while also generating carbon credits.

51风流also donates to charitable organizations, extending support to projects in countries such as Australia, Brazil, Haiti, Indonesia, Nepal, Madagascar, and scientific research in Wales.

Providing Transparency

Trusted partners must provide transparency on their projects; for example, key metrics, annual reports, and updates such as the from The Carbon Community.

For customers, offer transparency on environmental and social performance. 51风流solutions can record emissions in supply chains, report emissions in a way comparable to standardized reporting, and identify and analyze ways to reduce emissions. , for example, is a single solution to help calculate and manage a full range of corporate, value chain, and product-level greenhouse emissions. And, 51风流is pioneering a concept that can allow customers to track the carbon entering and leaving their systems and to balance their 鈥渃arbon books鈥� in the same way as they balance their financial books.

A Step in the Right Direction

Although cost-effective and essential for all life on earth, it is a gross oversimplification to claim that nature-based solutions alone, such as those proposed by The Carbon Community, or planting 1 trillion trees in the next seven years will fix the global loss of biodiversity and stop climate change. 

For this reason, reforestation projects and scientific tree planting projects are just one piece of SAP鈥檚 climate action plan, along with reducing its own carbon emissions and enabling customers to accelerate their own net-zero journeys with customer solutions for sustainability.

In terms of numbers, the scientific plots of 51风流Forest UK account for less than 1% of the total number of trees planted with support from 51风流鈥� but measuring the potential is another matter altogether. If the current field studies facilitated by The Carbon Community are successful and scaled up, that 1% could make an immeasurable difference to how beneficial future reforestation initiatives could be in terms of promoting biodiversity and rates of carbon sequestration.

Science-based research to optimize nature-based solutions , together with 51风流Sustainability solutions to combat climate, change is, without doubt, a significant step in the right direction.

Top image courtesy of The Carbon Community

Scope 3 emissions from activities across suppliers, product lifecycles, and customer usage comprise the overwhelming majority of emissions for telecommunications companies. While progress has been made on scope 1 and 2 emissions, scope 3 emissions remain a blind spot that demands urgent action. Addressing scope 3 emissions is vital for telecommunications companies to meet climate goals and lead the transition to a sustainable digital future.

According to the , the global telecommunications industry emitted 1.7 billion tons of CO2 equivalent in 2019, representing approximately 2% of total global emissions. Telecommunications companies have an outsized opportunity to drive change and reduce emissions given their scale and influence across global supply chains and billions of customers worldwide.

Now is the time for telecommunications companies to step up with courageous leadership, collective action across the ecosystem, transparency, and a laser focus on reducing scope 3 emissions.

Understanding Scope 3 Emissions in Telecommunications

Scope 3 emissions encompass the vast majority of emissions across the telecommunications value chain. Key sources include:

Supply chain
Manufacturing, transport, and disposal of network equipment makes up the largest share, such as 60% of Verizon’s total scope 3

Product usage
Energy consumption of infrastructure, data centers, and devices

Customers
Emissions from using products and services represent over 20% for leading telecommunications companies

While methodologies vary, standards like the enable consistent and transparent scope 3 accounting. Robust data collection and industry alignment will enhance accuracy over time. The urgency of climate action necessitates that telecommunications companies act now to address primary scope 3 hotspots like supply chain and product usage.

Success requires transparency, cooperation, and immediate commitment to tackle scope 3 emission sources.

Challenges in Calculating Scope 3 Emissions in the Telecommunications Industry

Calculating scope 3 emissions poses major challenges for telecommunications companies, including:

• Data limitations: Telecommunications companies lack visibility into supplier and vendor emissions. Greater transparency and coordination are essential.
• Complex value chains: Varied reporting mechanisms across the vast partner ecosystem create aggregation difficulties.
• Methodology alignment: Companies must determine boundaries and allocate shared infrastructure emissions while adhering to accounting standards.
• Rapid technology changes: Emerging solutions like 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT) require continuous emissions monitoring.

Robust data collection, industry collaboration, and transparency will be vital to overcome these obstacles. Standardized methodologies guided by established protocols will enhance accuracy over time.

Above all, open cooperation across telecommunications value chains is crucial to drive scope 3 progress. From suppliers to customers, aligning stakeholders to prioritize emissions reductions will accelerate the sustainability shift, despite near-term uncertainty. Telecommunications companies have the scale and influence to lead the way.

Strategies for Mitigating Scope 3 Emissions

Telecommunications companies can mitigate scope 3 emissions through:

Supplier collaboration
Joint research and development (R&D), audits, and incentive programs enable partners to reduce their supply chain footprint. AT&T uses a sustainability scorecard to motivate action.

Renewable energy
Shifting infrastructure and operations to clean power significantly decreases emissions. BT Group and Telef贸nica aim for 100% renewable electricity use.

Eco-design
Prioritizing recyclable and energy-efficient materials and manufacturing reduces lifecycle impacts. Vodafone’s Eco Rating drives more sustainable devices.

Customer engagement
Awareness campaigns, energy-saving tips, and green tariffs incentivize sustainable usage. Orange’s set-top box eco-rating nudges consumers.

Policy and regulation
Scope 3 requirements in markets like the EU also drive telecommunications companies to address value chain emissions through mandated reporting and carbon pricing.

Additionally, telecommunications companies can further engage customers through expanded recycling and take-back programs to optimize device lifecycles. Services like leasing instead of selling phones can incentivize longevity. 51风流 that track energy consumption also enable users to reduce their footprint.

There are still challenges, but collective effort across the telecommunications ecosystem can drive progress on scope 3 emissions. Engagement and incentives can accelerate emissions reductions across value chains from suppliers to customers. With their global scale, telecommunications companies must lead the way.

Calculating and Reporting

To enable accurate and consistent scope 3 accounting, telecommunications companies should:

• Adopt recognized standards like the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain Standard, which provides comprehensive guidance.
• Improve supplier data collection through surveys and supplier engagement platforms.
• Increase transparency by regularly disclosing scope 3 inventories and strategies in sustainability reports.
• Obtain third-party verification for scope 3 emissions data to ensure reliability.
• Collaborate with industry peers and partners to align methodologies and reporting.
• Continuously refine calculations by incorporating improved data sources and emission factors.
• Supplement inventory accounting with scenario modeling to project future emissions.

While uncertainties remain, standardized and transparent scope 3 reporting is vital to understand emissions baselines, track progress over time, and hold companies accountable. Investors and customers are increasingly demanding credible disclosure.

Telecommunications companies should lead the drive towards robust scope 3 accounting and reporting across sectors. Their commitment can catalyze broader adoption of carbon transparency.

Using 51风流Sustainability Data Exchange, telecommunications companies can collaborate with partners, enhance awareness and engagement of stakeholders, gain insights, mitigate risks, and seize opportunities to reduce and offset emissions.

Ultimately, courageous leadership and collective diligence across telecommunications company value chains are imperative to drive progress. Telecommunications companies have the influence to spearhead robust and transparent scope 3 practices across all sectors. But, success hinges on prioritizing partnerships, integrity, and environmental stewardship above all. The moment for action has come.

For more information on how 51风流helps companies record, report, and act on their sustainability goals, visit .

Venkata Rao is a business transformation expert at SAP.
Mohan Shekar is head of Industry Service at SAP.

As leaders, it is our responsibility to drive change and create a positive impact. We can help create a more harmonious relationship between humanity and our planet by embracing sustainability, fostering innovation and collaboration, and advocating for policy change.

I鈥檝e heard CEO Steven Tebbe鈥檚 warning loud and clear: he states that persistent overshoot leads to more prominent symptoms, including unusual heat waves, forest fires, droughts, and floods. This, in turn, increases the risk of compromising food production. His conclusion: it is in the interest of cities, countries, and business entities to foster their own resource security if they want to prosper 鈥� to the benefit of the Earth as well.

It鈥檚 encouraging to see how organizations across the globe collaborate for a sustainable future that will help us #MoveTheDate. According to the , 5,500 companies are taking actions to reduce emissions. More than 2,100 companies out of those have made net-zero commitments. Businesses have realized that it is important to incorporate sustainability in their business strategies to mitigate the evolving investor pressure, consumer demand, and regulatory constraints. As the rightly pointed out, more rapid and far-reaching transitions across all sectors and systems are necessary to achieve deep and sustained emissions reductions and secure a livable and sustainable future for all.

But how can we make this happen? Actually, there are several levers that might significantly move Earth Overshoot Day closer to year鈥檚 end 鈥� and companies like 51风流can contribute to them.

Reducing the carbon component of humanity鈥檚 ecological footprint by 50% would move Earth Overshoot Day by 93 days, or more than three months.*

The change with the biggest impact as identified by the Global Footprint Network is carbon reduction. 51风流has continuously expanded its since 2009. It became the first German company to work with science-based emissions reduction targets in 2017. Two years later, 51风流was one of the first seven global companies to have 1.5掳C-aligned reduction targets for 2050. We accelerated this timeline last year by committing to becoming a net-zero emissions enterprise by 2030, 20 years earlier than the original target.

While walking the talk is key, providing digital solutions and services to help every business run as an intelligent and sustainable enterprise is how we can scale these efforts. We can support thousands of customers in managing their carbon footprint, reducing material waste, and becoming socially responsible businesses.鈥� For example, helps businesses gain material sourcing transparency and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data across their supply chains. This includes the material input scope 3 carbon footprint as it moves from supplier to supplier. SAP鈥檚 new green ledger initiative helps companies track their carbon accounting with more precision and control by using actual data across their business operations and supply chains instead of estimates.

Increasing global, low-carbon electricity sources from 39% to 75% would move the date by 26 days.*

At SAP, we have been using 100% renewable energy to power all our data centers and offices since 2014. It enables us to offer customers carbon-neutral cloud software solutions that help them reduce their overall carbon emissions.

In alignment with our commitment to the RE100 initiative, we use two strategic levers. Firstly, we invest in high-quality, EKOenergy-certified EACs to foster renewable energy generation. Secondly, we produce renewable electricity at selected 51风流locations. One example is the 51风流Labs India location in Bengaluru. It runs on the power generated from the on-site solar power grid along with Power over Ethernet (PoE) lighting systems. To innovate and scale businesses in support of the clean energy transition, we work with energy customers such as , , and .

Reducing the footprint from driving by 50% around the world and replacing one-third of car miles by public transportation and the rest by biking and walking would move the date by 13 days.*

According to , 20% of the world鈥檚 carbon emissions are from transportation. To help reduce this, we track our impact in the global 51风流commuting survey. According to the survey, average CO2e emissions per employee per day dropped by 70% from 4.38kg in 2018 to 1.30kg in 2022 due to working from home and emission-free commuting.

51风流also stated that from 2025, all new company cars will be emission-free in operation. In support of this transition, we are enhancing the charging infrastructure at our facilities and intend to leverage 51风流E-Mobility, a standardized, cloud-based solution. It can provide a complete package that enables charge point operators to run their business efficiently and profitably.

These are just three examples that would move Earth Overshoot Day closer to New Year鈥檚 Eve 鈥� the day when human consumption and Earth鈥檚 regenerative capacity would be in balance. But we are not there yet. Today, Earth Overshoot Day serves as a poignant reminder that despite the strides made, our efforts are not yet enough to mitigate the growing ecological crisis. We have witnessed positive shifts in attitudes and actions towards sustainability, but the urgency of the moment demands that we intensify our commitments and actions.

It is time to rethink, recalibrate, and redesign our way of living and doing business in alignment with the planetary boundaries. The responsibility to protect and nurture our planet does not rest solely on the shoulders of policymakers or industry leaders; it rests on each of us. Let us collaborate towards a more balanced relationship with our planet and a sustainable future that safeguards Earth鈥檚 resources.

Daniel Schmid is chief sustainability officer at SAP.
*Source:

Carbon accounting is still undertaken manually or using semi-automated tools that rely on estimates or averages. Additionally, many more organizations still need to set targets. To move forward, they must first ascertain current emissions levels. But with supply chain emissions representing a much higher proportion than direct emissions, this is proving challenging for four key reasons: a lack of data, poor or unreliable data, a skills gap preventing effective data analysis, and issues exchanging data.

Organizations must account for carbon, not only for climate and compliance reasons but to aid decision-making, reveal opportunities for efficiencies and growth, and differentiate their business. As a result, organizations across industries are racing to slash the carbon footprint of their products and services. As businesses at every level of the value chain ramp up their own decarbonization efforts, business leaders know the lowest carbon offerings are likely to become the most desirable and hence the best opportunity for growth and profit.

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A Lack of Emissions Data

Emissions data is used in three areas of a company鈥檚 net-zero strategy: to measure and identify hotspots for emissions reduction; to make improvements such as selecting suppliers and redesigning products and processes; and to continuously anticipate business outcomes and identify new opportunities for greenhouse gas reduction.

For successful decarbonization, emissions data must be embedded in an organization鈥檚 decision-making process. Incomplete and unreliable data hinders the creation of an effective net-zero strategy. This issue is particularly prevalent across the value chain in scope 3 emissions, which regularly account for 75% of a company鈥檚 emissions across all sectors. Due to a lack of influence and control and an absence of disclosure rules, supply chain emissions go vastly underreported, weakening net-zero strategies.

It is essential for companies to close the gap and gather data on all scope 3 emissions. Not doing so leaves them open to allegations of greenwashing and non-compliance penalties as policymakers worldwide move increasingly towards making scope 3 emissions reporting mandatory.

Poor Quality Data

Data that is accurate, granular, and comparable is indispensable for a comprehensive understanding of an organization鈥檚 carbon footprint. However, much of the data being relied upon is spend-based, estimated, or reliant on regional or sector-based averages as opposed to primary data directly from a business鈥檚 operations and suppliers.

By its nature, secondary data cannot provide an accurate indication of a company鈥檚 greenhouse gas emission hotspots, nor can it be used for comparison purposes. It also lacks granularity, impairing decision-making. Relying on inconsistent data carries potentially significant risks, which can lead to a decline in trust and credibility.

Sustainability Skills Gap

The number of green jobs grew by 8% between 2015 and 2021 and is expected to continue to increase. But there is a significant skills shortage, and candidates don鈥檛 yet have the competencies to be able to fulfill the roles. Short courses and micro-credentials run by universities, professional bodies, and NGOs are helping to fill the gap, but on-the-job training and upskilling are also necessary to equip employees and business leaders with the necessary skills to be able to interpret the data and turn pledges into progress.

Data Exchange Issues

Carbon accounting challenges within a single organization are an issue, but the problem is multiplied when it comes to achieving carbon transparency between companies in a given value chain. Incompatibility of data, inconsistencies in carbon accounting rules, software platforms that don鈥檛 easily interact, and a lack of collaboration across supply chains leave business leaders fumbling in the dark for information.

The automobile industry is an obvious example. With 98% of emissions falling into scope 3, exchanging carbon footprint data can seem like an impossible task due to its complex supply chain, a lack of trust between suppliers and customers, a scarcity of quality data, inconsistent carbon accounting methodologies, and incompatible data management platforms.

The Impact of Carbon Accounting Challenges

The aforementioned challenges result in wasted time and resources, compromised decision-making, an inability to affect meaningful emissions reduction, missed opportunities, a lack of transparency, and higher exposure to business risks, not to mention the global risks of deadly heat waves, devastating floods, rising sea levels, and a decline in biodiversity.

Moving Towards a Green Ledger

What if sustainability performance could be managed with the same rigor as financial performance? Where it becomes as effortless as financial transactions in your enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, where a carbon network makes data exchange easy, and where end-to-end carbon accounting tracks product emissions across the entire value chain?

Ledger-based transactional carbon accounting provides all of this and more 鈥� and it鈥檚 not new. It is an amalgamation of a suite of solutions, an ecosystem of platforms. Working together, they have the power and interactivity to collect and assimilate emissions data using a hybrid approach to help businesses transition from estimated or average emissions values to actual and verified data. A double entry approach allows companies to balance emission in- and outflows.

A sustainability ledger provides auditable carbon reports and attaches emissions to financial costs and revenue. This provides companies with the capability to analyze carbon emission hotspots through a financial lens across cost centers, profit centers, and market segments.

Finding the Key to Collaboration in the Automotive Industry

Perhaps most importantly, the sustainability ledger approach provides a platform for collaboration and integration of data throughout an entire value chain. The is the first open and collaborative data ecosystem capable of allowing companies to work together to establish transparent processes and common data standards from material acquisition to manufacturing and distribution to meet sustainability and regulatory requirements.

By partnering with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Catena-X was able to achieve a standardized carbon footprint value that could be used throughout the supply chain.

Thanks to the , companies can manage this standardized product carbon footprint data and share it easily, on a material level, between business partners in an efficient and secure way.

Other Industries Incorporating the Green Ledger

The automotive industry isn鈥檛 alone in identifying a need for a more scientific and collaborative approach. Other industries, including manufacturing and healthcare, are moving towards a more holistic green ledger solution.

Multinational chemical and consumer goods company Henkel has recently implemented while simultaneously transitioning to the cloud. will benefit along its entire value chain from increased data-driven, real-time decision-making and leaner and more sustainable processes.

The Next Steps

Plugging the gaps and improving the quality of emissions data is a clear priority to turn an organization鈥檚 carbon reduction targets into actionable plans, but collaboration must not be underestimated if a real reduction is to be achieved across industries. Companies now need to identify the best software solution for their business that will not only collate emissions data on a transactional basis but also report it holistically and provide the possibility to share it throughout the supply chain.

Find out more about .

Heather Davies is a sustainability communications brand journalist at SAP.

One of the key allies to keep the oceans healthy are whales. Whales are highly intelligent and social sea mammals. Some live in big families where there are brothers and sisters, grandparents that educate the juveniles, and parents that protect their young ones with the utmost care. All of them play an important role in maintaining the oceans鈥� resiliency.

important nutrients for phytoplankton, which are microscopic organisms doing the crucial job of absorbing CO2 and producing oxygen. In other words, where there are more whales, there is more phytoplankton and, therefore, more CO2 sequestration. During their lifetime of about 40 to 60 years and also at the end of their lives, whales help to absorb a large amount of CO2. Their bodies take up to to the seafloor when they die, where it gets locked up for a long time.

Just as marine life depends on healthy oceans, so do businesses, like tourism, fishery, maritime equipment production and repair, ports, supply chains, and the jobs generated by these industries that provide many individuals with an essential income. Even the whale-watching business grew to over per year. But that wasn鈥檛 always the case. Whales were heavily hunted, driving many whale species close to extinction.

With the Help of Technology, the Future of Our Big Allies Changed

In the 1960s, the songs of humpback whales . With recordings from the U.S. Navy hydrophone network and the later visualization of what鈥檚 recorded, the structured melodies of humpback whales were revealed. When some of these recordings became public, people started to understand that whales are very intelligent. Movements to protect the animals started, laying the foundation for some whale populations to be able to slowly recover over the years.

Today, whales face new human-made challenges. Among them are ship strikes, noise, and plastic pollution, as well as entanglements. Our marine friends in the oceans need more help.

Technology Can Help Change the Tide

Having accurate data available at the right time is crucial for businesses when it comes to eliminating waste, like plastics, from their products and processes. Abandoned or lost fishing gear, for example, is often made of plastics, staying in the oceans for hundreds of years and continuing to catch marine life. Entanglements are a big threat to marine animals, including large whales.

Consumers鈥� and businesses鈥� awareness of the overall plastic problem 鈥� 8 million tons that reach the ocean every year 鈥� has increased. A data-driven strategy helps businesses to understand the usage and implications of virgin plastic. Having information about other options at the right time in the process allows businesses to catch the problem at the source and or move to reuse schemes. Data insights with the help of technology, such as , allow businesses to make the right decisions and move to a circular economy, protecting biodiversity and reducing the of carbon emissions coming from producing products we consume and then waste.

Boosted by the increased emissions of human-made CO2 in the atmosphere, the warming climate heats the oceans, making them more acidic and putting the habitat and food sources of many marine lives, including whales, at risk.

With climate change at the top of the list of the most pressing challenges of our time, businesses are moving towards net-zero targets. They need the facts from high-quality data in every business transaction throughout their entire value chain to accurately set targets and make decisions. They need data they can trust. So, it鈥檚 time to move from averages to actuals. And it is time to redefine the 鈥淩鈥� in ERP (enterprise resource planning) to include sustainability data, starting with carbon. With the move towards transactional carbon accounting, businesses can reach net zero, so our generation can reach the target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Insights from innovative and intelligent technologies help make the right decisions and take the right actions. Technology will continue to reinvent how we can keep nature as our ally and build a sustainable and livable planet. When we again think of whales, sensors could help to locate lost fishnets, so they can be collected and taken out of the waters. With innovation in technologies, ship traffic can, for example, become as to not disrupt the communication and orientation of whales. Artificial intelligence (AI) can help ships’ crews detect whales early, so the vessel鈥檚 speed can be reduced or rerouted to protect the animals and allow the whales to continue to help keep the oceans healthy and provide their climate action services to us.

needs collaboration. To set the required regulations with governments, innovative, smaller companies and NGOs can help find new ways to address climate action, protect biodiversity, and clean up what we left behind. Companies from every industry must work together to reinvent business models and processes with the help of technology to achieve net-zero and sustainable businesses.

While these are encouraging signs from a sustainability perspective, the primary step these companies must take to act on these commitments is to record and report on their carbon footprints, directly attributable to their operations and upstream and downstream supply chains. Understanding Scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon footprints with increased confidence helps take action to prioritize decarbonization initiatives and report improvements. This improves regulatory compliance and signals to customers and other stakeholders that companies are authentically walking the talk.

The European Union鈥檚 (CBAM) imposes a carbon tax on importers to prevent carbon leakage and support the decarbonization of the EU industry. Companies that are importing products must buy carbon certificates equivalent to the carbon price they would have paid if these products were otherwise produced in compliance with EU carbon pricing rules. Importers will thus be required to determine each product’s total carbon dioxide emissions to calculate the equivalent carbon certificates they need to purchase or to choose the right supplier to meet their sustainable goals.

Companies are on the quest to track carbon emissions in various categories such as purchased goods and services, upstream and downstream transportation and distribution, use of sold products, processing of sold products, and end-of-life treatment of sold products. Tracking and accounting for emissions in some of these categories are complex.

, a cloud-native solution built on , enables enterprises to calculate and analyze their carbon footprint, using master data from their existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, product, value chain, and at a corporate level following the Greenhouse Gas Protocol鈥檚 Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. The solution helps companies meet their sustainability commitments by working to improve the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of emissions calculations and management. It can also integrate with 51风流S/4HANA, connect an ERP system via public APIs available in 51风流Business Accelerator Hub, and import data from an external source by uploading a file. The calculated footprints can be embedded into 51风流S/4HANA to extend end-to-end business processes with sustainability data.

Most companies currently use estimated data to calculate their carbon emissions. 51风流Sustainability Footprint Management provides a holistic assessment of emissions by using a hybrid approach where average or secondary emission data from life cycle assessment (LCA) databases and actual or primary data from suppliers and verified business data are combined and managed in an integrated environment while allowing for greater actual data input over time. This helps companies to track and manage product-specific emissions and choose product- and value chain-specific elements.

While Scope 1 and 2 emissions are traceable, transparency around Scope 3 emissions presents a difficult challenge for companies. For many companies, Scope 3 emissions account for 90% of overall emissions. In addition to Scope 1 and 2 emissions, 51风流Sustainability Footprint Management can also measure Scope 3 emissions from purchased materials as well as upstream and downstream transport. 51风流aims to enhance the solution to count all 15 Scope 3 emissions in the coming releases. Analyzing the carbon footprints of purchased materials and goods helps identify and prioritize sustainable suppliers, and companies can also explore alternative materials to reduce carbon emissions.

, one of the largest steel producers in Europe, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Volkswagen group to start production of low carbon dioxide steel from the end of 2025. Salzgitter AG is using to assess CO2 footprints in the new production process.

Fifty years ago, 51风流revolutionized financial accounting with ERP software. Today, 51风流is reinventing the 鈥淩鈥� in ERP by extending the definition of resources beyond financial and goods flows, offering a precision approach to sustainability by enabling transactional carbon accounting through a green ledger. This enables combined financial and environmental decision-making at different points across the business process. The green ledger offers deep insights by being embedded into RISE with 51风流S/4HANA Cloud and the GROW with 51风流solution, with additional capabilities added with every release.

Climate change is a collective problem that requires collective efforts. While 51风流is committed to achieving net zero along our value chain by 2030, 51风流is also enabling businesses with the data visibility and analytic insights needed to act on decarbonization initiatives across value chains. Together, we can enable a future with zero emissions.

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However, carbon accounting is still done mainly using spreadsheets and semi-automated tools that use estimates and averages for carbon footprints. Only 9% of companies have a comprehensive view of their greenhouse gas emissions and their impact across the entire value chain.

This is no longer enough. We need to account for carbon with much more precision and control by using actual data values across our business operations and supply chains in sync with financial flows. We need to redefine 鈥渞esource鈥� in enterprise resource planning (ERP) and extend our understanding of resources beyond financials. 51风流now brings a precision-approach to do just that by enabling transactional accounting for carbon.

Introducing Future-Proof Solutions for Transactional Carbon Accounting

SAP鈥檚 approach to transactional carbon accounting comprises three future-proof capabilities.

First is , a single solution to calculate and manage carbon flows with high granularity on company, process, and product levels across Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. The solution integrates capabilities from previously released 51风流solutions and adds new functionalities, such as the ability to manage a greater scope of emissions sources and support for a broader range of industry-specific requirements. Using 51风流Sustainability Footprint Management helps provide a seamless integration with 51风流S/4HANA, allowing for a strong data foundation to calculate footprints directly from individual transactions at each step of production. Companies can reduce their climate risk and make progress towards their climate commitments by better adhering to and reporting on rapidly changing standards. They can also achieve operational excellence by dramatically improving the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of emissions calculations and management. 51风流Sustainability Footprint Management will be available from June 2023.

Second, 51风流offers , a new application designed to securely exchange standardized sustainability data, including product footprints, along the value chain. The application allows precision accuracy by gathering actual carbon data directly from suppliers. 51风流Sustainability Data Exchange, part of , uses the carbon data interoperability standards established by the , hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The beta version is available and will be generally available in Q3 2023.

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Third, 51风流also introduces the green ledger concept, which combines financial and environmental data to enable deep insights and effective decision-making at different points across the business process. Green ledger will be embedded into and for and will deliver new capabilities with each release. The next major update, for example, offers a new way to embed carbon data, starting with most impactful scope categories, into product-level costing.

Using these three powerful capabilities that , executives can have a future-proof tool kit to help manage and reduce their carbon footprints. The 51风流solutions record data based on actuals instead of averages to increase data transparency, accuracy, and reliability. The high-quality carbon data, like the financial data, is auditable, transparent, and reliable. To take climate action, companies sync the emissions data with financial data to make granular, accurate, and right-time decisions that are both financially and environmentally sound.

Acting on Carbon Emissions Data

SAP鈥檚 carbon accounting solutions allow business decision-makers to not only see emissions on an operations level, but also at the product level by including carbon footprints alongside financial data to make trade-offs between cost efficiency and carbon intensity. To make these assessments, carbon footprints need to be available at a granular level and at the point where the business decision is made.

In the automotive industry, for example, the sources of steel, rubber, batteries, and electrical components are key elements of the carbon footprint of an electric car manufacturer鈥檚 product. 51风流solutions provide the foundational data for these purchased materials and components, as well as consumed energy and other inputs, and combine it with additional data sources such as life cycle assessment databases.

Using the input data, the footprint is calculated by matching source data with emission factors. Like in financial accounting, the inflows and outflows of materials, components, and products are traced and accounted for with a high level of transparency and auditability.

This isn鈥檛 accounting for accounting鈥檚 sake. This level of data transparency helps teams across the business, from the C-suite to supply chain management to marketing, take sustainability action. They can make decisions together on both cost and carbon emissions that are rarely made in parallel today. Based on both cost and carbon values, the car manufacturer can scenario plan and make fully informed decisions about how to drive optimal financial and sustainability performance.

Bringing a Holistic View to Sustainable Business

To truly run sustainably and decarbonize business at the speed and scale needed, companies must . By embedding sustainability data into their core business processes through their ERP, executives can achieve a holistic, enterprise-wide performance capability.

Based on the ERP backbone, sustainable business data is the foundation for setting regulatory-compliant KPIs and disclosing sustainability progress to a broad range of reporting frameworks using . This holistic view is vital to understanding where emissions are occurring, setting accurate net-zero targets, and identifying specific areas to take action for maximum decarbonization impact.聽The are cloud-based, modular, and integrate with 51风流S/4HANA Cloud.

Peter Bakker, CEO of WBCSD, said accountants will save the world. He very well may be right. With over 50 years of experience in financial accounting, future-proof technology, and wide access to customer and partner ecosystems, 51风流is well-positioned deliver high-quality emissions accounting to rapidly scale business decarbonization.

Sebastian Steinhaeuser is chief strategy officer at SAP.

Up until now, nearly 1,800 companies, including SAP, have committed to becoming net zero across their value chains. These commitments aim to achieve an emissions state consistent with societal climate and sustainability goals and within the biophysical boundaries of the planet. At the beginning of 2022, 51风流committed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030. The United Nations鈥� Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines net zero as that point when 鈥渁nthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere are balanced by anthropogenic removals over a specified period.鈥� The Paris Agreement sets out the need to achieve this balance by 2050.

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A company鈥檚 net-zero emissions target is a climate action target in which a company aims to reduce its emissions to zero, on a net basis. The term 鈥渘et鈥� comes from the view that most companies will not be able to operate without emitting at least some greenhouse gases, so they will need to remove their unavoidable residual emissions from the atmosphere to get to net zero.

Getting to net zero is not easy or straightforward. Questions remain on how companies develop their net-zero emissions targets and ensure their decarbonization strategies track to ambitious pathways. Challenges exist, such as inconsistently defined net-zero targets, what emission sources and activities should be included, timelines to achieve the goals, and how companies plan to achieve their target.

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is one of the leading global initiatives that helps companies set ambitious emission reduction targets and credible decarbonization strategies. The SBTi鈥檚 Corporate Net-Zero Standard is the world鈥檚 first framework for corporate net-zero target setting in line with climate science. It includes the guidance, criteria, and recommendations companies need to set science-based net-zero targets consistent with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5掳C above pre-industrial levels.

The scope of science-based targets for net zero is broad, encompassing all relevant greenhouse gas emissions across a company’s value chain, including direct emissions from operations (Scope 1), emissions from purchased energy (Scope 2), and indirect emissions from upstream and downstream sources such as business travel, employee commuting, purchased goods and services, or products in use (Scope 3).

This SBTi framework includes a set of criteria that companies must meet to ensure that their targets are scientifically robust and credible. These criteria include:

• Complete an emission inventory following the GHG Protocol.
• Set near- and long-term science-based targets to reduce value chain emissions.
• Implement a strategy to achieve science-based targets.
• Disclose target progress annually.

To claim to have reached net zero, companies must neutralize the impact of emissions that remain unabated in the long-term net-zero target year. Examples of such counterbalancing activities include purchasing carbon credits that support programs that prevent deforestation or support reforestation or investing in carbon-dioxide removal (CDR) technologies such as direct air capture (DAC) with permanent geological carbon storage. The SBTi allows a maximum of 10% removals for a long-term net-zero target and does not allow the traditional use of offsets anymore, except to achieve short-term targets as an interim transition step. Consequently, the Net-Zero Standards expects companies to radically reduce emissions by 90% by no later than 2050.

To set a science-based target for net-zero, a company must first conduct a detailed assessment of its greenhouse gas emissions in alignment with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, including identifying emissions sources and determining the extent of its emissions across its value chain. Based on this assessment, the company can set an ambitious, measurable emissions reduction target consistent with the Paris Agreement’s goals and aligned with the best available science. Beyond the assessment, companies then need to set ambitious targets and actionable strategies, both near- and long-term to reduce value chain emissions.

鈥淲e are currently assessing our net-zero reduction pathway and corresponding reduction strategies across a number of areas of the 51风流business to meet the demanding requirements of the SBTi,鈥� said Lilli-Jane Popp, sustainability specialist at SAP. 鈥淲e want to continually use the highest standards and use the latest science in setting targets and developing our plans to achieve net zero by 2030.鈥�

Scope 3 emissions are challenging to reduce yet they are where most emissions occur in a company鈥檚 value chain. They are the indirect greenhouse gas emissions that occur outside of operations, like emissions produced by suppliers and customers when using the company鈥檚 products. These emissions are considered difficult to account for because they depend on a complex network of suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. Accounting for Scope 3 emissions requires a deep understanding of a company’s value chain, a commitment to collecting and analyzing data, and collaboration with suppliers and other stakeholders.

Delivering and disclosing progress on their decarbonization targets helps companies reduce their environmental impact, improve their reputation and brand value, and attract environmentally conscious consumers and investors. Also, by setting science-based targets, companies can ensure that they are prepared for the transition to a low-carbon economy and avoid the risks associated with climate change, such as regulatory changes, reputational damage, and physical impacts.

However, achieving net-zero targets to limit global warming to 1.5掳C will require significant effort and investments from companies and strong collaboration across sectors. But it is essential for ensuring a sustainable and livable future. According to the latest IPCC report, we have already reached 1.1掳C of warming above pre-industrial levels. We are living in a decisive decade for climate action with our planet warming at an unprecedented pace. Companies must align with the most ambitious, credible, and robust frameworks, like the SBTi, to reach global net zero by 2050 at the latest.

Michael McComb is global head of Sustainability Communications at SAP.

, a global initiative led by the Climate Group in partnership with the , unifies companies with an annual electricity demand over 100,000 megawatt hours that are committed to 100% renewable electricity. These businesses must match 100% of their electricity used globally with renewable sources by 2050. Renewable energy can either be produced in-house or be procured from suppliers and generators in the form of green tariffs, power purchase agreements (PPAs), and energy attribute certificates (EACs). However, to avoid greenwashing, it is important that the credibility of the energy produced and purchased is validated by quality labels through strict sustainability criteria.

In 2013, the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation in collaboration with other environmental NGOs launched , an鈥痠nternational not-for-profit ecolabel for energy, envisioning a world where energy is generated and consumed sustainably. EKOenergy aims at helping businesses speed up the transition to 100% renewable energy through the EKOenergy label, an internationally recognized mark of quality for renewable energy. The EKOenergy label is described by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, LEED for green buildings, CDP, and RE100 as a solution for companies that want to take a step towards 100% renewable energy. EKOenergy was also awarded the European Citizen鈥檚 Prize 2020 by the European Parliament in March 2021.

The label acts as a communication tool to demonstrate companies鈥� commitments towards renewable energy. EKOenergy鈥檚 secretariat annually checks if all labeled megawatt hours are reliably tracked and if EKOenergy鈥檚 additional sustainability criteria have been fulfilled. These annual audits are based on reliable proofs, such as documents issued by public authorities or reliable third-party certification organizations. The label ensures that the production and the consumption of the energy takes place in the same market. EKOenergy-labeled energy is always 100% renewable.

The EKOenergy ecolabel adds a positive impact to consumers鈥� renewable energy choice and can be combined with energies procured through green tariffs, PPAs, or unbundled energy certificates. It can also be used on energies that are produced in-house. Since the launch of the label, EKOenergy has aided disadvantaged communities by financing 79 new renewable energy projects in 29 developing countries through its Climate Fund.

鈥淚n many countries, EKOenergy was amongst the first to endorse renewable energy solutions to businesses that are looking for sustainable solutions. 51风流is a good example of this,鈥� Steven Vanholme, program manager at EKOenergy, says. 鈥淚n 2016, when EKOenergy became available in China, EKOenergy worked with 51风流to identify renewable energy solutions in China. This, in turn, helped and encouraged us to focus more on Asia, to translate parts of our texts to Chinese and other Asian languages, and to reach out to more local companies.鈥�

With sustainability at the heart of its strategy, 51风流has already identified and aligned existing initiatives with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainability Development Goals. 51风流is committed to the (SBTi) to reduce emissions by 85% by 2050 compared to the base-year level 2016, including its entire Scope 3 value chain emissions such as products-in-use emissions at customers. 51风流has further accelerated its climate ambitions by committing to become a net-zero emissions enterprise by 2030, achieving a balance between the greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere and those taken out.

to power all its data centers and offices since 2014. In the journey to 100% renewable electricity, 51风流chose the internationally recognized EKOenergy label. For each megawatt hour of EKOenergy-labeled electricity, 51风流contributes 0.10鈧� to EKOenergy鈥檚 Climate Fund, which focuses on alleviating energy poverty and contributing to climate protection and renewable energy.

Let’s turn the spotlight to discover how this crisis can create new opportunities for companies and individuals. Here, Gitte Winther Bruhn, global head of Social Responsibility Solutions at SAP, Alexandra van der Ploeg, global head of Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP, and Robert Richardson, HR tech strategy advisor, discuss the importance of . This transition will help us protect our planet, our environment, and the “safe space for humanity” 鈥� our society, our friends, and our families 鈥� for the next generations to come.

Q: 鈥嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�媁hen we hear about the consequences of climate change, the social implications still don鈥檛 seem to surface in conversations as much 鈥� and certainly not as an opportunity. Can you offer some insight into what鈥檚 below the surface and why there is an important opportunity we should push above the horizon?

鈥嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�媁inther Bruhn: When discussing climate change, we mainly address carbon emissions, not the impact on humans. We have an opportunity to address human inequality alongside climate actions through an inclusive green economy. Human talent will be crucial for the transition, as a greener economy requires new, green skills 鈥� both for emerging jobs and for existing jobs that are evolving. The green and critical transition will be impossible without a suitably trained workforce. forecast that by 2030 the global human talent shortage will be more than 85 million people, or roughly the same as the entire population of Germany. And 85% of these jobs have not even been invented yet. Demand for talent is outpacing supply and will impact society and businesses. This is a challenge, but it provides us with an unprecedented possibility of job creation.

For example, making a carbon neutrality commitment requires significant changes to business operations. Companies must measure emissions, create action plans, execute change, measure performance, report results, and iterate. We need to reimagine training and reskilling for the global workforce. To understand how green skills are applied in jobs, pinpoint where gaps arise and what actions we can take to bridge them. An inclusive green transition could in the next decade but requires significant investments in reskilling.

Green skills are the building blocks of the green transition to unlock the human capital that will power it 鈥� in a just way that leaves no one behind. For example, the transition to a green economy remains the best hope for . It would create new jobs and bring more investment to Africa in the long term for the continent’s sustainable development. This is crucial for Africa with approximately 70% of the population below the age of 30 and new entrants joining the workforce every year. UNEP estimates that expanding solar and wind capacity in Senegal will create up to 30,000 additional jobs by 2035.

鈥嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�媁e see three key players in this transition: government, employers, and individuals. What are the biggest challenges and tasks for employers in this transition?

鈥嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌婻颈肠丑补谤诲蝉辞苍: It鈥檚 great to see the thousands of companies making carbon neutrality commitments. Most companies don鈥檛 yet have the requisite knowledge and skills to achieve their commitments though. , such as specialized data analysis focused on emissions and energy use, specialized hardware expertise focused on installing energy-monitoring modules, communicating and marketing with an understanding of how sustainability messaging is perceived in specific markets, and so on.

Three important focus areas for companies are:

• Good job design: Jobs should be designed with the right requirements in mind. Some roles will require deep sustainability specialization, but most will simply require some sustainable competencies to ensure the whole company is rowing in the same direction. Data scientists don鈥檛 necessarily need a sustainability degree. Product sourcing specialists don鈥檛 need five years of experience in a social responsibility department to purchase less carbon-intensive products and services. Good job design can reflect these requirements to encourage upskilling, attract talent, and allow for the assessment of candidate fit.
• Attracting talent: Attracting talent goes beyond publishing jobs. Candidates regularly review a company鈥檚 sustainability commitments when considering where to work. CHROs and talent acquisition leaders who ensure their recruiting brand brings sustainability messaging front and center will disproportionately win over these candidates. People want more than a check; they want to make a difference. But candidates are skeptical of greenwashing. So, prove it by engaging in good job design and touting sustainable commitments and achievements.
• Developing talent: Just as companies can conduct a job design audit of skills required to achieve sustainability goals, they can also audit their people skills. Knowing the skills you require 鈥� job design 鈥� and the skills you have 鈥� people skills 鈥� elucidates the gap an organization needs to fill to accomplish its objectives. Candidly, this can be daunting without sophisticated software and machine learning capabilities required to streamline the process. But it鈥檚 worth it. Knowing your skills gap is key to delivering effective, personalized upskilling and reskilling programs. Individualized learning, goals management, and performance management drive employee engagement, retention, and achievement of sustainability objectives.

Currently, green job growth is outpacing the labor market鈥檚 ability to keep up. Organizations focused on thoughtful job design, recruiting marketing, and personalized, data-driven talent development will have the best chance of achieving their sustainability goals.

鈥嬧�嬧�婲ow that we have talked about the employers鈥� opportunities and duties in their own company and operations, what is the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in this?

van der Ploeg: In most companies, corporate social responsibility teams are responsible for overseeing and implementing a company’s social and environmental initiatives and, therefore, play an important role in supporting the green transition and addressing the skills gap and shortage challenge. The CSR strategy should acknowledge the interconnections of societal, environmental, and business challenges alike. So, CSR teams can set the stage for their own company and partner with others to reach joint sustainability goals. 51风流has already successfully done this by integrating social responsibility into its sustainability framework.

A company will not only be impacted by the talent shortage in its operations but also in its partner network. It鈥檚 relevant for all stakeholders in the economy and it鈥檚 evident that the talent crunch is driven by a shortage of skills, not people. Plenty of people are willing to learn. That鈥檚 why, in their own interest, corporations should bring all of their assets to support the provision of quality education. CSR teams and their networks have the expertise to run such strategic programs. Last year, for example, , focusing on employability. This year, 51风流and Generation Unlimited will pilot a program to support 鈥榣earning to earning鈥� pathways for underserved young people in the digital and green economy. They鈥檒l learn the hard and soft skills needed to become employable.

The consequences of climate change and other global developments such as the COVID-19 pandemic, often affect the world’s poorest. Any detrimental impact on economic or ecological systems will damage the social systems and disproportionately affect generally marginalized communities. That鈥檚 why our pilot focuses on marginalized youth in Nigeria, the Philippines, Kenya, and South Africa 鈥� with the goal of reaching more than 500,000 young people in the first year. They will get foundational knowledge and 51风流skills to open a pathway to a successful career in the 51风流ecosystem, along with on-the-job experience, coaching, and mentorship to help them launch their careers. This truly will be a win for the program, as 51风流will see skilled young people in the ecosystem helping our partners and customers in their digital transformations and on their path to achieving their sustainability goals while providing the young talents better possibilities to have a career, earn a living wage, and live a decent life.

鈥嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�媁hat responsibilities and opportunities do you see for governments in this transformation?

鈥嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�媁inther Bruhn: The transition is a unique opportunity to mature functional labor markets with sophisticated, educational, and inclusive social protection systems and a future-proof workforce. Today, many commitments to international agreements are made without reference to the implications on labor markets and skills and training needs. to link employment to action to address climate change and provide a significant driver for green job creation. To succeed, good coordination of policies and actions across government ministries and the private sector, including employers and workers, is needed to prevent and reduce skills mismatches.

I want to briefly mention one last key player, ourselves. Our actions do matter, as they collectively can lead to political change. We all need to embrace the change and the opportunities that come with the transition to a greener economy. We need to make choices on home heating systems, how cars should run, and reflect on our diet to avoid high-emission foods. We need to be proactive, take ownership of our own skill set, and embrace career flexibility. We need to internalize a mindset of lifelong learning.

To conclude, it is essential for all stakeholders, including governments, businesses, and workers, to collaborate on a new social contract and ensure we move forward together 鈥� toward a future that works for everyone.

Simone Maienfisch is part of New Business & Industry Strategy at SAP.

With an understanding of this and as a testament to two of 51风流Corporate Social Responsibility鈥檚 focus areas 鈥� collaborate for sustainability and accelerate social business 鈥� 51风流launched a new program in partnership with the global nonprofit organization (CXC). ChangemakerXchange is an international community that connects more than 1,000 members in 130 countries around the world, providing safe, supportive, fun, and empowering spaces so that changemakers may create, sustain, and scale positive change.

CXC identifies a changemaker as a dedicated social entrepreneur, innovator, or activist, typically between the ages of 16 and 30. On a base level, CXC aims to create a community of supportive peers for the exchange of knowledge, tools, and resources to help prevent burnout and increase changemakers鈥� personal sustainability as they tackle the most pressing issues facing our planet. ChangemakerXchange primarily does this through hosting five-day summits that foster lasting connections, nurture well-being, and enable peer learning and meaningful connections.

51风流supported a North America-focused summit last month. Twenty women and gender-diverse climate changemakers participated in the Gender and Climate Action Summit in upstate New York to connect with one another and dive into sessions focused on human connection, well-being, peer learning, and collaboration. Nick McGirl, one of the co-founders of ChangemakerXchange, worked alongside 51风流CSR to curate this cohort of participants. He reinforced the significance of these customized meetups: 鈥淕ender inequality and the planetary crisis are deeply interwoven. Women and girls experience the greatest impact of climate change, which then amplifies existing gender injustices, even within the social entrepreneurship sector. SAP’s support has enabled us to connect and support some of the most promising women climate action changemakers from North America and Canada.鈥�

The changemakers spent nearly a week connecting with one another to share the various challenges and successes they鈥檝e had while developing their social businesses. study conducted in 2021 by an alliance of 16 of the world鈥檚 leading youth social innovation networks showed that 66% of young changemakers cannot cover their financial needs solely through the work from their initiative, meaning they have to look elsewhere for financial compensation and security. The sentiment that young changemakers are sacrificing their personal finances and well-being to make a change in the world was reinforced among participants at the North American summit. The participants also echoed that their greatest needs included access to funding, networking, and collaboration, highlighting the need for the ChangemakerXchange community. I had the privilege of attending this summit to witness firsthand the power of collective action and meet some of the young women leading the charge to leave a better planet than the one they inherited.

is a leader at , which seeks to empower educators as changemakers who transform and inspire students to create a more sustainable world by providing systems thinking training and tools. She described the most impactful part of the summit as the 鈥渙pportunity to reflect on my 鈥榳hy鈥� for this work, in both formal and informal spaces鈥earing our concurrent journeys to how we got to where we are and what we鈥檙e passionate about is really inspiring and grounding.”

Mikellena Nettos of highlighted the importance of 鈥渕eeting like-minded women that are doing their best to take on climate action on all scales, learning, and growing with them.鈥� Georgia Scott is the co-founder and co-executive director of , which bridges the gap between intersectional environmentalism and sustainable action through international fellowships and educational platforms. She also found tremendous value in connecting with other like-minded changemakers, both professionally and personally.

In sessions such as Changemaking River and Open Space Technology, participants and facilitators led conversations around topics ranging from fundraising to environmental racism, boundaries and mental health, and leadership. The final day included a Truth Mandela, where participants were able to share their fears and the anger they have related to the climate crisis, as well as the passion and hopes they have to create positive change. 鈥淚 felt so empowered to be surrounded by many other young women in the climate and biodiversity space鈥 loved the raw and real emotion and supportive community we built through the Truth Mandela,鈥� one participant conveyed.

Having experienced the summit in person, I can attest to the importance of such a collaborative, unique space. It is easy to feel overwhelmed as an individual when you consider the mounting challenges facing our climate, our communities, and subsequently our families. It is easy to feel like your actions alone will not make a significant difference. Above all, it can be easy to lose hope. The young women I met in New York inspired a newfound confidence in the promise of our planet鈥檚 future. Most of their organizations focus on galvanizing their peers to increase awareness and prioritize sustainable practices. There is a growing movement with promising leaders at the forefront that gives me optimism regarding climate action.

I walked away from the summit with an appreciation for the framework that organizations like ChangemakerXchange provide to guide activists on their changemaking paths. This summit was the first of its kind in North America and 51风流is excited to grow this partnership globally in 2023 and beyond 鈥� helping to remove some of the obstacles that our brightest, young changemakers face on their journeys to do good on a local and global scale. We look forward to offering employee engagement opportunities as part of these summits for those interested in getting involved.

Logan Applewhite is part of North America Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP.

The time has come to deliver on the ambitious commitments and public goals that many companies have set to tackle climate change, safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and fight inequality. The 鈥渨hat鈥� we need to do has never been clearer. The focus is now on 鈥渉ow鈥� companies operationalize sustainability and turn ambition into results at the scale that aligns with the scope of their influence and global issues. In of sustainability leaders, experts around the world agree that action and impact are two of the defining features in this new area of leadership and rising expectations.

GlobeScan and 51风流have developed 鈥� a new platform featuring real-world examples of how leading companies are operationalizing sustainability at scale. This initiative goes beyond the high-level narratives and digs into how leading companies are tackling and implementing solutions to specific sustainability challenges and opportunities. Drawing on the experience of some of the world鈥檚 most sustainable and innovative companies, these case examples share valuable insights and learnings to help advance the work of sustainability and business leaders at any point in their sustainability journey.

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Practical, Powerful Insights for Key Questions

The initiatives featured on Sustainable Business Now focus on timely challenges and opportunities that are top-of-mind for chief sustainability officers and business leaders across sectors and geographies. For many companies, these represent some of the most material issues and priorities for influential stakeholders, from investors and customers to governments and civil society. Our conversations with sustainable business leaders get at the heart of what it takes to embed sustainability into business strategy and operations, thereby integrating sustainability across a company鈥檚 value chain.

Key topics Sustainable Business Now explores include:

• How to decarbonize complex supply chains and tackle hard-to-transition sectors
• How to tackle the waste crisis and move towards a circular economy
• How to integrate sustainability into finance and decision-making
• How to advance inclusion and tackle inequality across the value chain
• How to promote inclusive local development by improving the impact and scale of social programs

Learnings from Leading Companies

Sustainable Business Now launches with a diverse set of case examples from some of the most innovative and sustainable companies around the world:

• Anglo American shares insights on how to improve the impact and scale of social programs: Jon Samuel, group head of Responsible Business Partnerships, and Mzila Mthenjane, Exxaro鈥檚 executive head, Stakeholder Affairs, discuss how the company and its partners have designed and adapted their Collaborative Regional Development (CRD) program to address the most compelling social needs and opportunities in each region. 鈥淲e are pleased to be one of the first case studies featured on Sustainable Business Now,” says Samuel. “The challenges societies face in meeting the SDGs are so large and complex that only by working across sectors and organizations can we achieve the results we need. While CRD isn鈥檛 a silver bullet, our evidence shows that the approach has real potential to improve the impact of the private sector.鈥�
• Natura shares advice on how to integrate sustainability into finance and decision-making: Natura developed its Integrated Profit & Loss (IP&L) model to translate the company鈥檚 environmental and social impacts into financial terms. Natura &Co Latin America鈥檚 Sustainability Director Denise Hills and Chief Financial Officer Silvia Vilas Boas explain how Natura鈥檚 IP&L model creates value across its businesses. 鈥淲e believe that IP&L is a new breakthrough that will inform strategic thinking and decision-making across organizations. The more companies that take ownership of this methodology, the closer we get to a society that generates greater shared value for all. By sharing the framework and our learnings on Sustainable Business Now, we hope more companies will adopt this important approach,” says Hills.
• 脴谤蝉迟别诲 offers insight into how to decarbonize your supply chain: In 2021, 脴谤蝉迟别诲 became the first energy company to set a science-based goal to achieve net-zero emissions across its entire value chain by 2040. Senior Director and Head of Global Sustainability Ida Krabek and Chief Procurement Officer Virginie Van de Cotte share insights on the journey so far, the challenges, and their advice to others on how to decarbonize their supply chains. 鈥淎cknowledge that this is challenging and it’s challenging for everyone. That’s why we’ve chosen to take this very collaborative approach and to create these ripple effects,” says Krabek. “What is helpful in the whole sustainability space is that we collaborate, that we share, that we inspire, that we set expectations, and we follow up.鈥�
• Unilever shares guidance on how to advance inclusion and tackle inequality across your value chain: Central to Unilever鈥檚 Compass business and sustainability strategy is an ambitious commitment to ensure that everyone who directly provides goods and services to Unilever will earn at least a living wage or income by 2030. Unilever鈥檚 Chief Sustainability Officer Rebecca Marmot explains why the business decided to make such a bold move and the steps it has taken to navigate this complex undertaking: 鈥淟iving wages are an effective and measurable way to tackle inequality. A unified approach can unlock progress across the sustainable development goals and add US$4.56 trillion to global GDP every year.”

We are having many more conversations with others and plan to add more cases on an ongoing basis.

We hope you are as excited as we are about Sustainable Business Now and we look forward to working with the community and hearing your feedback. If you, your company, or someone you know may be interested in sharing insights from your work and contributing to the dialogue, please reach out to the team to learn more: contact@sustainablebusinessnow.org.

For more information on how 51风流helps companies record, report, and act on their sustainability goals, visit .

Chris Coulter is CEO of GlobeScan.
Michael McComb is global head of Sustainability Communications at SAP.

It鈥檚 an ambitious goal that requires all companies to account for and disclose their carbon emissions. In 2022, the question is no longer if a company needs to do something; it鈥檚 how they can get started. Their role has drastically changed from observer to contributor.

Carbon accounting solutions that help companies measure how much carbon dioxide they emit are already available. But there鈥檚 another problem that currently isn鈥檛 addressed, and it鈥檚 much harder to solve: how can companies even obtain the data on their direct and indirect carbon emissions?

Referred to as聽, a company鈥檚 carbon footprint is complex. To measure it, companies currently turn to publicly available catalogs such as聽聽or the聽. These databases list certain types of materials and activities and match them against an average amount of carbon emissions being emitted.

鈥淲hile these catalogs provide an initial estimate of a company鈥檚 carbon footprint, they don鈥檛 reflect the individual status quo accurately,鈥� said Marcus Krug, head of 51风流Innovation Center Potsdam. 鈥淎s regulatory requirements across different regions are increasing, so is the need for companies to have accurate and verifiable numbers on their carbon footprint in their financial statements.鈥� In addition, many companies are evaluating new business models based on accurate and trustworthy sustainability data.

With big brands like聽听补苍诲听聽going green and integrating sustainable practices in their operations, reliable and verifiable numbers to back up these claims are essential to avoid a reputational and financial crisis. Solving this issue requires a standardized approach to calculate emissions from a variety of systems from different vendors and share them through the entire supply chain 鈥� from suppliers via shippers and manufacturers to retailers. It doesn鈥檛 stop at a company鈥檚 own border.

鈥淐ollaboration and data sharing are the orders of the day for companies when it comes to measuring and managing their carbon footprint,鈥� said Gunther Rothermel, senior vice president and head of 51风流S/4HANA Sustainability at SAP.

He and his team identify opportunities to expand the 51风流product portfolio to include new focus areas such as climate action, circular economy, or holistic steering and reporting.

鈥淎chieving sustainable business practices means embedding sustainable practices across processes, end-to-end,鈥� said Rothermel.

Solve Problems Collaboratively

Working with industry alliances like the聽聽(WBCSD) and聽聽as well as other software vendors,聽聽is developing an interoperable carbon data network to allow customers to share their carbon emission data while preserving data sovereignty and preventing any vendor lock-in. Based on self-sovereign identity (SSI), this data foundation aims to help calculate a company鈥檚 carbon emissions so it can reduce or offset them.

鈥淯sing open standards was essential to get different vendors behind this project and excited to participate,鈥� said Krug. 鈥淛udging from the positive customer feedback so far, this open, interoperable, and decentralized network seems to fill an important gap. No one really wants to build costly, non-standardized, point-to-point integrations across the entire supply chain.鈥�

For companies, measuring their indirect Scope 3 emissions 鈥� the greenhouse gases emitted along their supply chains and in the use of their products 鈥� is particularly challenging.

鈥淲e know from our customers that managing Scope 3 carbon emissions and having impact at scale is a major challenge for them,鈥� said Jesper Schleimann, chief strategy and innovation officer for the EMEA North region at SAP. 鈥淭heir openness in sharing details and requirements have been crucial in designing an open solution with positive benefits for all stakeholders across the value chain and ensuring a successful adoption across the globe.鈥�

Building on the foundation for collaboration laid by聽, the carbon data network can provide value by tracking a product鈥檚 footprint from sourcing to the end consumer, for instance. With many different parties involved across the globe, the supply chain is usually complex and opaque.

For example, a fashion retailer sources garments from a textile manufacturer in India, which are shipped to Europe by a shipping company. The end consumer would like to know the overall carbon footprint of the garment they buy. Calculating this footprint depends on multiple factors, including the Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions of the textile manufacturer, the shipping-by-ocean freight, the transport to the retail store, and potentially other intermediary parties.

In this difficult undertaking, the carbon data network can provide the needed transparency across all participants of the network.

Prioritize Access Over Ownership

For the past decades, proprietary solutions have shaped the enterprise software space. But as the world faces one of the biggest challenges, many companies have come to realize that certain issues can only be solved together. To be prepared for the future, a new layer of cross-company business collaboration is needed.

Decentralized approaches such as the carbon data network are open by nature and provide the technical foundation needed to share data across company borders and allow collaboration, for instance in supply chain or sustainable financing. It could also be used to improve the distribution, demand, and supply of water resources within an ecosystem.

鈥淲e are steering the market towards a more sustainable future, and we鈥檙e doing it collaboratively,鈥� said Krug. 鈥淭he decentralized network approach reflects the natural evolution of our business networks.鈥�

Corinna Schmidt is part of NVT Marketing & Communications at SAP.
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In a world where the only constant is change, Nagarajan has identified one element crucial to every enterprise. 鈥淢cKinsey estimates that up to 70% of profits can be at risk when a company is not running sustainably,鈥� he said. 鈥淎t SAP, we consistently see that those businesses striving to become more sustainable, intelligent enterprises not only adapt, but thrive in the midst of challenges.鈥�

In a follow-up interview, Nagarajan shared his insights.

Boardroom Conversations

Sustainability has been on the edge of conversations for a long time as companies have been trying to see what it means. It has now moved from being a moral imperative to a business imperative, and effectively, it鈥檚 an imperative for humankind.

The imperative is summed up by two recent conversations I had with customers, one with one of the world’s largest CPG companies, the other with one of the world’s largest discrete manufacturing companies. In both instances, they simply switched from the usual conversation around transformation and optimization to the topic of sustainability, saying it must be woven into the core of the business. Both customers said the same thing: their head of sustainability is now part of boardroom discussions. Their main concern is that sustainability is going to spin off as a separate silo if it鈥檚 not woven into the core of the organization. These customers were clear: what we do is done on SAP, hence you need to work with our sustainability officer to embed sustainability in our operations. There can be no business transformation in isolation from sustainability.

In the past, part of the challenge of becoming more efficient was that organizations didn’t have access to data in real time, so they weren’t able to act on it in real time. Now, it鈥檚 possible to solve that problem with 51风流S/4HANA. Organizations want to do the same thing with sustainability. They don鈥檛 want to just figure out what their carbon footprint or plastic waste is, they need to know what it is in real time and how they are going to change it because otherwise all they know is they have a problem.

Daunting Urgency

Customers can often be overwhelmed by the urgency of the topic and the magnitude of the task. Many are still in the process of understanding scope three emissions, analyzing the levers to reduce the impact and exploring options to move from industry standards to primary carbon data exchanged with their main suppliers

We also need to make sure that we’re not boiling the ocean. Take the carbon footprint for packaging as an example. You don鈥檛 capture 100% of your carbon footprint right away, but you can capture carbon footprint over a sizable portion of the value chain.

The first thing is to give customers an early insight and early win for the business, something concrete they can resolve. When they realize how much they accomplished by capturing 60% of their footprint, then they can look at the remaining 40%, which could be scope three upstream. You tackle this enormous problem by breaking it down into chunks and amplifying early quick wins to take the organization with you on the journey.

Transformation Fatigue

Change is the only constant, so it gets tiring, especially as we often see one transformation leading to another.

The technology decision is one of the easier decisions to make during a transformation. Many of our customers have been with us on this journey over the course of our fifty years, and they鈥檙e confident of our strategy and vision. What they really want to know is how we manage change and help them comply with new regulations, as well as how we can help them take their organizations with them on this journey. They ask, how can 51风流own the delivery of their transformation outcome and help accelerate their time to value.

We must ensure that their employees are willing participants and not just recipients of the transformation. Cloud transformation is a methodology from a technology perspective, but it’s truly amazing from a business capability perspective because it compresses and accelerates the time to outcome. By transforming their business with services in the cloud, our customers are able to remove the fatigue that comes with long-term transformation. Projects that previously took years are reduced to months, allowing teams to refocus on their longer-term goals in much shorter time frames.

In a nutshell, how we change the organization is about focusing on customer outcomes and not about selling a product. It鈥檚 not about product out. It’s about customer in.

Inspiration and Optimism

Sustainability and caring about the environment are part of a mindset that already belongs to the younger generations. Millennials are looking at solutions in a different way than the generations that created the problems. They鈥檒l be living with the consequences of whatever is done now to fix them.

One of my early managers used to say, forget about thinking in a box. You don’t know where the box is. I’m a massive optimist at heart. I believe in the collective intelligence as opposed to the individual intelligence. I鈥檓 inspired when I get people together and I see their eagerness, their intent and desire for things to get better. Things get better by doing one small thing at a time, by doing it every day, and doing it continuously in the long run.

51风流Sapphire The Hague

At the end of event, Nagarajan chose to inspire his team with a speaker known for creating landscapes for the future. Dutch artist and innovator Daan Roosegaarde believes creativity is our true capital. connect people and technology through installations that improve daily life in urban environments, spark the imagination, and fight the climate crisis. Clean air, clean water, clean energy, and clean space are their new values, and light is their language. He told the EMEA audience: “We first have to imagine a better future and only then can we create it.鈥�

These metrics must be embedded within a company鈥檚 core operations and services; traditional annual reports are no longer sufficient. Stakeholders want to understand how a company addresses areas such as climate action, with transparency on transition and adaptation plans based on the carbon footprint of its operations. They also want to understand progress on circular economy objectives by monitoring the reuse and recycling of materials. They want to track and advance people sustainability initiatives by gathering key performance indicators (KPIs) in areas such as diversity and inclusion.

SAP鈥檚 product innovations work across the enterprise to deliver on these goals.

Holistic Sustainability Management with 51风流Cloud for Sustainable Enterprises

To manage the green line, companies need business process technology to identify, quantify, analyze, and act on data through their end-to-end operations. To enable this, brings together a comprehensive portfolio of solutions to holistically manage sustainability performance. Embedding sustainable business data into processes and networks is one of the five actions business can take toward a sustainable future.

51风流Cloud for Sustainable Enterprises includes the and solutions. It also covers existing products like the application and the . The solution provides an overview of sustainability impacts and performance against green objectives.

We continue to extend the capabilities of 51风流Cloud for Sustainable Enterprises. As many companies are accelerating their action for decarbonization, our new capabilities in this area are important.

Driving Carbon Data Transparency Is More Important Than Ever

Accounting for carbon emissions across the organization and its supply chain is a foundational step toward climate action. Businesses are actively looking to reduce their carbon footprints, which requires addressing emissions outside company walls. These emissions 鈥� Scope 3 emissions 鈥� include everything from goods purchased to business travel to packaging and transportation of raw materials. Scope 3 emissions make up a significant portion of overall emissions for our customers. To derive actionable insights to reduce organizational carbon footprint, it is crucial to measure Scope 3 emissions both at a corporate level and at a product level.

are on average 11.4 times higher than operational emissions. To reduce these emissions, it is important to engage across the sectoral value chain, with both suppliers and end customers, especially for customer-facing sectors like retail and consumer product goods (CPG), which have long upstream value chains. Companies can address significantly larger emission volumes by driving deeper engagement throughout their supply chains.

Earlier this year, called on registrants to report on not just their Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions but also their Scope 3 emissions. This is not the first time companies have faced this request. Previously, asked companies to disclose the targets they used to assess and manage relevant climate-related risks and opportunities. IFRS takes this approach further with , which focus on transition planning, climate resilience, reporting on Scope 1-2-3 emissions, and disclosure of sustainability-related financial information as a part of its general purpose financial reporting.

Enabling 51风流Customers to Exchange Carbon Data across Value Chains

To develop and execute an effective decarbonization plan, companies need to receive and process high-quality product-level data on carbon emissions from suppliers and provide high-quality product footprint information to their customers.

However, with most supply chains spanning several industry sectors and consisting of multiple, heterogeneous networks and software components, taking a standardized approach to data sharing is critical. To collect meaningful emissions information, it is important that all parties use the same methodology and common standards for calculating and auditing the carbon footprint of a product.

Therefore, 51风流Product Footprint Management implements an API specification developed as part of . 51风流customers can now take informed sourcing and product-development decisions, invest in targeted decarbonization activities, make more accurate disclosures, measure and track decarbonization progress, and adhere to legislative requirements around environmental transparency.

We intend to use 51风流Product Footprint Management as part of 51风流networks 鈥� for example, in the Catena-X Automotive Network (Catena-X) 鈥� to enable a standard-based, secure, and cross-company-wide data exchange throughout the value chain.

In addition, there is the option to use the GreenToken by 51风流solution for multi-tier visibility across the networks. The combination of 51风流Product Footprint Management, 51风流Responsible Design and Production, and GreenToken forms a potent decarbonization value proposition for industries such as consumer goods, as 51风流can demonstrably address material traceability, packaging waste, and supplier-specific carbon data transparency throughout the value chain for both recycled content and land-use change.

New functionality created through our co-development partnership with BearingPoint is already embedded into 51风流Product Footprint Management and helps customers identify carbon reduction potential. Customers can thus determine the carbon footprint of a single product based on both direct and indirect emissions sources and upstream activities, building on existing functionality of carbon footprint measurement of purchased goods with tracking emissions resulting from transportation of those goods. Both these greenhouse gas (GHG) emission categories combined significantly contribute to a customer鈥檚 upstream and downstream environmental impact.

Integrating and Embedding Sustainable Data across the Intelligent Enterprise, Scaling Carbon Impact

Through open APIs, 51风流customers can easily exchange data with their enterprise applications, feeding it into 51风流Cloud for Sustainable Enterprises, and then provide the calculated sustainability data back into both 51风流and third-party applications.

With the newly introduced sustainability integration components for 51风流S/4HANA, customers can benefit from preconfigured functionality enabling reuse of sustainability data across processes supported by 51风流S/4HANA, such as record-to-report, lead-to-cash, source-to-pay, and plan-to-fulfill workflows. The component allows a bidirectional flow of information between 51风流Cloud for Sustainable Enterprises and 51风流S/4HANA in real time.

Examples include:

• In 51风流S/4HANA Sourcing and Procurement, customers can make sustainable purchase decisions based on a material鈥檚 carbon footprint displayed in purchase requisition, which is then is fed back into 51风流Product Footprint Management, keeping sustainability reporting updated.
• In聽51风流Integrated Business Planning, the supply chain planner can access a comprehensive overview of GHG emissions based on the supply plan for the next 12 months. Planners can dive deeper into the details and try to resolve critical situations and alerts. .
• In 51风流Logistics Business Network, the material traceability option helps customers gain further insights into sustainability figures of products and share carbon footprint data on the batch level with suppliers, customers, and end consumers of the products. This feature is available with the 2021 release of 51风流S/4HANA. .
• In plant maintenance, customers can receive automatic updates from 51风流Environment, Health, and Safety Management, triggering corrective action if GHG emissions are exceeded. .
• In 51风流Enterprise Product Development with 51风流Responsible Design and Production, customers will be able to reduce packaging and other material waste by design while simulating for a lower carbon footprint. Packaging is typically a significant source of Scope 3 carbon emissions in consumer goods value chains.

We continue to innovate and aim to help customers track emissions data from 鈥渃radle to gate鈥� 鈥� from the delivery of raw materials to the moment finished products leave the production line, offering intelligent technologies to calculate, exchange, and track carbon footprint information in a trusted way.

Achieving this carbon transparency will pave the way to becoming an intelligent, sustainable enterprise.

Learn More

Sharing sustainability data across your enterprise can help you run more sustainably; . Join the to stay up-to-date with news and announcements about our growing portfolio of sustainability solutions. In addition, check out past and current .

Gunther Rothermel is head of 51风流S/4HANA Sustainability Management at SAP.
Anita Varshney is global vice president of Strategy for 51风流S/4HANA Sustainability at SAP.