The world today is grappling with a polycrisis 鈥� a complex set of interconnected global challenges that impact economies, industries, and job markets simultaneously. From climate change and geopolitical tensions to technological disruptions and economic instability, these crises are reshaping the landscape of work, especially for young people. While youth unemployment remains high, employers worldwide are also struggling to fill critical roles, highlighting a significant skills gap.

According to the (ILO), global youth unemployment was 13% in 2023, with many young people facing limited prospects for stable and decent work. On the flip side, the (WEF) found that 44% of businesses report difficulties in finding talent with the right skills to fill jobs. This contrast reflects a deepening mismatch between the supply of young job seekers and the demand for skilled talent, which, if left unaddressed, will exacerbate both unemployment and the talent shortage.

To tackle this challenge, we must take a comprehensive, systems-based approach, focusing on five interconnected elements: economy, education, employability, equality, and the ecosystem. Together, these factors can help close the skills gap, reduce youth unemployment, and create pathways to decent work for all.

Economy: Growing Jobs and Funding

Economic growth remains a critical driver of job creation, but the quality and inclusivity of that growth matter. In many parts of the world, jobless growth has become a pressing concern, as economies expand without generating enough formal employment opportunities for young people. Youth unemployment continues to rise even in nations with positive GDP growth, indicating that inclusive economic policies and investment in key sectors are lacking (ILO, 2024).

Moreover, the alignment between economic growth and investment in education is critical. The highlights that national budgets for education often fall short of the recommended 4%-6% of GDP that UNESCO advocates. Without adequate financial support, education systems cannot provide the skills and competencies needed to prepare young people for modern job markets, leaving many young workers without the necessary tools to succeed.

Education: Providing the Foundation for Lifelong Learning

Education systems need to evolve to meet the changing demands of the workforce. The emphasizes the importance of embedding skills, knowledge, attitudes, and values into education systems to ensure that young people are prepared for lifelong learning. In particular, stackable credentials 鈥� modular qualifications that allow learners to build expertise over time 鈥� are becoming an essential component of successful education-to-employment transitions.

Despite the need for adaptable learning pathways, many education systems remain rigid and slow to adopt these models. However, countries that have embraced flexible learning, such as Germany with its robust vocational education and training (VET) programs, have been able to reduce youth unemployment significantly. The integration of industry-specialized learning and competency-based education is critical for preparing young people to thrive in an evolving workforce, particularly in sectors like technology and sustainability.

Employability: Training the Right Skills for Employment or Entrepreneurial Success

One of the most significant barriers to reducing youth unemployment is the skills mismatch 鈥� the gap between what young people learn and what employers need. The projects that 50% of employees will need reskilling by 2025 due to rapid technological advancements. Yet, traditional education systems are often not aligned with industry needs, leaving many young workers without the skills required for high-growth sectors.

Governments and businesses must collaborate to ensure that training programs are directly linked to market demand. Public-private partnerships, such as apprenticeship programs and industry-led training initiatives, can play a pivotal role in closing the skills gap. For example, in Switzerland, where education and training are tightly integrated with the labor market, youth unemployment is among the in the world. Building a system that continually adapts to changing workforce needs is essential for improving youth employability.

Recent trends show that many young people increasingly prefer entrepreneurship over traditional employment, driven by the desire for independence and the ability to create change. A 2019 study by Deloitte found that 76% of millennials view entrepreneurship as a key vehicle for driving social impact. However, research highlights the need for robust support systems to help these young entrepreneurs succeed. emphasizes that access to entrepreneurial education, mentorship, and skill development is critical for youth to thrive in their ventures.

Equality: Ensuring an Inclusive and Diverse Talent Pipeline

Any strategy to reduce youth unemployment must prioritize equality, ensuring that opportunities are equally accessible to all young people, regardless of their background, gender, or location. Despite advances in education, women and marginalized communities continue to face barriers to entry in high-growth industries, particularly in STEM fields. According to , only 35% of STEM graduates are women, highlighting the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Programs that specifically target underrepresented groups 鈥� such as mentorships and women-in-tech initiatives 鈥� can help diversify the talent pipeline. Furthermore, companies that emphasize inclusive hiring practices, gender parity, and equity in leadership are not only contributing to social justice but also benefiting from a more innovative and dynamic workforce. The is clear: promoting diversity is a strategic advantage in the modern economy.

Ecosystem: Aligning Stakeholders for Maximum Impact

A thriving job market requires more than just a functioning economy and well-prepared workers 鈥� it needs a cohesive ecosystem where governments, businesses, educational institutions, and civil society work together efficiently. The underscores the importance of synergy across the value chain, ensuring that all stakeholders are aligned toward the goal of reducing unemployment and fostering decent work.

Successful models of ecosystem collaboration, like those seen in Singapore, offer valuable lessons for other nations. In these countries, the government plays a central role in orchestrating cooperation between educational institutions and industries to ensure that young people are being trained in fields that are projected to grow. Such synergies foster an environment where young people can transition smoothly from education to employment and where employers can easily find the talent they need.

As respective leaders, 51风流and UNICEF join forces to create innovative solutions to global skilling and workforce challenges with an aim to help young people transition to earning. Together, we鈥檙e generating inclusive opportunities for underserved young people worldwide, preparing them for decent work with the skills that employers need.

We expanded our partnership in 2022, with a three-year investment focused on impacting youth in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa through a new program that supports learning to earning pathways in growing digital and green economies. The program helps equip youth with the essential skills they need to flourish 鈥� wherever they may see their future. Further, it builds on UNICEF鈥檚 Generation Unlimited (GenU) signature program, Youth Agency Marketplace (YOMA), a platform developed by young Africans to tackle labor market challenges and increase youth agency across the globe. By the end of the first year, 51风流and UNICEF鈥檚 GenU reached more than 600,000 youth, granting them access to foundational and digital skills opportunities that help young people unlock opportunities in the changing global economy.

One of the learn to earn pathways on YOMA is the 51风流Educate to Employ initiative designed by 51风流to help equip beneficiaries with essential competencies for the digital economy. The free initiative, implemented by the local non-profit UMUZI, focuses on developing skills, knowledge, attitudes, and values to help prepare candidates for employment. It also aims to assist employers in accessing diverse and certified talent, thereby accelerating digital transformation in each country through a skilled talent pipeline. More than 1,000 learners completed one or more foundational skills courses, while 165 learners completed over 400 hours of critical skills development training and achieved an 51风流certification for technology consultant beginners. Additionally, 100 learners have completed their intermediate training on the 51风流Learning site and are preparing for SAP-certified associate exams.

This multistakeholder approach underscores the power of partnership in addressing complex social challenges. By pooling expertise and resources, SAP, UNICEF鈥檚 GenU, and UMUZI are collectively ensuring that youth not only gain relevant skills but also access meaningful pathways to employment. These partnerships exemplify the collaborative frameworks needed to drive sustainable impact on a global scale. As digital and green economies continue to reshape the future of work, partnerships that unite private, public, and civil society actors will remain crucial in ensuring that marginalized youth are not left behind.

A Path Forward

The polycrisis we face today demands multidimensional solutions that address both the supply and demand sides of the labor market. By focusing on the interconnected elements of economy, education, employability, equality, and ecosystem, we can create a comprehensive strategy to reduce youth unemployment and foster decent work for all.

Policymakers, business leaders, and educators must come together to close the skills gap, promote inclusive growth, and build resilient labor markets. The challenges are great, but so are the opportunities. With coordinated effort and sustained investment, we can build a future where young people have the skills, opportunities, and support they need to thrive in the global economy.

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

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.

Data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics indicates that the most significant deficits in teaching personnel are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, posing a significant risk to the continent’s development. The region requires approximately 17 million teachers in total to realize the goal of universal primary and secondary education by 2030.

This basic education predicament also affects young people鈥檚 acquisition of future skills 鈥� a formidable barrier to their employment prospects and potential. It is deeply disheartening that indicate that more than 72 million youth in Africa are not in education, employment, or training. The majority of them young women.听

In addition, while the global literacy rate stands at 90%,听. Apart from traditional literacy skills like reading and writing, it is crucial to acknowledge that fundamental digital literacy is no longer optional; it’s a necessity. It is the key that unlocks understanding, engagement, and prosperity in our interconnected world. These competencies extend beyond mere instruments for developing systems, software, and applications; they are enablers of critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and innovation.

According to a report from the approximately 230 million jobs in sub-Saharan Africa will demand digital skills by 2030. While these figures may seem daunting, they also fuel our desire to continue to innovate and drive greater change, while reflecting on the profound impact of SAP’s philanthropic efforts.

Equipping Teachers with 21st Century Skills

Spearheaded by 51风流in 2015 as part of its social investments to drive sustainable growth in Africa, Africa Code Week is a digital skills development initiative that has benefited millions of young Africans thus far.听In 2022 alone, the听 program actively engaged more than 2.6 million participants, equipping them with indispensable 21st century skills. Through an impressive tally of 37,121 workshops spanning the continent, it is encouraging to note that 48% of participants were female, furthering our commitment to gender equality. We also extended this transformative opportunity to nearly 10,000 young individuals with special needs, nurturing their growth and potential.

While this program has made remarkable strides, challenges persist. Without teachers who can impart 21st century learning skills to students, the continent risks creating a digital divide that could stifle economic growth and limit opportunities for its young population. The Women Empowerment Program within Africa Code Week is making a significant impact in this regard. This continuing professional development program equips African female teachers and educators in computer science and STEM with the skills and knowledge they need to successfully teach, inspire, mentor, and prepare girls for tomorrow鈥檚 tech workplace.

The program thereby supports the ambitious plans of Africa Code Week to transform the continent鈥檚 education system by including digital literacy in national curricula 鈥� in line with the work of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) , , and .

Additionally, Train-the-Trainer sessions at Africa Code Week are an integral component of the program’s mission to equip educators with the knowledge and skills needed to teach coding and digital literacy to students across the continent. These sessions serve as a capacity-building initiative designed to create a network of skilled trainers who can in turn train teachers and students in their local communities.

By providing educators with specialized training in coding and digital literacy, they can enhance their teaching capacity. The workshops also equip educators to deliver high-quality instruction in technology-related subjects, which are increasingly important in the 21st century classroom. In addition to this, educators are empowered to go beyond traditional teaching methods. They learn how to incorporate innovative and technology-driven pedagogical approaches into their classrooms. This not only improves the learning experience for students, but also makes teaching more engaging and relevant.

Looking Ahead

As we reflect on the significance of World Teachers’ Day 2023, it is important to remember that teachers are the torchbearers of knowledge, hope, and progress. By championing equal access to education, we recognize that future skills play a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of tomorrow’s workforce.

By addressing the teacher shortage, upskilling educators in advanced 21st century learning, and promoting digital literacy, we can uplift Africa’s youth to shape a brighter future. Together, we can turn the global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage into a reality that benefits us all.

Claire Gillissen-Duval is head of 51风流CSR for EMEA and MEE.

Many of these workers come from Vietnam and paid three to four times the minimum annual wage typical in their home country as a recruitment fee for their jobs. Some even had to fork out the equivalent of 鈧�950 on top as a deposit, returnable only if they worked their full three-year contract. The majority of the workers and their families took on significant debt to do so, say those affected.

New Human Rights Laws Proving Effective

Tagesschau鈥檚 investigations were triggered last year following reports published in current affairs publications Le Monde Diplomatique and The Diplomat. Following up on the allegations, the European automotive suppliers launched their own probes and, after uncovering human rights abuses, reached agreements with their business partners in Taiwan that affected workers would be repaid and that new recruits would no longer have to pay fees to secure a job.

The fact that these human rights violations were identified and at least partially eliminated appears to be a first success of the , which came into effect on January听1,听2023. It sets out the due diligence duties of companies operating in Germany and obliges them to respect human rights and environmental standards within their global value chains. The act thus aims to make the legally binding. Similar laws are in force elsewhere in the world too, including modern slavery legislation in the UK and Australia and the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act.

Respect for Human Rights and the Environment along the Supply Chain

The LkSG sets out the international human rights and environmental standards that companies must comply with to fulfill their due diligence obligations. These include, among others, prohibiting child labor, slavery, forced labor, and torture; allowing the formation of employee representation bodies; ensuring freedom from discrimination; and protecting against the unlawful seizure of land, the disregard of occupational health and safety obligations, the withholding of an adequate wage, and harmful soil alteration or water contamination. Violations can result in heavy fines and in the offending company鈥檚 exclusion from public tenders. Indeed, the draft EU Supply Chain Act that is currently being negotiated is in some respects even stricter than the German act.

The LkSG stipulates that all companies above a certain size must designate responsibilities, for example by appointing a human rights officer. This officer is tasked with monitoring the implementation and execution of risk management, which includes reviewing the company鈥檚 risk analysis as well as its remedial and preventive measures.

Stephanie Raabe from SAP鈥檚 Corporate Sustainability team has been working on and driving this topic for many years. She was named SAP鈥檚 Human Rights Officer on January 1, 2023. 鈥淐ompanies that are serious about sustainability must take human rights seriously too,鈥� she says. The (UN SDGs) are designed to improve people鈥檚 lives while promoting human rights; for example through SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). Human rights are part of SAP鈥檚 sustainability ambition of 鈥渮ero emissions, zero waste, zero discrimination,鈥� Raabe says.

Putting the Act into Action

When the German government announced its intention to introduce a supply chain due diligence law some two years ago, Raabe and her colleagues set up a project team with members drawn from Sustainability, Global Procurement, Global Risk and Assurance Services, and People and Operations. Tasked with analyzing the legal requirements and organizing their implementation, the team succeeded in getting 51风流compliant in time for the law鈥檚 rollout on January听1,听2023. This included defining fixed responsibilities, establishing a complaints procedure, and analyzing the risk of violation in SAP鈥檚 own operations and its supply chain.

The team also seeks collaboration with other enterprises affected by the new laws, for example via industry associations. 鈥淲e can only exert real influence if we pull together with other companies. Take the procurement of hardware, for instance. We need to ensure that human rights are not violated in the mining of raw materials in developing and emerging countries,鈥� Raabe says.

In short, the LkSG obliges companies to establish structures, processes, strategies, and behaviors that respect human rights. But it also compels them to take remedial action if specific violations do occur. This would be the case, for example, if a company committed or was complicit in a human rights violation.

Decent Wages

Raabe gives us an example: 鈥淎n analysis we did in 2022 revealed that six employees in Brazil who joined 51风流through an acquisition were unable to maintain a reasonable standard of living, despite earning the local minimum wage. When we found out, HR reacted and raised their wages in the next salary round. Unfortunately, in some countries, the statutory minimum wage is too low to constitute a decent living wage. This case further shows that we also need to take human rights considerations into account for acquisitions.鈥�

Nevertheless, the analysis concluded that 51风流pays an appropriate or good salary in most countries and thus has a very positive impact on the lives of its employees. 鈥淭hanks to the analysis,鈥� she notes, 鈥渨e were able to identify and quickly resolve the deviation in Brazil.鈥�

As Raabe points out, the LkSG requires 51风流to always take effective preventive and remedial measures based on its risk analysis. In doing so, the company is allowed to prioritize based on the degree of risk. 鈥淔or SAP鈥檚 supply chain, this means scrutinizing at-risk suppliers in more detail, for example, and engaging them in dialogue. But we also have to take a critical look at our own purchasing practices. We need to ask, 鈥業s it even possible for a company to pay a decent living wage for the price it鈥檚 quoting to us?鈥欌�� she explains.

A Step Further

For SAP鈥檚 Human Rights Officer, however, it is not simply a question of implementing the legal requirements. 鈥淎s a sustainability thought and action leader, 51风流must do more than just comply with the law,鈥� Raabe explains. 鈥淲e need to consider human rights in everything we do. Among other things, this means examining the impact we and our solutions have on our customers 鈥� for instance, in the area of artificial intelligence. The has been exploring this issue for several years now.鈥�

The aim of the Corporate Sustainability team is to analyze and understand SAP鈥檚 impact on human rights in its entirety. To this end, it also aligns with colleagues on the product side to share insights on how 51风流solutions can help respect human rights and the environment 鈥� and meet legal requirements even more simply and effectively.

鈥淪olutions that spring to mind are 51风流Ariba Supplier Risk or 51风流Business Network, which can help increase transparency along the supply chain. We want to leverage these capabilities ourselves, so we collaborate with 51风流partners that provide us with useful data for analysis in 51风流Ariba Supplier Risk,鈥� Raabe says.

鈥淏ut there鈥檚 more to human rights due diligence than analyzing supplier risk,鈥� she adds. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I also work with colleagues from the product side to position and drive other areas in our solution portfolio, such as incident management, occupational health and safety, reporting, and stakeholder analysis in the context of human rights due diligence.鈥�

Relevant for All Employees

Raabe sees one of her most important tasks as making all employees worldwide aware not just of the rights they themselves enjoy, but also of the rights they touch through their work, for example when they work with suppliers. Her team has therefore developed the 鈥淩especting People and Their Rights鈥� info session, which is available in many languages and aims to sensitize participants on how they themselves are treated and how they should treat others 鈥� always with respect for the dignity of others. It also shows where they can turn if they feel their rights are being violated. 鈥淲e worked with the Office of Ethics & Compliance, People Compliance, and SAP听Global Security to open up the Speak Out at 51风流tool for complaints about human rights and environmental due diligence violations,鈥� she says.

That was also the theme for the 2022 , which took place December 5.

More than 1 billion people around the world are giving their time and expertise to causes that matter to them. Over 20,000 51风流colleagues are part of this incredible group that is changing the world for the better by volunteering to alleviate poverty, solve for climate action, create equitable access to education and employment, and lead through action.

Recently, 51风流rolled out a new leadership credo: 鈥淒o what鈥檚 right. Make 51风流better for generations to come.鈥� In practice, that means investing in leadership development offerings that help leaders gain competency to be more agile, inclusive, and bring the 51风流strategy 鈥� to help every business become an intelligent, 鈥� to life.

At SAP, volunteer leaders within the community exemplify this leadership credo, making an impact toward a more equitable world. We hope their stories inspire, spark action, and inspire gratitude.

Meet Christopher Ehmcke

Christopher Ehmcke works as global escalation manager in the Mission-Critical Support group at SAP. In his free time, he is a coach and mentor, supporting multiple pro bono consulting programs.

When asked if he saw himself as a leader, his response was: 鈥淟eadership for me is not a state you define for yourself; it is about the values and principles that guide you and the characteristics you aspire to demonstrate with the goal of bringing out the best in those around you.鈥�

It is clear that what sets Ehmcke apart is his adaptability and agility.

鈥淚t doesn’t matter to me whether somebody calls me a leader or not. What matters is that I create positive impact for others. If I see that they are able to succeed and leverage their potential to bring out more good in themselves or others, then I have succeeded.鈥�

— Christopher Ehmcke

Ehmcke鈥檚 impact journey began with his family. Growing up, his parents ensured he understood and valued inclusion and cultural competency. He recollected his first meaningful volunteer experience听building affordable houses in Tijuana, Mexico. 鈥淲hat was fascinating was not just the experience of building the house together, but there was also the immigration challenge, the North America Free Trade Agreement, and the resulting economic challenges at the time. It was an opportunity to learn and understand.鈥�

Experiences like this planted a seed that continues to be woven into his life today.

In 2019, Ehmcke applied and was selected for the for global engagement. The program empowers 51风流employees to share their knowledge and expertise with nonprofits and social enterprises around the world, which in turn, hones their leadership skills.

Ehmcke traveled to Hyderabad, India, alongside 11 colleagues he had never met before. His team worked with Child Welfare and Holistic Organization for Rural Development (), an organization that educates and empowers children in difficult circumstances to create a scalable and sustainable strategy that other entrepreneurs can replicate in their communities.

Thriving in this immersive pro bono consulting experience put his resiliency and adaptability to the test. It challenged Ehmcke to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and turn setbacks into opportunities. 鈥淭he program takes going outside of your comfort zone to a new level,鈥� he said. 鈥淢ultiple factors changed at once: people, processes, technology, culture, environment, and the focus on positive human and environmental impact.鈥�

Ambiguity in these pro bono consulting challenges accelerates growth supporting learning and leadership development.

At SAP, Ehmcke leads his peers to create sustainable impact of their own. Recently, he united the 51风流Mission Control Center team in a pro bono consulting challenge as a team-building activity. Together with , they ideated ways to democratize supply chain access for social enterprises.

Ehmcke also mentors 51风流employees as they prepare for their own 51风流Social Sabbatical programs and works with social enterprises as a pro bono consultant, mentor, and coach through two additional 51风流programs, and the . He supported , a nonprofit partner and open-sourced technology platform delivering humanitarian aid quickly and fairly. As a coach, he supported their efforts to combat the growing refugee crisis. Ehmcke ensures that social businesses can leverage support from pro-bono experts so they can focus on scaling their world-changing solutions.

鈥淚 realized that while my original motivation was to pay it forward by serving others, I get much more back in return 鈥� the opportunity to contribute to making this world a better place, to learn and to grow as a result.鈥�

In leadership, like in volunteering, agility and adaptability comes from actively listening with empathy, being open to learning, and finding ways to provide value, inspire, and empower others.

Together Act Now

With a engaging employees like Christopher Ehmcke worldwide, SAP, together with EY, MovingWorlds, TRANSFORM, and Unilever, partnered to launch the TRANSFORM Support Hub, helping employees everywhere connect to social enterprises anywhere through pro bono consulting, coaching, and more.

If you feel inspired to build a more sustainable world, we invite you to .

The size of the problem is considerable, with half of all shoes bought online being returned. The primary reason for these returns is a poor fit or wrong size — a staggering 75%!

There is a significant cost to these returns. In Europe alone, and — an average of 32 minutes per return — per year. And this doesn鈥檛 account for the amount of waste that is generated, including the additional packaging involved and items that are returned but cannot be resold.

On the customer side, some people only discover a pair of shoes doesn鈥檛 fit well when they wear them out for the first time, after which they are unable to return them. What happens to these shoes? Some will be listed on peer-to-peer secondhand sites but others will sadly go to landfill, where 22 billion pairs end up each year.

The global online footwear market is thriving, with a market size valued at from 2022 to 2028. According to a study by Quantis, the footwear industry currently responsible for 1.4% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) . Additionally, 77% of people believing the shoe industry should do more to reduce its level of waste. The market is crying out for an innovative approach to scale down waste.

Enter German startup Footprint Technologies. The company has stepped up to the challenge of reducing waste in the footwear industry through the development of an innovative solution that benefits the customer, the planet, and the industry as a whole.

Using technology based on artificial intelligence (AI), shoppers can now scan their own feet to a high degree of accuracy and match it to find the perfect fit model and size of shoe.

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How Does It Work?

Once you have found your new kicks online, at the point of selecting your size, you click to access the new sizing tool, where you will be guided through a process in a few short steps using your smartphone. The tool is free for customers and completely seamless with no app to download. Through partnerships with shoe manufacturers, the tool knows the inner dimensions of each shoe on the website precisely. A sophisticated algorithm compares the scan you take of your feet with the exact dimensions of the shoe. Combining this data, the algorithm then provides you with a recommendation for the best fitting size in a matter of seconds.

The whole process takes between two and three minutes, which, compared to the average 32 minutes spent returning a pair of shoes, is a considerable time saving for the customer too. The user experience is state-of-the-art and in addition, customers can save their data so they only need to scan once.

Footprint Technologies began by launching the tool for children鈥檚 shoes, where it deemed the need was greatest since their feet are growing and evolving all the time. This allowed the startup to prove the efficacy of the tool with a 90% accuracy rate and work on the remaining 10% by considering other geometric measurements.

The adult module went live with German eco-brand Tanner鈥檚 in early November and is set to go online with multiple footwear brands in 2023.

Founder Dr. Matthias Brendel shared, 鈥淲e have proven that comfort is measurable. With our technology, brands have already seen a clear reduction in returns and we鈥檙e receiving great feedback from customers who love the user experience too.鈥�

Committed to Climate

Footprint Technologies is committed to helping reduce the footwear industry’s climate impact. Its overarching goal is to reduce the amount of CO2 emissions related to returns and re-shipments in the footwear industry specifically due to improper fit. Its mission is to encourage customers to invest 鈥渢hree minutes for the planet,鈥� which can result in preventing 850g of CO鈧� emissions each time a pair of shoes is returned.

The company’s work supports three of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs): Goal No. 3: good health and well-being; Goal No. 12: responsible consumption and production; and Goal No. 13: climate action.

The measurement tool is financed on a transaction basis by the footwear brands, which recognize the value it brings them, both in terms of reducing their return and re-shipment costs as well as their carbon footprint. Additionally, Footprint Technologies believes that with increased customer satisfaction from receiving perfectly fitting shoes, the likelihood of repeat purchases is increased.

Supported by SAP

After participating in the Sustainable Future cohort at SAP.iO Foundries Berlin and Munich in 2021, Footprint Technologies is a partner in the 51风流PartnerEdge program and part of the SAP.iO Rising Stars program. 51风流PartnerEdge provides startups with the enablement tools and support to facilitate building high-quality, disruptive applications focused on specific business needs — quickly and cost-effectively.

As a result of SAP鈥檚 support, e-commerce businesses utilizing 51风流Commerce Cloud have direct access to the digital shoe size consultant tool as a web shop plug-in, making it easier for online retailers to try it.

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

Expo 2020 brought together over 200 participants 鈥� including 192 countries and various organizations, businesses, and educational establishments. The mega event attracted over 20 million visitors despite being postponed for 18 months due to the global pandemic that has disrupted the world鈥檚 economy and the lives of millions.

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A Differentiator

Initiated in 1851 in London, World Expos are a gathering of nations dedicated to finding solutions to the day鈥檚 most urgent issues by engaging the hearts and minds of visitors. World Expos, which attract more visitors than the FIFA World Cup and Olympics combined, are governed by the and serve as a platform for countries to display their most recent technical, scientific, cultural, social, and economic achievements.

Famous innovations launched at World Expos include the steam engine, which characterized the industrial age to come, followed by the introduction of many gamechangers including the washing machine, the telephone, television, the x-ray, the diesel engine, the first touchscreen gadgets, and the first humanoid robots.

Hosted and organized by Dubai, several things set Expo 2020 apart:

• Marking a turning point in history, Expo 2020 aspired to be the of its kind.
• It was the most inclusive ever 鈥� the helped people of determination, as people with special needs are referred to in the United Arab Emirates, navigate easily.
• Its customer experience and supply chain infrastructure secured the first for a World Expo.

Sustainability

The event was 100% ecological thanks to the sustainable use of water and energy and a minimal carbon footprint. An astonishing 90% of the material used during the construction process is being reused to build public buildings. In addition, Expo 2020 Dubai had its very own metro station, carrying as many as 44,000 passengers per hour.

From recycling to promoting natural solutions, the idea was to inspire visitors to protect the Earth for future generations. Besides having an entire district dedicated to , Expo 2020 also hosted theme weeks focused on topics such as water, climate, and urban and rural development.

鈥淥ne of the most exciting moments at Expo 2020 was the ,鈥� says Deirdre O鈥橰eilly, 51风流head of Expo 2020, whose tiny team of eight hard workers was instrumental in the overall success at the event.

The sustainability week served as a major call to action in association with the United Nations to advance the SDGs. Global leaders, policy-makers, business leaders, and key players from the SDG campaign were present at the event to encourage everyone, including businesses, organizations, and individuals, to drive positive change.

鈥淥ur focus on sustainability does not end with Expo. We must ingrain it in our daily lives if we want to end extreme poverty, inequality, and climate change by 2030,鈥� says O鈥橰eilly, who encourages everyone to take action by creating their own .

Inclusion

One key achievement of Expo 2020 was the PODway app, which was designed to help people of determination navigate the site easily, highlighting accessible features in pavilions and accessible services for events. The app supports people with mobility, visual, hearing, cognitive, and sensory-access needs as well as features wayfinding and transportation options. It also includes an 鈥楽OS鈥� button for immediate contact and appropriate support 鈥� underpinned by geotracking of a person鈥檚 position on-site.

The organizers hailed the app in a recent , quoting Dina Storey, director of Sustainability Operations, Expo 2020 Dubai. 鈥淓xpo 2020 Dubai is committed to celebrating diversity and promoting inclusivity, and the PODway app ensures that each and every visitor with differentiated needs can make the most of the incredible experiences Expo has to offer,鈥� said Storey.

Experience

What all visitors, organizers, and suppliers will surely recall is their flawless experience, which included registering for the event, buying tickets and passes, getting food and vouchers, and accessing the wide world of merchandise that was available in the 192 country pavilions. A unique, behind-the-scenes framework struck a balance between the system architecture and the use of the latest technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain.

The entire event ran on SAP鈥檚 technology and expertise, helping Expo 2020 Dubai deliver personalized experiences to millions of visitors from around the world, achieved by collecting and analyzing masses of data. This previously impossible feat was possible thanks to AI, which was used to measure and improve customer experiences by finding patterns across an overwhelming number of data points, unleashing more value for the customer and promoting brand awareness and loyalty.

Over 1,200 point-of-sale entities were connected through , establishing a smooth end-to-end customer experience, and over 55,000 receipts were printed daily using .

Besides managing the transactions of 20 million visitors and the virtual Expo online experience of 174 million, the streamlined digital experience also facilitated the work of 25,000 suppliers delivering goods and services around the site. 51风流Ariba solutions听made up the real-time, unified digital procurement and payment platform for Expo 2020鈥檚 global supplier base.

鈥淥ur work with 51风流is an example of what can be achieved with the invaluable support of our technology partners to host one of the most digitally advanced World Expos ever,鈥� said Dubai Chief Technology Officer Mohammed AL Hashmi.

The impact of Expo 2020 will last long after the gates closed as it morphs into , a smart, sustainable city providing an ecosystem that embraces technology and digital innovation. Expo 2020鈥檚 motto of 鈥渃onnecting minds鈥� is already helping to create a better future based on innovation and collaboration between nations, cultures, and institutions.

鈥淭here is no life on earth without the sun, and it鈥檚 there for everyone,鈥� said Anselma W枚rner, COO and one of the three cofounders of Exnaton, a Swiss company that develops software for communities trading renewable energy in local neighborhoods.

W枚rner was explaining how her company created a smart energy system at the recent听听in Munich, Germany. 鈥淲e have a new generation of prosumers 鈥� people who consume and produce their own energy 鈥� who are using new connected technologies and renewable power like solar to exchange energy through the grid.鈥�

Sun Powered

Humans have always depended on the sun for light, heat, and food, and its all-encompassing power has influenced cultures and religions around the world. Although advances in technology have decreased our dependence, the importance of solar energy in our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint is a reminder that we still depend on it for survival. That鈥檚 why the cofounders picked the name 听for their enterprise. Looking for a word that connects 鈥渆nergy鈥� and 鈥渆xchange,鈥� they hit upon the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten (pronounced Echnaton) who raised the status of the sun above that of all other gods and created an early monotheism that briefly became a state religion.

The goal of Exnaton is to help integrate prosumers into the grid. Currently, the legal framework is very complex, and there is no clear ROI for them. There are no feed-in tariffs or policy mechanisms designed to accelerate investment in renewable energy technologies by offering long-term contracts to renewable energy producers.

鈥淎t the moment, there is no value for the community, and we want to change that,鈥� said W枚rner, who is responsible for fundraising, data science, and recruiting at Exnaton. 鈥淲hat most people don鈥檛 realize is that renewable energy is not always produced when it鈥檚 needed most. So, when it is available, prosumers should be able to sell their energy directly.鈥�

People who own solar panels could actually sell a lot of energy to other households, if only they had the means. W枚rner and her team believe it should be as easy to sell to other consumers as it is to sell any other products on the market. 鈥淧rosumers are faced with fragmented solutions, complex regulations, and frustrating user experiences. What they need are simple solutions, trusted local providers, and proactive community and user groups,鈥� she explained.

Community Centric

Enter Exnaton鈥檚 EnergyCommunity software add-on for听 solutions, which won an听听in the Partner Paragon category together with Best Practice Consulting (BPC) and is now available on 51风流Store. This user-centric extension enables utility companies to empower prosumers to buy and sell energy within their local communities and also track all relevant data.

Here鈥檚 how it works. Any prosumers in the community can sell their solar energy to any consumers in the grid. The EnergyCommunity tracks their energy data and informs them exactly where the energy is coming from and how much CO2 it is generating. The utility company can easily bill these energy exchanges with their regular 51风流billing system thanks to the integration offered by Exnaton in working with the 51风流system integrator BPC. At the same time, the utility company can sell additional hardware installations to members of the community, making it an attractive option for all parties.

鈥淭he EnergyCommunity makes it easy to exchange energy within the community. Participating in their local community creates a closer bond between people, and the platform provides a new customer channel for the utility company,鈥� said听the technology expert, who has a PhD in Information Systems. 鈥淎t the end of the day, with Exnaton鈥檚 energy sharing software-as-a-service platform, energy suppliers can offer their customers more independence.鈥�

Exnaton is responding to the challenge faced by prosumers who currently have no possibility to sell their extra energy directly on the market and the one faced by utilities companies as they realize they must offer new models as they transition to renewables with a decentralized approach. A number of utility companies are already running the solution in communities across Germany, Austria, Luxemburg, and Switzerland, and the goal is to expand to other European countries where there is a strong regulatory framework. More importantly, the solution enables energy companies to equip their customers for a sustainable future.

Future Focused

Over 733 million people on the planet still don鈥檛 have access to affordable, sustainable energy, which is why providing energy is goal seven on the list of the听. For Exnaton, goal seven is its core business, but at the same time, it is equally committed to goal 11, developing sustainable cities and communities; goal 12, enabling responsible production and consumption; and goal 13, taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impact.

The good news, according to the recent听听report, is that renewables overtook fossil fuels as the number one power source in the European Union for the first time in 2020. Renewables generate 38% of electricity, compared to 37% for fossil fuels. Also, at least two million people in the EU are already involved in more than 7,700 energy communities, and engagement is rising. Energy communities have also contributed up to 7% of nationally installed capacities of renewables, estimated at 6.3 GW.

For W枚rner and the team at Exnaton, producing energy where it is consumed decreases the dependence of the region on imported resources. Energy from the sun is practically limitless, and it more than covers the entire demand of the planet. With advances in technology and solutions like the EnergyCommunity, households and small businesses benefit from electricity powered by the sun, making renewable energy accessible and cost effective. What could be more natural, sensible, or sustainable?

.

The theme of UNGA 77 was: 鈥淎 Watershed Moment: Transformative solutions to interlocking challenges.鈥� It stems from recognizing that the world is at a critical moment in history 鈥� just think of the complex crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. These unprecedented humanitarian challenges have negatively impacted education, leaving thousands of children and young adults in worse positions than before 2020.

We are also at a tipping point in climate change. Climate-related disasters displaced in 2020, jeopardizing education for millions of children. Climate change is also why the renewable energy sector is booming, opening new jobs with new challenges and skill requirements. But this is not industry-specific. The global economy is shifting toward high-skilled industries that demand green and digital skills, making the skill mismatch even bigger.

Without the necessary education and qualifications, many young people will be vulnerable to a lifetime of underemployment, lack of decent work opportunities, and significant impacts on their families鈥� health, education, and life outcomes.

In light of these and other global challenges, the 51风流Corporate Social Responsibility (51风流CSR) team revisited its approach. Do you remember the education sweet spot? It鈥檚 the opportunity where 51风流can bring the most value within the vast field of education. Our education sweet spot is about dedicating SAP鈥檚 core competencies while improving our contribution toward achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) by 2030. We wanted to bridge the gap between what education teaches and what the world of employment requires.

For many years, 51风流has believed that investing in education is investing in the skills and talents of the next generation. As a result, we build our new education efforts on a solid foundation. For example, just look at Europe鈥檚 largest digital skills youth initiative, Meet and Code, as well as Africa Code Week, which empowers millions of young Africans with digital skills.

Our new approach involves investing in innovative education models and fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships to enable pathways to employment and entrepreneurship among under-represented, under-served, and underprivileged youth. Simply put, we equip youth in need with the skills necessary to improve their chances of decent work and social mobility. Or even more simply, we build future skills to bring young people into employment.

A perfect example of how we advance our education efforts toward increased employability is our partnership with UNICEF and Generation Unlimited (GenU). Over the past three years, in supporting GenU to upskill 1.8 billion young people and connect them to employment, entrepreneurship, and social impact opportunities. To date, 3 million youths in India, Turkey, and Vietnam have been reached.

This year, we have renewed the partnership for three more years in two ways. First, 51风流will support GenU and the (Yoma), an online learning platform, to enable young people to find jobs in the digital and green economy. In the first year, we plan to reach more than 500,000 young people with learning opportunities for soft and digital skills. Second, SAP, UNICEF, and GenU will pilot , supporting learning-to-earning pathways in the digital and green economy for young people. The program equips participants with hard and soft skills needed to flourish in the global economy. Young people will gain on-the-job experience and critical future-oriented skills while benefiting from coaching and mentorship to help them launch their careers in the 51风流customer and partner ecosystem. The new program will launch in early 2023.

Every year, UNGA enables us to reflect on what we have already achieved. The format allows us and our partners to consider what more we can do. Now, it鈥檚 time to tackle the skills mismatch with other businesses, governments, and NGOs to create equitable access to education and improve the employability of young people for the green and digital economy.

Alexandra van der Ploeg is global head of Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP.

Beyond the financial implications, companies鈥� brand value and reputations depend on their commitment to social responsibility. For example, a Deloitte study found that . In a world where organizations鈥� missteps are broadcast on social media platforms, it is critical that companies do the right thing — or they may be called to account.

Companies鈥� pledges to become more sustainable are commonplace, but business leaders have begun to put their money where their mouths are. For example, Procter and Gamble has committed to spend and switch to by 2030.

Moreover, ever-increasing environmental regulations are being enacted globally. For example, the UK authorized the Plastics Packaging Tax, which taxes 鈥�.鈥� Inaccurate reporting for this and other regulations can result in significant costs.

To succeed, companies need accurate, holistic insight across their organization and supply chain. A modern technology platform such as (51风流BTP) can provide that level of integrated information, which enables employees to track, measure, report, and take corrective action where required.

51风流BTP provides three main benefits. First, it helps companies ingest and combine business data by providing one data model and a holistic view of sustainability information from disparate business process and applications. Second, it helps companies harness that data with its capabilities for advanced analytics, data visualization, data cleansing and predictive modelling. Third, it allows business users to build and customize applications for their specific needs and make them accessible to all relevant stakeholders.

51风流also offers out-of-the-box reporting and key performance management tracking, based on 51风流BTP technology.

Below are examples of how a technology platform can help companies successfully meet their sustainability goals.

Sustainable Production

Companies are under increased pressure to certify sustainable production of consumer goods and show that natural resources have been responsibly harvested.

For example, with growing concern about oceans being over-fished, consumers want to know that seafood is responsibly sourced. A platform like 51风流BTP makes it easy to extend applications to fishermen via mobile devices so they can easily enter information on the day鈥檚 catch.

Using a platform that has integration and comprehensive data and analytics capabilities, companies like Royal Greenland can capture information — for example, which fish species were caught, how much, and where — and feed it back into their enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain systems. This allows organizations to analyze the data and provide full transparency into fishing practices, while helping ensure that fishermen are paid accurately.

Reporting and Compliance

Organizations want to show progress against their sustainability goals and must comply with ever-changing regulations. But according to , 57% of senior executives indicated that data availability and data quality remain their greatest challenge in ESG reporting.

A platform with data integration, data quality, and analytic capabilities helps customers break down data silos. With accurate and complete data, companies can more easily conduct automated, timely and auditable ESG reporting against a variety of regulations, standards and ratings; and visualize key performance indicators (KPIs) in a dashboard that shows progress and areas of risk. These capabilities are critical when calculating an organization鈥檚 carbon footprint, waste management, or women in management.

For example, the EU approved the in 2020, designed to make the EU carbon neutral by 2050. To support it, the EU Taxonomy was enacted, requiring companies to demonstrate which of its economic activities are 鈥渆nvironmentally suitable.鈥� As the regulatory environment grows in scope and complexity, organizations must be able to aggregate and report on disparate data.

51风流BTP allows companies to comply with new regulations quickly and simply in the EU and globally.

Energy and Resource Management

According to the , 鈥渙ne-fifth of the world’s carbon emissions come from the manufacturing and production sectors.鈥� To lessen their carbon footprints, manufacturers must reduce energy consumption.

51风流BTP enables plant managers to harness and analyze sensor data from machinery to better monitor and understand energy consumption patterns. They can set up data models that visualize operational efficiency, pinpointing where most energy is consumed and opportunities to reduce energy use and emissions.

Similarly, utility companies are using analytics to handle the huge amount of data generated by smart meters. For example, Belgian water utility company, Farys, uses 51风流BTP to generate meter indexes and use water-usage data to build new services for its customers. Moving forward, Farys wants to use the platform to address water scarcity, an ever-increasing problem due to climate change. Using smart meter data, Farys can improve its understanding of water inflows and outflows, and identify where and why water losses occur.

A platform that provides fully accurate insight can advance companies鈥� sustainability goals in many more ways, such as driving the circular economy, eliminating food waste, or improving agricultural efficiency.

As the (UNGA) meets this week to discuss pressing global issues, it鈥檚 a good reminder that technology can help solve the world鈥檚 most critical problems.

Ragunath Ramanathan听 is chief revenue officer for 51风流Business Technology Platform.

51风流at UNGA 77: Driving Positive Business Transformation for People and Planet

51风流recognizes participation as crucial to ensuring that corporations play their role in addressing global challenges and advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

UNGA is a global platform, and SAP’s participation offers the company a prominent place on an international stage as part of a consortium of decision-makers responsible for improving life on our planet. 51风流is participating because the UN goals align with its business priorities. We also value this opportunity to do our part in shaping a more sustainable future.

The world is facing an unprecedented breadth and depth of strain on global and local economies, along with public and private sectors. Macroeconomic fallout from the pandemic continues and is likely to extend into the coming years while the war in Ukraine has introduced further risks and instabilities into the equation and aggravated existing threats of inflation, global supply chain disruption, and shortages of food, energy, and fertilizers.

We have also entered an era in which the repercussions of climate change are coming into sharper focus and sparking emergencies and听 disasters in local communities around the world. As more people get a firsthand experience of the consequences of the climate crisis, governments are responding with evolving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) regulatory frameworks that create new compliance obligations for businesses.

As a result, companies now find it necessary to apply the same rigor to managing environmental and social risks as they do to managing financial integrity. Many are not fully prepared to meet this challenge and find themselves struggling to achieve the level of ESG transparency necessary to guide strategic decision-making and comply with regulatory reporting requirements.

Sustainability must be integrated within each company鈥檚 core business and operations. Meeting that standard requires availability and consistency of data, insights into material flow and traceability, and transparency on supply chain risks and workforce data. These are areas in which 51风流excels. By working in partnership with businesses as well as the government leaders participating in UNGA 77, 51风流can help to enable the private and public sectors with tools and strategies available to meet reporting requirements and advance shared sustainability goals.

鈥淭ransitioning to sustainable business is the greatest social and economic opportunity of our time,” says Sebastian Steinhaeuser, chief strategy officer and general manager of Sustainability at SAP. “Businesses need to put sustainability at the core of their strategies and use technology to manage the ‘green line’ through their business.”

51风流will be represented during UNGA 77 by a delegation that includes Steinhauser as well as:

• Julia White, Chief Marketing and Solutions Officer and Member of the Executive Board
• Deb Kaplan, Global Head of Sustainability Go to Market
• Jonas Dennler, Global Sustainability Marketing & Solutions
• Vivek Bapat, Senior Vice President of Purpose and Sustainability Marketing and Solutions
• Alexandra van der Ploeg, Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility
• Peter Selfridge, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Public Policy and Government Affairs

Their areas of expertise and insight encompass diverse challenges such as zero emissions and zero waste, intelligent sustainable enterprises, digital transformation, ESG reporting, and sustainability ecosystems

51风流is also included in the UN SDGs Investment Forum New York on September 20 and the UN Global Compact (UNGC) Private Sector Forum on September 19, part of the Uniting Business Live series. The forum鈥檚 purpose is to promote high-level multi-stakeholder dialogs, ensure their intersection with local knowledge and implementation strategies, and share partnership and leadership examples. Inclusivity, impact, and innovation are the hallmarks of this , which is led by the UNGC, the International Chamber of Commerce, and UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA).

51风流and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) are holding an event on September 20, “51风流x BCG: Transforming Business Models and Technology for a Sustainable World.” The presentation — a fireside chat — and dinner will include 51风流showcases that demonstrate the benefits of adopting technology-enabled sustainability transformation.

UNGA 77 takes place at UN headquarters and other locations in New York City. To find out how you can take action to address these global challenges, join Uniting Business Live hosted by UN Global Compact by and signing up for the on Tuesday September 20 at 1:00 p.m. ET. UN Global Compact is the world鈥檚 largest private sector coalition focused on sustainability. 51风流is a premiere partner of UN Global Compact in support of shaping how businesses embed sustainability into their core processes.

51风流stands together with customers and partners as we continue to drive positive business transformation for people and planet. Through advancing global sustainability goals by supporting the success of UNGA 77, we aim to be a force for good in a changing world.

To learn more about SAP鈥檚 commitment to sustainability, visit .

鈥淚f you think you can鈥檛 do something, you can鈥檛,鈥� says Saya. 鈥淏ut once you have financial support and a network of people with similar experiences, you realize that you can become your own greatest asset.鈥�

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Ending Poverty

Being a single mother is never easy. Financial disadvantages and having sole responsibility for the household and the children are just a few of the challenges facing women on their own with their kids. In traditional societies, such as Japan, that expect women to stay at home to raise children while their husbands work, there may even be cultural attitudes that place a stigma on single mothers, making it even harder.

Japan still remains a wealthy, developed nation. But its population is aging and poverty is festering, particularly among the young. are gradually increasing and, since the pandemic, single mothers and women in non-regular work have been particularly hard hit. and the number of remain high. In 2018,听听was almost 16%, which includes people whose household income is less than half of the median of the entire population. Equally worrisome is the fact that the poverty of the parents’ generation leads to educational disparities and, consequently, poverty for their children.

Although the majority of the world’s poor live in underdeveloped and developing countries, a fair number also live in the developed world 鈥� some in the wealthiest countries on earth. As human beings, our well-being is linked to each other. Growing inequality is detrimental to economic growth and undermines social cohesion, increasing political and social tensions and driving instability and conflicts. For this reason, the United Nations declared the objective of听听to be the of the global听 (SDGs).

Empowering Women

Besides eradicating poverty, Grameen鈥檚 programs are also helping to achieve other SDGs, including empowering and educating women and girls, reducing inequality, and providing decent work and economic growth.

Grameen Nippon was established in 2018 as the Japanese version of , a microfinance institution established in Bangladesh by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, whose work was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Grameen Nippon leverages Grameen Bank’s expertise to provide microfinance, mainly to single mothers and women in informal labor who are in need, and to create employment and new business opportunities in partnership with various companies and organizations. The main goal is to encourage people to take the first step.

The program provides low-interest, unsecured, small loans, not for living expenses, but for starting a business. Members form mutual support groups of five, trusting and encouraging each other to nurture their desire for self-support and to step up their efforts to find employment or freelance work. In partnership with a variety of companies and organizations, the program provides skills and know-how for entrepreneurship and employment as well as accompanies members in their efforts to become self-reliant.

鈥淢ost single mothers and women working part-time have few places to gain or utilize their skills,鈥� says Masahiro Momono, president, Grameen Nippon. 鈥淭hese women seldom have a solid credit history, making it difficult for them to acquire loans. We help them acquire skills, experience, and an opportunity to borrow money and pay it back little by little, opening doors to other banks.鈥�

Not all single mothers are the same. Grameen鈥檚 approach is persona based. Urban single moms in Tokyo, for example, are usually in the 30-to-50 age bracket. Many are divorced, have been out of work while raising children, and are not receiving child support. Suburban or rural single moms are much younger, lacking education and experience. 鈥淭heir needs are very different,鈥� says Momono-San, explaining that there are different setups for B2B and B2C opportunities.

In order to manage fragmented information and the need for differentiated services, Grameen decided to pilot SAP鈥檚 social recruitment platform, a customizable job matching digital platform developed by a team from 51风流Fieldglass, a cloud-based, open 听that helps organizations find, engage, manage, pay, and unlock more value from a growing external workforce.

Improving Lives

The idea originated when ISBN Japan Regional Vice President Satoru Ota had the idea of digitalizing a job matching process that would help unemployed people suffering from poverty find quality positions. As part of SAP鈥檚 flagship social intrapreneurship program, 51风流One Billion Lives, the 51风流Fieldglass team is leveraging its collective industry knowledge to create an ecosystem where candidates can feel confident that companies using the social recruitment platform treat their employees well while matching individuals with positions that best suit them.

With the success of the Grameen pilot and as the platform gains more users, the team believes the social recruitment tool from 51风流will evolve to help others, such as artists, independent contractors, and those whose industries may offer poorer visibility into open positions.

For Momono-San and the team at Grameen, the platform is a tool that supports the bank鈥檚 goals to drive sustainable development by building skills, enabling employment, and helping women gain confidence on their path to financial independence.

The Race Is On

I have witnessed how sustainability is top of mind not only in business engagements but also in my personal life. Recently, for example, my niece turned four. So, I wonder, what world will she see in 2050? We talk about similar questions in customer meetings: What will the world look like for future generations? I usually emphasize how critical it is for everyone 鈥� citizens, businesses, and governments alike 鈥� to invest in sustainability to create long-term value.

Due to increasing awareness over the past decade about the perils of climate change, the imperative to set commitments has left its mark on all sectors and geographies. At this point, the question is not whether major companies will commit to net-zero emissions, but how they plan to achieve this target.

There are many reasons to reduce greenhouse gas emissions aside from protecting the planet. It benefits the bottom line because efficient practices reduce operating costs and help increase employee productivity. In addition, companies must respond to pressure from consumers to act more responsibly, they must adhere to new regulations, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria are of increasing interest to companies, their investors, and other stakeholders.

Despite all the best intentions and commitments, significant challenges stand in the way, including the scale of economic transformation that a net-zero transition entails as well as the difficulty of balancing the short-term risks of poorly prepared or uncoordinated action with the longer-term risks of insufficient or delayed action.

A notes that the path to achieving net-zero will require a universal transformation of the global economy throughout all energy and land-use systems, with significant capital allocations, costs, and shift in jobs. And while universal, the economic exposure to the transition will not be uniform across sectors, geographies, and communities. Different industries will transform at a different pace.

The risks are considerable. Geopolitical disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in the Ukraine can create setbacks that might even accelerate climate change. But the opportunities for countries, sectors, and companies could be considerable. Nations that have abundant natural capital such as more hours of sunshine, or that invest in technological, human, and physical capital, will be well positioned to prosper in the net-zero economy.

Dealing with the Scope 3 Challenge

Achieving net-zero begins with reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the three categories, or Scopes, defined by Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the international accounting tool. Scope 1 covers direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling consumed by the reporting company. Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in a company鈥檚 value chain, which can range from business travel to waste disposal to third-party goods and services, making it by far the most difficult area to monitor and control.

According to the SBTi, , and the Gold Standard, there are several ways companies can address their Scope 3 challenges.

Scope 3 emission reduction starts by integrating circular economy principles in product and service design. Products can be designed to have longer lifespans and to be more efficient, so that life-cycle emissions intensity is lower. Circular systems incorporate more product service models, such as selling a car sharing package instead of just a car, and they lead to greater supply chain efficiency as more products are reused, recycled, or refurbished.

Engaging with suppliers to reduce their emissions — ideally in line with climate science — is another effective way to reduce Scope 3 emissions. After identifying key suppliers, companies can set objectives, maintain close collaboration, monitor progress regularly, and create incentives for action. For example, procurement choices can favor suppliers with lower carbon footprints.

At SAP, we facilitate this by connecting businesses on trusted networks to share information and accelerate sustainable commerce for impact. 51风流runs 51风流Business Network, one of the world鈥檚 largest supply chain collaboration networks, committed to scale social procurement on 51风流Ariba software. We are also helping lead industry cloud sharing transformations like for the automotive industry and tackling Scope 3 emissions accounting through the .

Leveraging customer awareness and desire for more sustainable products is another way to drive lower emissions. Companies can engage customers either directly through education, collaboration, or compensation, or indirectly through company regulation or customer motivation via marketing and choice architecture. Many utilities companies, for example, are engaging with their consumers to educate them on the importance of energy reduction or giving consumers .

Finally, operational policies can lead to large reductions in Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions. These steps include moving away from fossil fuels to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy and investing in low-carbon projects and resilient development. As lawmakers around the world are introducing caps on carbon emissions, performance standards, carbon pricing and taxation, companies are responding through compliance and by setting their own targets, often in alignment with the (UN SDGs). These include Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, Industry Innovation, and Responsible Consumption and Production. 51风流has accelerated its commitment to achieving net-zero along its value change 20 years earlier than originally targeted.

The Power of Technology

51风流technology helps companies manage and lower global emissions, and to track and reduce their carbon footprint across their supply chains and operations. Our customers can connect data and business processes while embedding sustainability metrics into all business functions, including carbon accounting. Customers get real-time visibility into the enterprise, facilitating better insights while establishing a primary source of emission data for overall corporate sustainability reporting and carbon credit accounting.

is the technological foundation for an intelligent and sustainable enterprise. It helps to integrate and extend applications across business networks and enables visibility of disaggregated data for compliance 鈥� ESG reporting, holistic steering, and supply chain transparency.

Among our specific designed to help companies in achieving net-zero, 51风流Product Footprint Management lets companies calculate carbon footprints for their products across the value chain. It not only equips companies with the necessary insight, but can enable data exchange with customers, suppliers, and business partners 鈥� driving transparency across a company鈥檚 Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions.

makes business sense: it future-proofs growth, saves money, provides resilience against regulation, boosts investor confidence, and spurs innovation and competitiveness. It also demonstrates concrete sustainability commitments to increasingly conscious consumers. With the right guidance, tools and solutions, any company, regardless of size or industry, can make — and keep — their sustainability commitments.

Juergen Mueller is CTO and a member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE.

And this week, as I join many of the world鈥檚 business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, I have never been more certain that people and technology will continue to be the essential resources for achieving these objectives and all of the (UN SDGs).

Humanity is entering one of its most transformative phases ever. OECD estimates, however, warn of a . Research shows that there could be a . One-third of all jobs worldwide may be transformed by technology in the next decade. The world鈥檚 young people will need a strong digital foundation to meet the challenges of the future.

Tech Skills Shortage

51风流technology will be at the center of much of the world鈥檚 transformation and the pursuit of the UN SDGs. While many companies and government agencies are introducing the new generation of 51风流software, we see a corresponding, clear need to add more 51风流technical specialists to the workforce.

For this reason, we are making major commitments to building 51风流software skills across the workforce. I am proud to say that, in addition to the open online courses that are available on the platform, 51风流recently rolled out an expanded repertoire of free, open content on the site for anyone who wishes to earn 51风流credentials. We invite and encourage people to join our business ecosystem of existing 51风流technical specialists.

Training is now available in a variety of formats, for free, to
anyone who wishes to earn 51风流specialist credentials

Getting the 51风流Skills

51风流has made a commitment to flexibility, inclusion, creativity, and reducing the barriers to entry for 51风流technical training.

We know that today鈥檚 learners want more than traditional classroom training. They also want virtual, experiential, peer-to-peer, and self-paced learning experiences. That is why 51风流training is available in a variety of formats. Our approach is to place the learner at the center of their own learning experience through high-quality digital learning, expert-led instruction, microlearning, and podcasts.

Here are some resources that are available now.

• 51风流Learning: We recently more than doubled the free content on this platform.
• Student Zone: This new resource through 51风流Learning is available to any student, anywhere, globally. It provides access to to prepare for a career in the 51风流ecosystem. Students in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region are already pursuing through Student Zone in collaboration with .
• : Free, expert-led learning options for 51风流experts or beginners.

Success Stories

51风流already interacts with more than 650,000 active learners every year on our learning platforms.

One of our success stories comes from , an independent, nonprofit organization. NS2 Serves provides U.S. military service members with a three-month, free 51风流training curriculum to support their transitions to civilian careers. Training also includes non-technical skills, such as communication and public speaking. There is a 99% job placement rate for graduates of this program.

The benefits of IT credential-building include greater career opportunities and earning potential, as well as increased professional confidence and job satisfaction. 51风流training offerings are also a superb resource for companies that need to adopt technology domains, such as computational infrastructure and platform services, security, storage, database, digital workplace, and IT automation.

Achieving the UN SDGs will require great 51风流technology and people skilled in implementing it. I am thrilled to see the growth of SAP鈥檚 learning platforms and the that we believe will encourage and attract new SAP-credentialed specialists.

I can鈥檛 wait to see how our platforms and programs will give people the skills they need to accelerate digital transformation today and for future generations.

Sabine Bendiek is chief people and operating officer and a member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE.

And just when we think we have figured out a , a path forward to “solve the solvable” issues like education through the United Nations鈥� Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), a global pandemic wipes out educational gains made over the last 20 years.

Today we are confronted with both the harsh reality of life and an opportunity for a better tomorrow. COVID-19 has willed the world to prioritize and focus efforts on what matters most.

On January 24, 51风流joins organizations across the world in recognition of . We reflect upon the important role education plays for a sustainable future and efforts to power equitable access to education and workforce readiness initiatives.

After a decade of bringing our best to the world to accelerate social business, join us in celebrating the impact achieved in this area through the award-winning initiative.

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For the past 50 years, 51风流has guided organizations to become intelligent, sustainable enterprises. 51风流Social Sabbatical has embraced this approach. By connecting employees and their skills to social sector organizations through pro bono consulting, we expedite world-changing solutions.

The portfolio of programs, executed in partnership with , offers unique triple impact and delivers long-term sustainable benefits to client organizations, 51风流participants, and the company. Our celebration honors this community, which includes 1,371 51风流employees who have worked alongside 453 nonprofit and social enterprise clients spanning 52 countries. Collectively, we have positively impacted more than 6 million people worldwide since 2012.

is a nonprofit organization based in Hyderabad, India. The organization creates education and employment opportunities for youth with disabilities that in turn delivers sustainable change for their families. In February 2019, Youth4Jobs hosted 51风流Social Sabbatical participants, and challenged them to improve the organization鈥檚 business development strategy.

Founder and CEO Meera Shenoy shared, 鈥淭he three 51风流consultants adopted our passion for inclusion quickly and became part of the larger Youth4Jobs family, understanding our challenges and our transformational work. They also gave us a peek into the amazing processes of 51风流in every area, be it recruitment, marketing, or customer cycle.鈥� Shenoy believes that beyond the direct outcome of the project, her team was able to embrace these critical skills which continue to serve the organization and accelerate their incredible work.

Recently, 51风流CSR partnered with , an end-to-end impact measurement company, to conduct a study on the 51风流Social Sabbatical. Eight-six percent of clients affirmed that participation in the program had a positive long-term impact on the beneficiaries they serve. One program director in Romania shared, 鈥淭he work that we did together allowed us to build a scaled system to train teachers we serve for free and better prepare them for online teaching during the pandemic and afterwards. Significantly more teachers are now enrolled with our courses and activities than before.鈥�

Our Journey Ahead

The last decade has demonstrated that pro bono consulting delivers truly transformative and lasting change. Throughout 2022, we are thrilled to bring you additional learnings from our decade of impact study with 60 Decibels to showcase the benefits realized by social sector clients, employees who participate, and 51风流overall.

The strategy for 51风流Social Sabbatical, initiated in 2012 as part of SAP鈥檚 response to the education crisis, is now evolving to also address the company鈥檚 pursuits around zero emissions and zero waste, while continuing to focus on zero inequality. We look forward to sharing more inspiration, innovation, and real solutions from our journey — past, present, and, most importantly, our future.

For more information, please visit .

Jennifer Beason is global program director of Social Entrepreneurship at SAP.
Hemang Desai is global program director of the 51风流Social Sabbatical portfolio at SAP.

鈥淸H]uman rights are for all of us, all the time: whoever we are and wherever we are from; no matter our class, our opinions, our sexual orientation,鈥� former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon once said.

Especially in these challenging times, fighting to secure human rights is a key responsibility for governments, civil society, and businesses alike — and it is clear that collectively we need to do more given that inequalities, discrimination, forced and child labor, unsafe working conditions, unfair pay, and further human rights abuses persist in today鈥檚 economy.

The UN earlier this year on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and found that progress has been made to promote corporate respect for human rights, yet more efforts are needed to accelerate implementation of the UNGPs as outlined in their launched last week.

At SAP, we are fully committed to playing our part and to respect and promote human rights across our operations, extended supply chain, and product life cycle. The respect for human rights is central to our long-term commitment to sustainability and the , as well as core to how we execute on our purpose to help the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives.

I therefore welcome the uptake in legislative action around the world, particularly in Europe, which I hope to see become consistent globally and well thought out. Businesses and investors across the globe are backing this, with the steadily growing. In addition, public support is overwhelming: over to hold companies liable for overseas human rights and environmental violations.

With stakeholder demand and legislation surging, companies have to make human rights a priority if they have not already. While it might be obvious that there is no way around it from a rational or ethical perspective, how to make it real and integrate human rights as part of your corporate sustainability journey is not a trivial thing.

Depending on the industry and the countries in which a company is operating, its impact on individual human rights varies. Complexity is added when looking across the entire value chain, which at 51风流starts with our employees and respecting their rights but of course extends to our ecosystem of suppliers, customers, partners, and to the communities in which we work and live.

The challenge of getting this right and complying with relevant legislation is increasing. Therefore we have established a new human rights due diligence project at 51风流to lead by example, take our to the next level, and to learn from our own adoption along the way.

At the same time, we have been working to expand our solution offering to support our customers鈥� human rights ambitions. Questions we seek to address within this twofold approach cover a range: How do we prevent workplace accidents and safeguard safety? How do we identify and reduce discrimination and inequality in our workforce? How do we ensure compliant working hours and payment structures for all our entire workforce — both internal employees and our external workforce? How do we avoid purchasing products and raw materials that were produced involving forced or child labor?

Digital innovation can be a force for good in this regard and help identify and prevent negative business-related impacts on human rights. For example, aggregated analysis and reporting of human resources (HR) data as provided by allows you to gain insights into the composition of the workforce — including who is hired, developed, rewarded, and promoted — as a foundation to build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce. Making risk assessment and due diligence part of the procurement process with solutions is another example and contributes to detecting and eradicating forced and child labor, among others.

Yet, we also need to address potential risks and make sure that our technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), does not violate human rights. To help ensure that our software is only used in line with ethical standards, we have have developed and set up global AI ethics policy and governance.

Avoiding harm and complicity in human rights abuses is at the heart of respecting human rights. However, there is more we can do to do good and promote human rights in a positive way. With programs like , 51风流aims to foster social procurement and to direct five percent of SAP鈥檚 addressable procurement spend with social enterprises and five percent with diverse businesses by 2025.

51风流is furthermore committed to inclusive, , and strives to include all people in the digital economy. In 2020, together, we engaged 2.3 million youth and trained 117,000 teachers in our digital skills programs that spanned 113 countries. These, together with further initiatives focused on diversity, equity, and social justice, contribute to our ambition to .

But is that enough? Certainly not!

In celebration of Human Rights Day 2021 and its theme, 鈥�,鈥� I invite everyone to join in to #standup4humanrights. All of us are called upon to follow the appeal: 鈥淏y committing to reduce inequality by advancing all human rights for everyone, we can overcome global economic, social, health, and environmental crises and conflict, and build societies where all people rise together by sharing power, resources, and opportunities equally.鈥�

Daniel Schmid is chief sustainability officer of 51风流SE.

Climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying, with some trends now irreversible, according to the recent .

The science is clear: unless immediate, fast, and large-scale action is taken to reduce emissions, the average global temperature is likely to reach, or cross, the 1.5掳 C warming threshold within 20 years. The alarming results are already with us, ranging from droughts and heat waves to wildfires and devastating flooding worldwide.

While much hope is focused on a green recovery, the window of opportunity is closing fast. The latest report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that energy-related , an increase of nearly 5% year-over-year and the second-largest in history, taking us back to pre-COVID-19 peak levels.

The urgency to dramatically change course and accelerate decarbonization has never been higher. But only when businesses are moving beyond their siloed approaches, commitments, and climate pledges to fully embrace sustainability and embed these ambitions in an integrated way will we be able to drive the systemic change needed.

It is a journey toward embedding sustainability across everything we do.

Moving Away From Add-On to Core

Companies need to avoid thinking of sustainability as only an add-on to their strategies and operations. They need to integrate it across the business. Rather than defining a separate sustainability strategy, it is crucial to .

A first step toward 51风流realizing this was linking sustainability to our purpose of helping the world run better and improving people鈥檚 lives. The objective: create positive economic, environmental, and social impact within with special focus on climate action, circular economy, social responsibility, and holistic steering and reporting.

This is reflected not only in the updated 51风流vision to 鈥渞einvent how the world runs as a network of intelligent, sustainable enterprises,鈥� but also in the executive compensation that rewards Executive Board members for customer loyalty, employee commitment, and SAP鈥檚 carbon impact, along with financial performance.

Enabling Climate Action Through Technology

The IPCC report has once again highlighted that harnessing the innovation power of enterprises has to be at the center of fighting climate change. For SAP, this means using digitalization to contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), .

In collaboration with customers and partners, 51风流is working to optimize material, financial, and energy flows throughout end-to-end business processes in order to address planetary and social challenges. For example, the company鈥檚 multi-year Climate 21 program helps build analytical and transactional capabilities into enterprise applications that can help 51风流customers understand and minimize the greenhouse gas footprint of their products and operations along their value chains.

During the in April, sustainability management by SAP was introduced, providing an expanded portfolio of sustainability-specific solutions, including 51风流Product Footprint Management, which has been available since September 2021. There is more to come with the releases of the and 51风流Sustainability Control Tower solutions in the next months, as will be shown during

Foundries locations Berlin and Munich are fostering startup innovation by setting up the Sustainable Future program together with Accenture. The equity-free program is designed to propel digital transformation in four target areas: carbon tracking and trading, resource efficiency, climate risk tracking and mitigation, and circular economy.

Setting Ambitious Targets

In addition to harnessing innovation, the climate emergency calls for bold targets for decarbonization. By mid-2021, countries representing around 65% of global carbon dioxide emissions and more than 70% of the world economy have made ambitious commitments to carbon neutrality. The U.S, the European Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and others — in total 126 countries — have pledged carbon neutrality by 2050; China says it will do so before 2060.

The private sector also needs to step up. More than 1,900 companies, including 51风流in 2017, have set emissions reduction targets grounded in climate science through the .

In 2019, 51风流raised its commitment and adopted a 1.5掳 C science-based emissions reduction targets aligned with a net-zero future. However, the journey started much earlier; back in 2009, 51风流set the first goal of reducing its global carbon emissions to the year-2000 level by 2020.鈥�This target was met at the end of 2017, even though 51风流grew more than fourfold over the period.

The next milestone is 2023, when 51风流aims to be carbon neutral in its own operations鈥�– two years earlier than previously envisaged. This includes all direct (Scope 1), indirect (Scope 2), and selected categories of value chain (Scope 3) carbon emissions, such as business flights, employee commuting, paper consumption, and external data centers (co-locations and hyperscalers).

Monitoring and Reporting

It is essential to measure and monitor progress on the path toward achieving these targets. For example, 51风流has increasingly embraced holistic steering and reporting because connecting financial and pre-financial performance leads to better management decisions and business success.

SAP鈥檚 sustainability and annual reports were merged into the in 2012. Since then, both material and immaterial value creation have been at the center of the company鈥檚 reporting and have been placed on an equal footing. Besides key financial information, environmental progress, workforce information, and social investments have been made transparent. In addition, an internal sustainability dashboard allows employees to explore the key sustainability key performance indicators (KPIs), such as women in management and carbon emissions by their country, location, and line of business, with updates every quarter.

Our reporting shows that in 2020, 51风流was able to overachieve by 43% on its target for net carbon emissions in 2020, generating 135 kilotons instead of the anticipated 238 kilotons. This trend continued in the first half of 2021, during which SAP鈥檚 carbon emissions totaled 45 kilotons compared to 90 kilotons in the first half of 2020 (-37%).

The low emissions level is a consequence of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the introduction of Pledge to Flex, which enables a more flexible mix of remote and onsite work. 51风流believes this trend will continue and has just announced in its that it has lowered its 2021 carbon emissions outlook from 145 kilotons to a range of 90-110 kilotons.

Taking Action: Measures of Implementation

To become carbon neutral in its own operations by 2023, 51风流is following a three-pillar approach: avoid, reduce, compensate.

• Avoid: Whenever possible, 51风流aims to avoid the creation of greenhouse gases. This is a top priority, supported by, for example, using virtual telecommunication instead of business flights.
• Reduce: If greenhouse gas emissions cannot be avoided, 51风流aims to drive efficiency and reduce all types of emissions; for example, building efficiency, data center operations, carpooling and car sharing, and e-mobility.
• Compensate: 51风流has extended its compensation models for travel. For business flights, it has introduced an internal carbon price to offset related carbon emissions. If greenhouse gas emissions cannot be eliminated altogether, 51风流aims to reduce them through innovations in the areas of building efficiency, data center operations, carpooling, and car sharing, as well as e-mobility. For example, 51风流has powered its own data centers and facilities with 100% renewable electricity since 2014, implemented an environmental management system with ISO 14001 certification in more than 30 countries and ISO 50001 at headquarters, adopting green IT initiatives in order to foster sustainable IT equipment usage and promoting tools such as as a default search engine.

In 2020, 51风流implemented additional energy and climate measures within its operations, ranging from opening a new office with energy-efficient design in Australia and implementing more efficient data center technology in Germany to introducing a bike fleet at 51风流Hungary as well as a flexible mobility budget in Germany and installation of photovoltaic systems in Austria.

For emissions that cannot yet be reduced or avoided, 51风流thirdly invests in high-quality carbon credits. For example, 51风流has been a long-term investor of the Livelihoods Carbon Funds (LCF) since 2012. 51风流has also donated funds to restore ecosystems and improve people鈥檚 lives. In support of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, 51风流recently joined the 1t.org corporate alliance, which aims to conserve, restore, and grow trees worldwide, with a pledge to plant 21 million trees by the end of 2025.

I am proud that SAP鈥檚 efforts to combat climate change and to strengthen its transparent reporting are externally recognized. The non-profit organization CDP included 51风流on its , thereby granting us the top rating for leading in environmental transparency and action.

Partnering

51风流recognizes that strong partnerships are an invaluable asset in tackling climate change. This is why we became a founding member of the European Green Digital Coalition and joined the World Economic Forum Stakeholder Capitalism Coalition and CEO Climate Leaders as well as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), complementing our previous engagements with the UN Global Compact, the We Mean Business Coalition, the Value Balancing Alliance, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and many more.

In addition, we signed the calling for greater climate ambition and we launched Chasing Zero, a new initiative that will feature executive thought leadership, best practices, and insights into a sustainability-related transformation of 51风流and its global ecosystem to achieve zero emissions, zero waste, and zero inequality. The transition to a circular economy remains central to our vision for a world of zero waste and plastic free oceans by 2030. Consequently, we support stronger circular economy policies, such as the Worldwide Fund for Nature鈥檚 OneSource Coalition and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation鈥檚 Extended Producer Responsibility endorsement.

Daniel Schmid is chief sustainability officer of SAP.

听In 2015, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly provided humanity with this through a collection of 17 goals, known today as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They include ending poverty, promoting good health and well-being, reducing inequalities, supporting responsible consumption and production, and more.

The 17th SDG, 鈥減artnerships for the goals,鈥� urgently calls on the public and private sectors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and citizens to come together to strengthen the implementation of the SDGs.

Public听and听Private Sector Collaboration

At SAP, in alignment with听听to help the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives,听with sustainability at the core, we value the opportunity to work听alongside听organizations driving meaningful听impact.

Our commitment to a more sustainable future inspired the sustainability team and a team of designers and engineers at 51风流to develop a gamified, educational experience tied to the SDGs: the . This innovative showcase, which runs on 51风流technology, brings to life SAP鈥檚 commitment to the SDGs and encourages purpose-driven conversations among employees, customers, and partners.

The (UNCTAD) expressed interest in the Wheel of Purpose because of its ease of use and ability to engage users virtually. This led to a public-private partnership to further develop and amplify the reach of the Wheel of Purpose, using it to showcase UNCTAD鈥檚 vision to bring about sustainable prosperity for all through trade.

In the upcoming UNCTAD Youth Forum (September 16-17), the UNCTAD 15 Conference in Barbados (October 3-7), and the World Investment Forum (October 18-22), organizers will embed the Wheel of Purpose into virtual programming.

鈥淪ustainable development is a complex challenge, but it is a responsibility shared by everyone,鈥� says Arlette Verploegh, UNCTAD chief of communications and external relations. 鈥淲e need tools that humanize and explain different pathways to sustainability. The Wheel of Purpose does that. Applied to UNCTAD鈥檚 work, it showcases what we do in a simple, gamified way. The wheel is at once educational and inspirational to our audiences and reinforces our commitment to the 2030 Agenda.鈥�

Technology as a Tool for Change

At SAP, we make sustainability core to business and we believe in the disruptive power of innovative technology and its critical role in creating tangible impact for the UN SDGs. Not only can 51风流solutions enable the integration of sustainability insights into business processes, but they can also educate the public, raise awareness, and help us achieve joint sustainability goals alongside our global ecosystem of customers and partners.

鈥淥ur听collaboration听on the Wheel of Purpose听with UNCTAD听provides a powerful example听of purpose-driven听partnership听between the public and private sector,鈥� says Daniel Schmid, chief sustainability officer, SAP.听鈥淲e are excited to听amplify the reach of this engaging听digital听showcase and inform others听about听how UNCTAD and SAP听engage in meaningful efforts to accelerate听the UN鈥檚听global agenda.鈥�

Explore the听, and share it with your network to spark the conversations that motivate tangible action for the SDGs. Only in partnership can we create the transformational change required to bring about 鈥減eace and prosperity for people and the planet.鈥�

For more information听on the SDGs:

• Read听the web book, which launched in 2016, to explore tangible examples of how SAP, our customers, and our partners leverage the enabling power of digitalization to contribute to the SDGs.
• Sign up for a free open51风流course, , which covers sustainability frameworks, including the SDGs, and how companies can use digitization to contribute to achieving them.

51风流employee Anina Monteforte is a world traveler, young changemaker, and the founder of The World Within Us, a social enterprise creating travel experiences directly aligned with the 17 United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals.

Prior to the pandemic, travel and tourism — including its direct, indirect, and induced impacts — accounted for 25% of new jobs created globally. The UN World Trade Organization estimates that around international tourists traveling the world are young people. Anina is a part of that statistic; in the past five years, she has traveled to more than 45 countries while pursuing a master鈥檚 degree in International Development at New York University (NYU). Inspired by her own personal passion for traveling and culture, Anina founded .

As part of SAP’s ongoing Redefining YOU(th) campaign, culminating on International Youth Day, Anina鈥檚 story is one to be shared. Her vivacious spirit, energy, and commitment to help the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives demonstrates that the world really is within us.

Q: As a grad student, an entrepreneur, and an intern at SAP, what inspires you to do all that you do?

A: I have a deep passion for sustainability, international travel, and grassroots social impact. I have learned to bring these passions together in building The World Within Us, my graduate studies at NYU, and the work I do at SAP.

My spark was ignited in 2016, when I went on a voyage called Semester at Sea, a five-month journey traveling across Europe, Africa, and South America, with 600 students from around the world. This experience opened my eyes to the expansive beauty the world has to offer, especially in the hidden corners beyond the commercialized destinations that many travelers visit. It taught me lessons along the way that changed the trajectory of my life. It also led me in the last five years to visit 45 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America.

Afterwards I enrolled in a Masters in Global Affairs concentrating in International Development at NYU to better understand how sustainable development can impact travel and the overall future of the world. Simultaneously, I received an opportunity to join 51风流as the social media intern for the 51风流Next-Gen program.

I never imagined becoming a social entrepreneur, but all the pieces fell into place. At SAP, I worked closely on projects that aligned with the UN SDGs. This framework became my lifeline, using them at work and as part of my educational research at NYU. I realized the travel industry lacked a strong focus on intentional sustainable development.

I created The World Within Us because I wanted to create meaningful travel experiences with intention, empowering social sector partners to serve their local communities and educate travelers on the 17 UN SDGs. I also wanted to keep these travel experiences affordable, so they are accessible. If we change the way that we travel, we can truly make a substantial impact on our world.

The World Within Us was built to host small groups and provide them with travel experiences that focus on fostering positive social and economic impacts. Our success comes from our local grassroots nonprofit partners in each destination like Solar Sister in Tanzania, helping ensure we are successful in empowering local initiatives to fuel the community. We do that by selecting sustainable hotels, female guides, and indigenous-led activities to put our tourism dollars in the hands of the local community. We also educate travelers on the UN SDGs and aspects that relate to tradition, culture, and history prior to our departure.

Success to me is ensuring travelers have a once-in-a-lifetime experience and that the local community economically benefits from our experiences.

What are the challenges you faced while creating The World Within Us? And how are you navigating the pandemic?

The major challenge in starting my enterprise, similar to many other small businesses, is building The World Within Us as a one-woman-army and wearing all hats to keep the organization running. From teaching myself to build a website, manage finances, learn about sales, client management, and so on, it hasn鈥檛 been an easy task. But I鈥檝e taught myself how to do these things, and I’ve been able to bring these skills into the work I do at 51风流and vice versa. My experience creating content, leading our purpose-driven social media channels through SAP4Good, and building partnerships also helps my small business.

When the pandemic hit, it required many additional logistical steps, including checking government websites to monitor COVID-19 restrictions and ensuring our travelers and local staff were operating safely. While this is proving difficult, it鈥檚 not impossible. We just kicked off our second trip to this year. The world is adopting safer methods of traveling, and The World Within Us is helping to lead this change.

How has your role at 51风流helped you in your accomplishments with The World Within Us?

Everything that I do at 51风流has helped me build The World Within Us. I have seen how private sector organizations are taking action to creating a more sustainable and equal world and how they are building partnerships and programs that will help us advance the UN SDGs.

I鈥檝e also developed storytelling skills and honed my ability to share purpose-driven stories that resonate with readers. I work closely on program-building that relates to climate change, gender equality, and social entrepreneurship. My manager at 51风流has empowered me in my role and helps me lead my life with purpose and creativity. With SAP鈥檚 Flex Work program, I also had the privilege to work remotely during the pandemic, allowing me to be alongside my fellow travelers at the different destinations we traveled to this year.

Pledge to Flex shows that 51风流understands how people work, and they want to provide the space for employees to create an impact inside and outside of the work they do at SAP. I firmly believe as a result that passion, creativity, and excitement will trickle into the work you do every day!

How do you perceive youth? How would you help “Redefine (YOU)th” during a particularly uncertain time?

Youth are powerful, dynamic, and filled with immense potential to bring about change. As a young person, I make decisions that align with my values and adapt to the current environment so I can navigate any obstacle that comes my way. I launched The World Within Us during the pandemic. And although I experienced challenges along the way, it never stopped my motivation to drive the mission forward. The growing number of vaccinated individuals helps immensely, along with keeping in mind safety protocols in each destination.

The destinations I selected for the upcoming travel itineraries intentionally represent the Global South — countries like Tanzania, Egypt, Guatemala, and Indonesia — to make sure that the money brought in by travelers reaches the local community directly. I design each experience so I know who is on the receiving end. That is something that as travelers, we all have power over. Everything is interconnected, and we want to boost the local economy through tourism, especially during this pandemic.

Anina鈥檚 story, actions, and spirit shows the power of micro-actions in achieving the UN SDGs. Whether climate action, reducing inequalities, creating stronger institutions for peace and justice, or eradicating poverty, it begins with micro-actions we choose. As we prepare to celebrate International Youth Day, Anina鈥檚 story is one that showcases the power we have to create a lasting positive impact — both in our own cities and in communities that may not affect us directly but deserve solidarity and support.

Together, we can transform industries, grow economies, lift up societies, sustain our environment, and win the right way.

According to Mariya Gabriel, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, and Youth, it is necessary to make enormous changes in digital education.

An earnest attempt to increase digital literacy across Europe is what sparked the creation of Meet and Code in 2017, with the aim to ignite interest into the world of technology and coding and empower youth to shape their digital future. Fast forward a few years later and amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Meet and Code continues to connect and engage with children and youth and has successfully delivered 1,325 online events across 35 European countries in 2020, reaching more than 39,500 learners from 500 cities.

Europe鈥檚 Favorite Digital Skills Youth Initiative Turns Five

Now in its fifth year, Meet and Code returns with an exciting virtual twist. Specially aligned to in October, Meet and Code will support with digital coding events reaching far and wide. for local non-profits across Europe to submit their coding event concepts for ages eight to 24 and could receive up to 鈧�500 in funding. Registration for funding is open until September 8, 2021.

鈥淪ince the beginning of time, humans have created with stone, iron, paper, and pencil,鈥� says Alessandro Bogliolo, EU Code Week Ambassadors Coordinator. “Now we live in a different era, where we mold our world in code. During Code Week we want to give everyone the opportunity to discover coding and have fun with it.”

In addition to the online workshops, Meet and Code also hosts an awards ceremony to honor the most creative event ideas to get youth excited about coding. Once again, this year鈥檚 initiative will call upon local non-profits to submit their unique coding events linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The most successful workshops will not only be acknowledged and celebrated, but will also receive prize money for their hard work and efforts.

Celebrating EU Code Week, Fabrizia Benini, deputy director of Digital Transformation at the European Commission says, 鈥淚n October, EU Code Week will again celebrate creativity, problem solving, and innovation and bring coding to millions of young people in Europe and beyond. A special focus will be placed on reaching schools. To empower as many young people as possible, EU Code Week collaborates with organizations such as Meet and Code.鈥�

Five Ways Tech-Savvy Youth Can Shape the Future

Digital technologies are a staple in everyday life; they are also transforming European schools and classrooms. Youth today need digital skills to be ready for the future. The 21st century is centered around computational technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics.

Coding is one way to expose youth to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) topics from an early age so that they can develop skills and expertise to fulfill their professional and personal aspirations.

1. Coding teaches programming fundamentals and formal logic. At its core, children learn how to break down a problem into essential elements and create a solution. Coding sharpens problem-solving skills and increases focus.
2. Coding prepares kids for an increasingly technology-based future. Many jobs involve understanding the limitations and capabilities of code — from design to e-commerce, architecture, and data science.
3. Coding provides an empowering skill set and supports developing confidence. In a world that is constantly asking us to adapt to new technologies and digital innovations, children who code will better understand what software they use, what it can do, and why.
4. Learning how to code helps children better understand how the world around them works, because code is used in everyday life.
5. Coding is one of the most widely used languages in the world. If a child can learn computational thinking and design patterns while learning to code, they will be able to code in any coding language.

Behind Meet and Code are founding partners SAP, , and , with the respective country partners of the TechSoup Europe network. In 2020, the joined as a European partner. Haus des Stiftens gGmbH is responsible for the overall initiative.

Coding is one of the many digital tools that is redefining the youth and changing the world as we know it

Inspired to bring a change? Find out more about Meet and Code, apply for funding, and get involved by visiting . Connect on , , and using the hashtags #SAP4Good #MeetandCode and #CodeEU.

Adam Hunter is communications lead for 51风流CSR EMEA.

With our application portfolio, industry expertise, and extensive business network, we aim to enable emissions reduction and help tackle the ocean plastics crisis. We aspire to infuse sustainability into all relevant core business processes by focusing on regulatory compliance, operational excellence, and responsible innovation and growth — going beyond the traditional scope of value creation.

We believe that the path to a low-carbon future is circular. Only when businesses are moving beyond their siloed approaches, commitments, and climate pledges, fully embracing sustainability, and embedding these ambitions in an integrated way will we be able to drive systemic change. The good news is that . Evidence shows it can bring big opportunities and drive 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.

The role of a circular economy must expand to successfully reduce emissions across sectors, as it is an essential component to achieving climate neutrality.

Sustainability management by SAP, launched last month at the first , showcases our suite of sustainability solutions that can help organizations in their journey to becoming a sustainable enterprise. We aim to enable organizations to assess and reduce their carbon footprint, increase resource productivity through circular processes, and run safer, sustainable business processes. This will also include industry-specific insights that combine operational and financial data across value chains embedded in core business processes.

Our portfolio addresses four dimensions of sustainable transformation.

Climate Action

With , planned for availability in the third quarter of 2021, our ambition is to provide customers with product footprint transparency. This will equip them with the insight to reduce carbon emissions across their value chains while enabling them to exchange data with their customers, suppliers, and business partners — driving transparency across a company鈥檚 scope 1, 2, and 3 operations.

Carbon is increasingly becoming a that can be tracked, traded, managed, and minimized like any other resource. Learn more about how to do this in the .

Circular Economy

With , planned for availability in the fourth quarter of 2021, we aim to further our vision for a plastic-free ocean by 2030. By preventing waste and pollution, using products and materials for longer, and applying circular principles, we can regenerate natural systems and make better use of finite resources. Successful execution on circularity will bring the upstream visibility for sustainable inputs together with downstream visibility, thus enabling reverse logistics and product authentication, promoting reuse across the product鈥檚 life cycle.

Extended producer responsibility is our first step in building resilience and circularity principles into material flows throughout value networks.Learn more about .

Holistic Steering and Reporting

The upcoming 51风流Sustainability Control Tower solution will meet the hyper transparency needs of our customers on their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance through a higher level of granularity than historically available through reporting and disclosure. We want to provide focused analysis on the most important data in real time, protecting against business risks, tying it back to underlying business data.

A successful ESG information architecture must meet the needs of external audiences and internal managers at the same time. Explore how .

Socially Responsible Value Networks

The journey to support our customers鈥� ambitions has only just begun, and there is a huge potential to make this vision bigger and stronger through collaboration with our ecosystem. As an example, with 51风流Business Network, we support continuous improvement in safe, equitable, and compliant businesses, within the company and across the value network. Other examples include the planned inclusion of the sustainability scores of suppliers during the purchase requisition process, so that procurers are informed on the sustainability profiles of their suppliers.

With sustainability management by SAP, we embed sustainability as a new dimension of success while delivering incremental innovations in our sustainability product portfolio, which is modular, integrated, and embedded along end-to-end business processes in the Intelligent Enterprise, starting with 51风流S/4HANA. To execute on this vision, we will collaborate with our ecosystem across industries to innovate on top of 51风流Business Technology Platform.

To achieve these ambitious goals, we need to continuously challenge ourselves and work together with customers, partners, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and regulators for sustainable product life cycles across the value chains.

We are delivering jointly on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) through the . .

To keep updated on the latest product innovations, visit the , which will guide you on transformative actions toward a more sustainable future.

Enabling tomorrow starts today.

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

Unsurprisingly, many companies are daunted by the seemingly insurmountable challenges, so 51风流and Accenture are taking action to help them.

The Right Time

By now, we all know we must radically change the way businesses run, our impact on the environment, and the inequalities in society. That鈥檚 the only way to ensure a lifestyle that allows us to meet our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

The signs are everywhere. Consumers are increasingly aware about the negative environmental impact of products and services, such as fast fashion, single-use plastics, food waste, and excessive packaging. They are demanding accountability and responsible business models from their favorite brands. Governments are increasing regulations around carbon emissions and waste management and are demanding manufacturers to take responsibility for their impact on the environment.

Enterprises are under pressure from investors to include their environmental, societal, and governance (ESG) factors in their financial performance reports. And finally, employees are increasingly vocal about the environmental policies and actions of their employers. Businesses know they need to act, but few are rising to the challenge.

A study by Accenture found while the United Nations (UN) Global Compact鈥檚 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) program has challenged companies to enhance their commitment to the UN SDGs, only 25% have set goals aligned to societal or environmental needs. Although CEOs acknowledge the universal call-to-action to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all, less than 50% have implemented sustainability into their operations.

The Challenge

As a survey of business drivers and actions to improve the environment at planetary scale conducted by 51风流Insights revealed there are numerous barriers. Almost 7,500 CEOs and other business leaders from 16 industries around the globe participated in the survey. The top three reasons they cited for not moving ahead were lack of clarity on how to embed sustainability in business processes and IT systems, lack of clarity on how potential actions would align with strategy, and difficulty proving return on investment. Other factors include lack of funding, lack of expertise, or lack of support from senior management.

The challenges are daunting, which is why solving sustainability issues is not something individual corporations or governments can do alone.听 The way ahead involves . In this decade of delivery, partnerships are crucial.

A Will and a Way

Accenture and SAP, for example, have just announced they are expanding their long-term engagement to help companies embed sustainability across the full spectrum of their business operations. This will help unlock new value and realize long-term growth.

By combining 51风流technology with Accenture鈥檚 , the partners plan to jointly create new solutions that can empower companies to accelerate their progress on decarbonizing their supply chains and capture their share of the projected $4.5 trillion economic growth that the .

Together, Accenture and 51风流will develop the new 51风流Responsible Production and Design solution, which will help companies consume fewer resources and build sustainability within the design process. It will also enable companies to apply analytics to the operational, asset, and process data collected across the value chain. Such an integrated view will help them determine clear sustainability goals and metrics across business processes.

As a result, companies will be able to reduce the costs of compliance and extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulation by designing and producing products with .

Accenture also supports SAP鈥檚 initiative, which allows companies in any industry to use analytics to measure and minimize carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and lower the carbon footprint across the product life cycle. Adding sustainability metrics across the supply chain provides an integrated view of environmental savings and helps optimize operations.

This type of co-innovation could help solve some of the barriers cited in the 51风流Insights survey. Embedding sustainability in business processes and IT systems and measuring return on investment (ROI) gives enterprises a better understanding of how to fund their sustainability efforts. With time and success companies can gain expertise, set aside funds, and engage senior leadership to support their sustainability journey.

Call to Action

The Accenture study identifies three things leaders anywhere in any industry can do to start implementing and scaling plans of action to address climate change, social inequalities, and resource availability.

• Raise ambition and impact: Leaders must drive change in their own organizations, and through the disruption of market systems.
• Change collaboration: Key players must connect in new ways because meaningful transformation is not a solo sport.
• Redefine responsible leadership: Leaders must embrace their role as change agents to champion the sustainability agenda.

To learn more about the 51风流and Accenture partnership for a sustainable future, join the virtual听, taking place April 28-29. The event will focus on how companies are reducing their environmental footprints and managing limited resources productively while steering and reporting their businesses holistically.

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The initiative is dedicated to enhancing transparency in corporate carbon emissions with the objective to ultimately decarbonize supply chains. The announcement was made at the virtual event.

The membership accelerates SAP鈥檚 momentum in sustainability leadership and innovation. Last year, 51风流announced the Climate 21 program to help companies understand, minimize and disclose the full carbon footprints of their products and services.

鈥淲e are supporting businesses of all sizes and industries in determining the carbon footprint across their operations and supply chains down to the individual product level by embedding the corresponding capabilities into our core enterprise software systems,鈥� said Christian Klein, CEO and member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE. 鈥淏y partnering with WBCSD and other forward-thinking companies, we will jointly find new ways to collect and share product carbon footprint data with their customers and consumers, which will give them a real competitive advantage while accelerating global decarbonization efforts.鈥�

WBCSD is a global, CEO-led organization dedicated to accelerating the transition to a sustainable world. At the core of the network are its six work programs, including climate, energy and circular economy, which focus on helping realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. WBCSD invites businesses, standards-setting bodies, technology experts and other decarbonization initiatives to join the Carbon Transparency Pathfinder in helping develop an effective model to help decarbonize industry through data transparency.

“We鈥檙e glad to be counting on SAP鈥檚 support, drive and expertise across our programs and projects 鈥� especially in the Carbon Transparency Pathfinder, which is a perfect initiative for 51风流because their software and data management solutions are used by many of the world鈥檚 largest companies to run complex supply chain and manufacturing operations,鈥� said Peter Bakker, president and CEO, WBCSD. 鈥淲e look forward to innovating with 51风流and other members to make real, tangible progress on sustainable development and climate action for a more sustainable world in line with the recently released .鈥�

Visit the 51风流News Center. Follow 51风流on Twitter at .

Visit . Follow WBCSD on and .

About WBCSD

WBCSD is a global, CEO-led organization of over 200 leading businesses working together to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world. We help make our member companies more successful and sustainable by focusing on the maximum positive impact for shareholders, the environment and societies.听Their member companies come from all business sectors and all major economies, representing a combined revenue of more than USD $8.5 trillion and 19 million employees. Their global network of almost 70 national business councils gives our members unparalleled reach across the globe. Since 1995, WBCSD has been uniquely positioned to work with member companies along and across value chains to deliver impactful business solutions to the most challenging sustainability issues.听The organization is a leading voice of business for sustainability, united by a vision of a world where more than 9 billion people are all living well, within planetary boundaries, by 2050.听

About SAP

SAP鈥檚 strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world鈥檚 transaction revenue touches an 51风流system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers鈥� businesses into intelligent enterprises. 51风流helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want 鈥� without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 51风流helps the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. For more information, visit

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For customers interested in learning more about 51风流products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-151风流(1-800-872-1727)

For more information, press only:
Bettina Wunderle, +49 7544 970 538, bettina.wunderle@sap.com, CET
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51风流Press Room; press@sap.com

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as 鈥渁nticipate,鈥� 鈥渂elieve,鈥� 鈥渆stimate,鈥� 鈥渆xpect,鈥� 鈥渇orecast,鈥� 鈥渋ntend,鈥� 鈥渕ay,鈥� 鈥減lan,鈥� 鈥減roject,鈥� 鈥減redict,鈥� 鈥渟hould鈥� and 鈥渨ill鈥� and similar expressions as they relate to 51风流are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. 51风流undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP’s future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including SAP’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
漏 2021 51风流SE. All rights reserved.
51风流and other 51风流products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 51风流SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.
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Combining 51风流technology with Accenture鈥檚 and broad industry knowledge, the partners are expanding their alliance to jointly create new solutions that can empower companies to accelerate their progress on fully de-carbonizing their supply chains and capture their share of the projected $4.5 trillion economic growth that the circular economy could bring.*

Through this extended partnership, Accenture and 51风流plan to co-innovate and co-develop SAP鈥檚 new solution for responsible production and design, which includes capabilities that help companies embed sustainability metrics across their value and supply chains with a focus on product design and manufacturing. Using integrated data from across operations, companies can better design and produce products with less waste, improved recyclability and more recycled content. This will also help reduce the growing cost of compliance driven by new regulations for packaging and extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations.

鈥淥ur work together will enable SAP鈥檚 customers, which include 92% of the Forbes Global 2000, to use their core systems to help drive their sustainability agenda, optimize their ESG performance and achieve their goals,鈥� said Julie Sweet, chief executive officer at Accenture. 鈥淭his expanded collaboration builds on our long history with 51风流鈥� including our joint partnership with the 鈥� and our shared commitment to drive adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals.鈥�

Accenture also supports SAP鈥檚 initiative, which allows companies in any industry to use analytics to measure and minimize carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and lower the carbon footprint across the product lifecycle. For instance, research shows that emissions from upstream suppliers are on average over five times as high as those from direct operations.** With sustainability metrics added across the end-to-end supply chain, companies gain an integrated view of environmental savings and cost impacts and more easily optimize their operations.

鈥淭o successfully tackle the greatest threat to our world today, we need to collaborate at every level of business and society,鈥� said Christian Klein, chief executive officer at SAP. 鈥淏uilding on our long-standing and trusted partnership, 51风流and Accenture are joining forces to help our customers realize long-term growth in a sustainable way. We鈥檙e creating visibility into the environmental impact across the entire value chain, providing enterprises with the insights they need to take the right action and accelerate their transition to the circular economy.鈥�

Last month, 51风流and Accenture kicked off a global sustainability-focused accelerator program at Foundries. The Sustainable Future program, the largest cohort in SAP.iO to date, aims to help early-stage B2B startups drive digital transformation and innovation in four target areas: carbon tracking and trading, resource efficiency, climate risk tracking and mitigation, and circular economy. Thirteen startups have been selected to work with SAP.iO Foundries Berlin and Munich, in tandem with Accenture experts and leading companies in various industries.

鈥淚mplementing sustainable supply chain management and circular economy principles is an incredibly challenging task for companies, given the diverse set of ESG issues and multiple stakeholders involved,鈥� said Bjoern Stengel, senior research analyst, Worldwide Business Consulting and ESG Business Services at IDC. 鈥淎ccording to IDC鈥檚 research, issues around enterprises鈥� value creation process 鈥� product design and lifecycle management, materials sourcing, etc. 鈥� are the ESG topics that will generate the greatest near-term demand. This new offering from Accenture and 51风流allows clients to generate critical, data-driven end-to-end insights that take into consideration non-financial metrics that are needed to build sustainable supply chains and help companies create shared value.鈥�

This collaboration is the latest in a series of initiatives from Accenture and 51风流that help businesses capture value from sustainability. The United Nations Global Compact with the support of Accenture and 51风流SE, supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), SDG Ambition in January 2020 and the SDG Ambition and Integration Guides in September 2020. Together, through the SDG Ambition Accelerator that began in February 2021, more than in 65 countries are being upskilled to apply these tools to their businesses.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services鈥攁ll powered by the world鈥檚 largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 537,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at .

About SAP

SAP鈥檚 strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world鈥檚 transaction revenue touches an 51风流system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers鈥� businesses into intelligent enterprises. 51风流helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want 鈥� without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 51风流helps the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. For more information, visit

Note to editors:
To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit . On this platform, you can find high resolution material for your media channels. To view video stories on diverse topics, visit . From this site, you can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via email links, and subscribe to RSS feeds from 51风流TV.

For customers interested in learning more about 51风流products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-151风流(1-800-872-1727)

For more information, press only:
Stacy Ries, SAP, +1 (484) 619-0411, stacy.ries@sap.com, ET
51风流Press Room; press@sap.com
Alexander Aizenberg, Accenture, +1 (917) 452-9878, alexander.aizenberg@accenture.com
Julie Bennink, Accenture, +1 (312) 693-7301, julie.l.bennink@accenture.com

*Peter Lacy et al., , Palgrave MacMillan, 2020.
**CDP Supply Chain, 鈥�,鈥� 2019.

Any statements in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties described in SAP鈥檚 filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (鈥淪EC), including its most recent annual report on Form 20-F, that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. 51风流cautions readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which 51风流has no obligation to update and which speak only as of their dates.
51风流and other 51风流products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 51风流SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.
Please consider our . If you received this press release in your e-mail and you wish to unsubscribe to our mailing list please contact press@sap.com and write Unsubscribe in the subject line.

Customers are increasingly educated and demand products and services that minimize negative environmental impact. Investors are integrating climate risk in their portfolio strategies. Government regulation is on the rise around the world, affecting carbon emissions, waste management, product design, and producer responsibility. Employees are increasingly vocal about their employer鈥檚 environmental policies and actions, making it challenging for businesses to recruit top talent without a genuine environmental vision and track record.

Based on Accenture research*, enterprises with high ratings for environmental and social governance (ESG) performance attained operating margins nearly four-times higher than those with low ESG ratings and generated annual total returns to shareholders that were double their peers. According , 54% of CEOs agree sustainability is critical to the future success of their organizations, and 71% of investors believe the pandemic will accentuate global policies to tackle risks related to climate change.

From Periphery to Core

Enterprises must show accountability through ESG performance and manage end-to-end operations responsibly. By reimagining its business model, any company can operate in an intelligent way, minimize negative environmental impact, and unleash a new dimension of enterprise resource planning (ERP). Decision-makers can use this intelligence to design better products, create engaging experiences, and equip employees to do their best work by eliminating busywork. They can create an efficient, ethical, and adaptable supply chain, reaching beyond organizations and first-tier suppliers to proactively manage performance and risks with trading partners around the world.

Just like any other core business function, sustainability performance must also be managed in real time and integrated into wider business decision making. True, integrated reporting will go hand-in-hand with ESG management, and information transparency will provide a solid foundation to optimize financial results and sustainability performance together.

Most companies have a long way to go before they move beyond the basics of simply reporting ESG performance to actively steering their business operations toward ambitious sustainability goals. While the UN Global Compact鈥檚 SDG Ambition program has challenged companies to enhance their commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), only aligned to societal or environmental needs. Although CEOs acknowledge the universal call-to-action to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all, into their operations.

Words into Actions

If we plan to deliver on the UN SDGs by 2030, the performance of every process and product must be measured, managed, and delivered against sustainability goals. It is an imperative that spans across the value chain 鈥� from companies鈥� key design decisions to product lifecycle management.

51风流and Accenture believe that steering a company holistically 鈥� by looking not only at financials, but also at the social and green bottom lines 鈥� leads to better management decisions and more resiliency in their value chain. 51风流S/4HANA helps companies to drive bottom line profitability through operational efficiency, top line growth and adaptability. It offers flexible business model innovation and transparency into its green line environmental responsibility. 51风流and Accenture鈥檚 goal is to make sustainability profitable and profitability sustainable.

To achieve this, enterprises must integrate sustainability into the heart of their strategy and core business systems. This is the rationale behind the collaboration between 51风流and Accenture, which focuses on innovation, development, and scaling sustainability across four go-to-market sustainability initiatives:

SDG Ambition: Scaling Business Impact for Decade of Action

The first of these initiatives is our partnership with the UN Global Compact on the SDG Ambition. 听Announced at the World Economic Forum 2020 in Davos with 3M as Patron Sponsor, 51风流and Accenture are rolling out the SDG Ambition through the . This includes how to implement these goals at a systemic level and how to develop new capabilities powered by 51风流technologies. As of today, more than 600 companies have already signed up for the program.

51风流and Accenture are working together to co-innovate and develop new 51风流solutions that address sustainability and enhance existing core technologies. Both new and existing systems have a role to play in the other three joint sustainability initiatives.

Circular Economy: Taking Action Toward a Zero-Waste Economy

The power of 51风流and Accenture鈥檚 partnership enables their customers to better manage material flows through their supply chains and innovate business processes to accelerate the circular economy. The initial focus is on packaging in the consumer goods and retail industries, specifically accelerating the development and delivery of the 51风流Responsible Design and Production solution. Designing and promoting reusable products to address waste management is a fundamental principle of the circular economy.

Decarbonization: Enabling Our Customers to Contribute to a Zero-Carbon Economy

51风流and Accenture are working together to offer intelligent technologies that help companies 鈥� especially in natural resources, energy, and utilities 鈥� account, analyze, manage, and ultimately reduce carbon emissions. If companies cannot account for and manage total carbon emissions, they could lose their competitive edge. Solutions such as the Climate 21 initiative and 51风流Product Footprint Management help companies to embed sustainability as a new dimension of success into their analytical and transactional applications to enable ERP and intelligent enterprise to optimize their resources not only of an individual enterprise but across value chains for the entire product life cycle.

Startups: Collaborating with Innovators to Create a Positive Impact on Both Society and Business

Accenture and 51风流are also tapping into their respective global innovation networks to nurture and engage startups through a to help address climate action, carbon reporting, and circular economy challenges across industries. Together, 51风流and Accenture will leverage this rich source of creativity to help solve our customers鈥� biggest sustainability challenges.

Helping Companies Become 鈥淭win Transformers鈥�

Untapped value exists at the intersection of digital technologies and sustainability, though only a few companies 鈥� referred to 鈥� already link the two.

From now on, twin transformation 鈥� directing innovation investment to initiatives that combine sustainability impact and the power of technology as opposed to splitting resources between advancing sustainability and technology deployment 鈥� will be critical to success. Companies that harness emerging technologies while finding new sources of value and pushing for green operations will gain a competitive advantage.

Our customers provide daily proof of just how relevant our solutions are. Together, 51风流and Accenture are committed to working with customers to make their sustainability ambitions a reality.

We are showcasing our 听vision to jointly build a sustainable future at the on April 28 and 29. Stay tuned for updates!

Jan Gilg is president of 51风流S/4HANA at SAP.
Peter Lacy is chief responsibility officer and Global Sustainability Services lead at Accenture.

*Source: Research analysis by Arabesque S Ray

The winds of change are blowing through the financial world too. One prominent example is Larry Fink, CEO of investment management company Blackrock, who said in that 鈥渃limate risk is investment risk.鈥�

Businesses, too, are expected to operate more sustainably. So far, however, expressing sustainability successes in monetary terms — in the balance sheet — has not been easy. Enter QuartaVista, an innovation project led by SAP and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

鈥淭he idea behind QuartaVista is to measure corporate success not only in financial terms, but to integrate other dimensions in the balance sheet, such as ecology, knowledge, and society,鈥� says Reiner Bildmayer, QuartaVista project manager at SAP.

The project ran from November 2018 to February 2021 and recently presented its results at a closing event in Berlin.

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Pioneer Work

The QuartaVista methodology was jointly developed by 51风流and Regionalwert AG, Freiburg, a citizen shareholder company that channels citizens鈥� money to build up regional sustainable enterprises. What鈥檚 new about QuartaVista is that sustainable business practices, as well as risks, are shown on the assets or the liabilities side of the balance sheet.

The first prerequisite for this was to translate sustainability efforts into quantifiable metrics.

鈥淲ithin the project, we developed 180 sustainability KPIs, thus creating the basis to capture these values in the balance sheet,鈥� explains Christian Hiss, founder and CEO of Regionalwert AG, Freiburg.

One example is knowledge retention. According to the QuartaVista methodology, training new employees does not only incur costs to the company. Instead, the knowledge that is built up and retained can be booked as an asset in the balance sheet.

The partners involved in the QuartaVista project were seed producer听,听, organic grain product manufacturer听,听and . They tested the methodology in practice. SAP鈥檚 role was to map the QuartaVista accounting approach to a dashboard. In addition, , an artificial intelligence-enhanced software specialist and the charitable research and teaching organization visualized the KPIs in a forecast tool.

鈥淨uartaVista has built a prototype that demonstrates how sustainability KPIs can be integrated in the accounting process and in corporate management as well,鈥� says Annika Woltjen, QuartaVista project lead at BODAN.

鈥淲e broke it down into the smallest details, which is what ultimately sets this project apart,鈥� Bildmayer shares.

Holistic corporate management involves combining financial and non-financial key figures, adds Martin Heinig, head of New Ventures and Technologies at SAP, at the event in Berlin. 鈥淵ou have to collect the data, make it assessable and comparable. In this respect, QuartaVista has taken a big step in the right direction.鈥�

True Prices

One example of how QuartaVista might play out in practice is prices.

鈥淨uartaVista gives us the opportunity to reach true prices,鈥� stresses Philip Luthardt, sustainability manager at Bohlsener Muehle. 鈥淚t is a chance for producers of organic products to show how much value we add to society as a whole.鈥�

Isabelle Sanchez, commercial manager at Bingenheimer Saatgut, believes that price transparency helps to drive customer acceptance: 鈥淲hen we explain the values we are creating and what goes into the product, then consumers are more likely to agree.” As an example, she cites organically created seedfast varieties, whose seeds spawn the same plants repeatedly. This saves consumers from having to buy new seeds in the following year.

鈥淲hat is cheap today is expensive tomorrow,鈥� explains Jenny Lay-Kumar, QuartaVista project lead at Regionalwert AG, Freiburg. “Adding risks and damage to the balance sheet, as well as crediting efforts toward sustainability, means much more than just making products more expensive. It means realigning the market economy based on a new way of measuring success.”

QuartaVista does not necessarily mean making organically produced products more expensive. 鈥淪ustainable management is an investment that is capitalized as an asset in the balance sheet. If QuartaVista is implemented, I can achieve completely different prices,鈥� Hiss concludes.

Experimentation and Thinking Space

Even though the project has now officially concluded, it is not the end of the line, but rather a starting point. The partners are determined to drive their methodology forward in collaboration with businesses, academia, and politicians. A lot of work remains to be done; the project was set up as an experimentation and thinking space.

鈥淲e have a tool with which we can practice thinking. We can do something and see the results of our actions. This is the beginning of a larger change, not only in finance,鈥� Professor Karin Graeslund from the Wiesbaden Business School and German-speaking 51风流User Group DSAG, said at the closing event.

鈥淲e opened up a wealth of potential with QuartaVista. We are determined to continue,鈥� Bildmayer emphasizes.

Last year, the company reduced its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions more than planned, mainly due to changes in the way its 100,000 employees across the world worked and traveled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A sharp decline in business flights contributed significantly to SAP鈥檚 reduced carbon footprint in 2020. With employees working predominantly from home, carbon emissions caused by the daily commute and the operation of office buildings fell. As a result, 51风流was able to overachieve by 43% on its target for reducing net carbon emissions in 2020, generating 135 kilotons (kt) instead of the anticipated 238 kt. By way of comparison, SAP鈥檚 emissions in 2019 were 300 kt. By accelerating faster toward carbon-neutral operations, 51风流anticipates the current development and underscores its role as a front-runner in climate protection.

In striving to become carbon-neutral, 51风流takes into account all of its direct and indirect emissions, as well as selected emissions arising in the supply chain, including those linked to business flights, business travel in rental cars and third-party data centers. The company uses the approach of first avoiding, second reducing and third compensating emissions. Whenever possible, 51风流aims to avoid the creation of GHGs through a variety of business practices, such as using telecommunication technologies rather than traveling. If emissions cannot be avoided, 51风流leverages innovations, such as energy-efficient lighting in offices, efficient cooling systems in data centers and alternative mobility solutions. Lastly, 51风流offsets unavoidable emissions by supporting climate projects and working with partners who meet the gold standard advanced by or equivalent quality standards. In addition, 51风流continuously drives new corporate initiatives, such as putting an internal carbon price on business flights.

Since 2017, 51风流has also been pursuing a science-based climate target certified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to make its own contribution to limiting global warming to 1.5掳C above preindustrial levels. While its zero-carbon goal applies chiefly to its own operations, SAP鈥檚 science-based climate target also encompasses the upstream and downstream value chain. 51风流has been using 100% renewable energy to power all of its data centers since 2014. Thanks to its green cloud, 51风流can offer customers cloud solutions that are carbon-neutral.

51风流supports the set in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly, focusing particularly on goal 13, Climate Action. Here, SAP鈥檚 greatest strength lies in its ability to help its more than 400,000 customers worldwide implement climate protection measures through offerings such as the Climate 21 program. Together with customers and partners, 51风流will provide more information on solutions in this context as well as on the circular economy, holistic steering and reporting at the virtual taking place on April 28鈥�29, 2021.

Visit the . Follow 51风流on Twitter at .

Media Contact:
Bettina Wunderle, +49 7544 970538, bettina.wunderle@sap.com, CET
51风流Press Room; press@sap.com

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as 鈥渁nticipate,鈥� 鈥渂elieve,鈥� 鈥渆stimate,鈥� 鈥渆xpect,鈥� 鈥渇orecast,鈥� 鈥渋ntend,鈥� 鈥渕ay,鈥� 鈥減lan,鈥� 鈥減roject,鈥� 鈥減redict,鈥� 鈥渟hould鈥� and 鈥渨ill鈥� and similar expressions as they relate to 51风流are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. 51风流undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP’s future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including SAP’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
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• United Nations Global Compact SDG Ambition Accelerator will drive business engagement on SDGs in companies with support of Accenture, 51风流and 3M.

First announced last year by UN Secretary-General Ant贸nio Guterres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, SDG Ambition Accelerator is an initiative that challenges and supports participating companies of the UN Global Compact in setting ambitious corporate sustainability targets and accelerating the integration of the SDGs into core business management.

The SDG Ambition Accelerator Program is a six-month learning journey for corporate executives being delivered through UN Global Compact Networks based in 30 countries. More than 1,150 representatives from participating companies, employing 7.9 million people, will join to assess current performance, risk areas and new opportunities across their business. This will help companies take more ambitious business actions toward achieving the SDGs by 2030.听 Outcomes from the first round of the Accelerator will be presented at the annual UN Global Compact Leaders Summit on June 15鈥�16, 2021.

The SDG Ambition Accelerator challenges and supports companies to:

• Strategically prioritize sustainability issues where they can have the greatest impact through their operations, products and services, and across the value chain
• Set ambitious goals and identify critical pathways to achieve them
• Integrate SDG-related business goals and outcomes into core business management processes
• Design technology systems to track progress on the goals across business units or functions

Sanda Ojiambo, CEO and Executive Director of UN Global Compact, said: 鈥淏y engaging hundreds of companies of all sizes and sectors from around the world, the UN Global Compact SDG Ambition Accelerator is working to mobilize a truly global movement of responsible enterprises to accelerate progress toward embedding sustainability into core business strategies and operations鈥攏ot only for the benefit of society but for their own benefit as well.鈥�

from Accenture Strategy and the UN Global Compact shows that despite private sector progress on the SDGs, only 21% of CEOs felt that business was playing a critical role in contributing toward the SDGs. Similarly, according to the , only 39% of companies believed they had targets ambitious enough to fully meet the SDGs.

Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture, said: 鈥淎s we face the urgent challenges of rebuilding the global economy and tackling climate change, this is the moment for every business to take bold action and become a sustainable business with their customers and across their enterprises and supply chains. The SDG Ambition Accelerator will help companies embed sustainability into their core at greater speed and scale to make meaningful, measurable progress toward achieving the SDGs.鈥�

Christian Klein, CEO of SAP, said: 鈥淚n the future, profitability and sustainability will go hand in hand, with the latter becoming a dimension of corporate decision-making just like cost or growth. By combining our areas of expertise, we help businesses around the world to establish the foundational infrastructure they need to measure and actively steer their progress toward achieving the SDGs.鈥�

Michael Roman, Chairman and CEO of 3M, said: 鈥淭he COVID-19 pandemic has deeply impacted all of our lives and underscored the critical role that science and the business community have in solving global challenges. 3M is pleased to partner with the United Nations and other leading organizations to build a collaborative approach to improving lives around the world. We hope the SDG Ambition Accelerator will inspire other companies to join us in working to make this a Decade of Action.鈥�

More information on the SDG Ambition Accelerator .

Notes to Editors:

About the United Nations Global Compact

As a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with Ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Our ambition is to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the Sustainable Development Goals through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change. With more than 12,000 companies and 3,000 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and 69 Local Networks, the UN Global Compact is the world鈥檚 largest corporate sustainability initiative 鈥� one Global Compact uniting business for a better world.

For more information, follow on social media and visit our website at .

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services 鈥� all powered by the world鈥檚 largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 514,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

About SAP

As a market leader in enterprise application software, 51风流helps companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT) and advanced analytics technologies turn businesses into intelligent enterprises and 51风流applications and services enable business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably and adapt continuously. With a global network of customers, partners, employees and thought leaders, 51风流helps the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. For more information, visit .

About 3M

At 3M, we apply science in collaborative ways to improve lives daily as our employees connect with customers all around the world. Learn more about 3M’s creative solutions to global challenges at or on Twitter or .

Contacts:
Alex Gee, UN Global Compact, ex@mackworthassociates.com, media@unglobalcompact.org
Julie Bennink, Accenture, +1 (312) 693-7301, julie.l.bennink@accenture.com
Susan Miller, SAP, +1 (610) 661-9225, susan.miller@sap.com
Lauren Cox, 3M, +1 (612) 403-7112, lcox@mmm.com

Two hybrid trucks pull out of the yard at BODAN, an organic food wholesaler located at Lake Constance in Ueberlingen, Germany. In addition to being more fuel-efficient than conventional vehicles, these hybrid trucks are also extremely quiet 鈥� causing less disturbance for local residents, especially at night.

These benefits don鈥檛 come cheap, and the additional cost of 鈧�45,000 compared to a conventional truck hits profits. The fact that BODAN buys hybrid trucks anyway reflects the self-image of this pioneering organic business.

Given that conventional accounting methods only measure the financial dimension, businesses tend to perceive sustainability solely as a cost factor. This issue 鈥� particularly as it applies to agriculture 鈥� is what interests Christian Hiss, founder and CEO of Regionalwert AG Freiburg, a citizen shareholder company that channels citizens鈥� money to build up regional sustainable enterprises.

鈥淚 realized more than two decades ago that there is a disconnect between the reality of how agricultural businesses operate and how their operations are recognized in accounting and reporting, which fail to adequately consider social, ecological, and other factors,鈥� says Hiss.

At the same time, we鈥檙e witnessing a shift of values in society: The global community is setting new standards through the . On top of that, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragile nature of global supply chains and increased demand for regionally-produced, eco-friendly goods.

But if you want to incentivize businesses to commit to climate and environmental protection, regional production, and training and educating their workers, sustainability has to be more than an ideal; it has to be translated into the language of business: financial accounting.

QuartaVista: A Holistic Accounting Model

This is what the QuartaVista, or 鈥渇our perspectives,鈥� innovation project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is all about.

鈥淚 think we鈥檙e seeing the beginning of a movement,鈥� says Reiner Bildmayer, project lead for QuartaVista at SAP. 鈥淪ustainability will become such a key business decision factor that, pretty soon, a traditional profit margin will no longer be considered as important as it once was.鈥�

As an 鈥渆xperimentation space,鈥� QuartaVista expands the view of a company from one to four perspectives: finance, ecology, society, and knowledge. The partners involved in the project are seed producer , , organic grain product manufacturer , AI-enhanced software specialist , charitable research and teaching organization , , and SAP. Together, they are looking at how sustainable behaviors can be translated into quantifiable metrics.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 new about QuartaVista is that it shows achievements for sustainable management, but also risks, on the assets or the liabilities side of the balance sheet, encouraging more sustainable business practices,鈥� Hiss says.

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Visualizing Sustainability in a Way the Finance World Understands

But which targets and performance metrics need to be measured? And how, critics ask, can you put an objective monetary value on sustainability efforts?

Regionalwert AG Freiburg and other project partners have made a start and have defined specific KPIs (key performance indicators) derived partly from the 17 UN SDGs. Taking the example of Goal 4: Quality Education, you can ask, 鈥楧o companies build up and keep their knowledge capital, or is it lost?鈥� Sustainability practices can be accounted for, says Hiss. 鈥淭he key thing is to identify the right way of quantifying them, the right account to post them to 鈥� in QuartaVista, we show how it鈥檚 done.鈥�

SAP’s role in the partnership is to map the QuartaVista accounting approach to a dashboard. The dashboard visualizes sustainability in a way that the world of finance understands. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to quantify sustainability efforts, to make them accessible to the financial community 鈥� and thus create visibility,鈥� says Bildmayer.

Fair Prices and Transparency for Consumers

If efforts in the three dimensions of 鈥渒nowledge,鈥� 鈥渘ature,鈥� and 鈥渟ociety鈥� are seen as business assets, they can be factored into prices. BODAN, for example, has been competing against businesses in the conventional food industry since it first began trading. Right now, if you only compare prices, eco-products come off badly.

Yet the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that , such as origin, freshness, and transparency. In spring this year, BODAN recorded revenue increases of up to 40 percent per month, which cannot be attributed solely to more home cooking and increased stockpiling by private households.

鈥淚f you factor the non-financial aspects of ecological farming into your calculation, such as soil conservation or water pollution control, then organic products are already cheaper today than conventionally manufactured ones,鈥� argues Sascha Damaschun, one of the managing directors at BODAN, which invests in organic plant breeding, sustainable seed development, and more.

鈥淭he genetic diversity of our crops is a relevant economic value,鈥� he explains. Sustainably bred plants are often more resilient to climate change than high-performance varieties used in conventional farming, and do not require synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. On the QuartaVista dashboard, BODAN can show sustainable investments of around 鈧�70,000 made between 2014 and 2019.

The debate reaches far beyond the QuartaVista project. In an on German TV channel ZDF, Professor Maja G枚pel, political economist and sustainability scientist, insisted that, 鈥淧rices must tell the ecological truth.鈥�

So far, companies that externalize their environmental costs have been at an advantage, she said. So, how can we rejig tax and levy systems so that companies with sustainable business models can be competitive?

鈥淥ne very, very important change would be to adopt environmental pricing,鈥� G枚pel explained. 鈥淭hat way, ecologically sustainable companies could differentiate themselves from their competitors, and we鈥檇 see technologies that facilitate sustainable business entering the market.鈥�

Sustainability KPIs as Strategic Management Tools

Companies like BODAN have engaged in sustainability reporting for years. But a sustainability report reflects the past and has not been an integral part of the corporate balance sheet. The QuartaVista model, on the other hand, offers insights at the point when investment decisions are made and provides a future perspective. As such, QuartaVista functions as a kind of navigation system that helps companies adopt a future-oriented management approach.

Bohlsener M眉hle makes a point of deriving all of its raw materials from organic sources. Overall, 40 percent of its sources are regional and for grain, its main raw material, that figure is 85 percent. Sustainability has been part of the company鈥檚 DNA since its founding in 1979 and lies at the heart of its operating model, which includes using green energy. The company鈥檚 own spelt hull pellet heating system generates sufficient heat from the by-products of spelt wheat processing to supply 75 local households, producing a saving of 400 tons of CO₂ in 2019 alone. Bohlsener M眉hle is also one of the many businesses seeing a rise in demand for regional and organic products as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The QuartaVista method is at the heart of Bohlsener M眉hle鈥檚 business operations. It has defined KPIs for knowledge acquisition and retention, climate footprint, and quality of work in the supply chain. These sustainability KPIs should rank equally with economic KPIs in the balance sheet, says Philip Luthardt, sustainability manager at Bohlsener M眉hle.

This is a big challenge for employees. 鈥淣ow, all of a sudden, they鈥檙e having their performance measured not only against sales and production targets, but also against sustainability KPIs.鈥� But at the same time, sustainability is gaining a new level of appreciation at the company. 鈥淭his is a new way of thinking that enables us to integrate sustainability into the key areas of corporate management and evaluation,鈥� says Luthardt.

Real Consequences Drive Real Change

Bingenheimer Saatgut has also made sustainability one of its company goals. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not just selling a product,鈥� says Commercial Manager Isabelle Sanchez. 鈥淎s a company, you need a culture, a guiding vision.鈥� In pursuing its vision, the company sources primarily from regional suppliers, uses renewable energy, and aims to reduce the number of employees on temporary contracts. The huge wave of orders it received during the pandemic 鈥� about twice as many as in the same period last year 鈥� shows that consumers are headed in the same direction.

If society truly wants a shift toward more sustainability, however, incentives must be put in place. 鈥淎 company that uses green energy, for example, should enjoy tax breaks or other financial incentives that are not open to a competitor that uses nuclear-generated power,鈥� says Sanchez.

The logical consequence of that would be a shift in the balance of power in the market. 鈥淚f companies are obliged to account for risks, if there are standards that apply to everyone and are audited, then every company will be forced to act,鈥� adds Sanchez. 鈥淥therwise, they would no longer be competitive.鈥� In the long term, Sanchez sees QuartaVista as an instrument 鈥渢hat will help us get climate change under control.鈥�

The project partners want QuartaVista to 鈥渒eep strictly to the logic of business,鈥� says Hiss, and thus create a vision for a genuine economic transformation. The project, which began in the fall of 2018, will run until the end of February 2021.

As that sentiment becomes more firmly rooted in the public consciousness, enterprises are responding with new business models and a more circular mindset. While doing well and doing better are already reflected in the top and bottom lines, what is missing is the doing good part of the equation.

That鈥檚 why 51风流leaders are convinced that to the top and bottom line is a crucial move. In the future, the success of a company will be determined based on all three of these dimensions. But any talk about top, bottom, or green lines must begin with a clear view of a company鈥檚 finances and its strategic plan to deliver on its mission.

Role of Reporting

鈥淚t is our ambition to maintain our position as the role model for sustainable corporate reporting,鈥� says Christopher Sessar, head of Corporate Financial Reporting and chief accountant at SAP. 鈥�51风流has been a frontrunner in assigning value and reporting on non-financial targets, allowing us to build a bridge between the financial and non-financial dimensions.鈥�

As a member of the Sustainability Council at SAP, Sessar aims to improve reporting processes in non-financial dimensions and enhance the portfolio by embedding intelligent reporting capabilities on non-financial measures in 51风流solutions.

Members of the council are nominated by the 51风流Executive Board and are responsible for integrating sustainability into their core business area. Sessar鈥檚 role is to make sure the company鈥檚 sustainability objectives and financial practices are in full alignment, connecting economic performance with environmental and social impact.

Sessar supported the implementation of SAP’s award-winning integrated reporting strategy as well as its new finance strategy. He is inspired by his peers at companies such as Chanel, Siemens, and Burberry in programs like the . Such programs are designed to help senior finance executives determine the impact of external factors on price, navigate the changing business landscape, and deliver on 鈥榩urpose.鈥�

Connectivity Matrix

The importance of corporate sustainability reporting cannot be overestimated. Its role is to drive decision-making and strategy execution through transparency and early warning.

Sustainability-focused enterprises like Kering, which including Gucci, are developing ways to speak about their environmental impact in financial terms. Kering has developed a capital accounting methodology called听, which measures and analyzes vital data like carbon emissions along the entire supply chain.

This makes the impact of the group鈥檚 activities visible and quantifiable by enabling the company鈥檚 use of natural resources to be translated into monetary values. To tighten the connection between profitability and sustainability, a portion of top management bonuses is based on their sustainability achievements.

For Sessar, Kering鈥檚 model and others, like PwC鈥檚 simulation of , are eye-openers.

鈥淚 was trained in the traditional interpretation of the accounting function,鈥� Sessar explains. 鈥淏y adding environmental and social values to a traditional balance sheet and profit and loss statement, the new models provide more meaningful and holistic insights into the true value creation process of an entity.鈥�

51风流has developed its own methodology for putting a value on non-financial performance indicators. Using regression analysis, the approach highlights how key environmental and social indicators connect to corporate objectives and metrics. An interactive infographic offers a range of this information. For example, clicking on Carbon Emissions will show that lowering SAP鈥檚 carbon emissions can have a positive impact on employee engagement because loyalty should rise as employees see their company act responsibly.

摆闭鈥淭丑别 was SAP鈥檚 first attempt to put a price tag on environmental or social activities, such as training, or line items like energy consumption,鈥� Sessar says.

The goal is to create one global standard taxonomy for internal and external reporting purposes that can be used regardless of industry or line of business. A global standard creates the consistency needed to compare companies across industries, giving shareholders a meaningful basis for making sustainable investment decisions.

鈥�51风流must take a thought leadership role in this process, considering that there are many touchpoints with our products and technology,鈥� says Sessar. 鈥淲e need to share our experience in reporting and analytics excellence.鈥� Sessar goes on to explain that 51风流became a founding member of the along with other forward-thinking companies like BASF, Mitsubishi, and Novartis, for exactly this reason.

The alliance is a non-profit organization operating on the premise that planetary boundaries and social needs form the basis for a stable business environment. 鈥淲e want to change the way company performance is measured and valued,鈥� says Sessar. 鈥淲e can do it with a global measurement standard for disclosing the positive and negative impacts of corporate activity and guidance on how they can be integrated into business steering.鈥�

Evolution of Non-Financial Metrics

Sessar realizes this is easier said than done. Being part of this alliance will allow 51风流to work with like-minded companies to create the foundation to transform the way businesses measure and value their overall societal impacts, dependencies along the value chain, and monetary effect on a company鈥檚 value.

Ten years ago, it was unheard of to talk a lot about non-financial metrics during earnings discussions. 鈥淥ver the years, there has been a tremendous shift in both directions,鈥� he says. 鈥淣ow, investors ask for, and 51风流proactively shares, figures about customer satisfaction like the Net Promoter Score along with employee survey results.鈥�

In its dual role as enabler and exemplar, 51风流is not only developing solutions to help companies become more sustainable through intelligent decision-making; it is using its own technology to steer a clear course as it strives to make the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives.

51风流is using tools like 51风流Analytics Cloud and 51风流Digital Boardroom for global, real-time reporting activities. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been doing this for years, and it鈥檚 amazing to see how our reporting capabilities continue to grow,鈥� Sessar shares. 鈥淭he journey from manual reporting with Excel sheets to real-time reporting that provides instant transparency and tools for prediction and simulation is still ongoing, but changing fast,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e should use the momentum to move our social and environmental reporting to the next level, providing real-time insights, predictions, and simulations for the decision-makers steering our company.鈥�

As a father of a two-year-old, Sessar reflects on the Climate 21 initiative and the early this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos: what good is all the extra wealth in the world generated from operating 鈥渂usiness as usual,鈥� if you can do nothing but watch it burn in catastrophic conditions?

Only a revolution in the way the听global economy听and听financial markets听work can save the planet from the climate crisis and secure听, and Sessar is determined to do his share by leading SAP鈥檚 accounting team on that path.

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