In its 2008 Sustainability Report, released online today, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) details its activities in support of its ongoing strategic commitment to deliver superior sustainability solutions to customers and improve its own sustainability performance. The new SAP 2008 Sustainability Report is the company's first independently assured report, having achieved a B+ Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) rating, and features a unique role-based interface that uses Xcelsius® software from the SAP® BusinessObjects(TM) portfolio to allow readers to interact with and use SAP's data in an intuitive and engaging way. As a framework to actively encourage continued stakeholder collaboration around future sustainability solutions, SAP also released an extensive "Sustainability Map" in the report. For the first time, the map catalogs the full landscape of the customer's business processes and IT activities related to sustainability. SAP invited stakeholders to collaborate in improving the map going forward-a distinctive move targeted at redefining the way customers build their strategies and IT companies build their solutions in the area of sustainability.
SAP announced that it reduced its total corporate carbon footprint by 6.7 percent in 2008 compared to 2007, a significant step toward its previously announced commitment to reduce its total carbon footprint back to its year-2000 level by 2020, representing a 49-percent reduction of its year-2007 baseline total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (see "SAP Increases Focus on Sustainable Business"). The announcements were made at SAPPHIRE® 2009, being held in Orlando, Florida, May 11-14.
"SAP has made a long-term, strategic commitment to sustainability because we believe it is a key aspect of being a best-run, clear enterprise-both for us and for our customers," said Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer and executive vice president of Sustainability Solutions, SAP AG. "With the release of our 2008 Sustainability Report, we put increased emphasis on the interaction with stakeholders. First, users can now analyze our performance using interactive SAP software, and second, the Sustainability Map allows for a more structured approach to understanding and communicating customer requirements. We think collaboration is key for IT companies to help customers improve both profitability and sustainability."
New Sustainability Report Features Unique Interface
The SAP 2008 Sustainability Report incorporates a unique interface based on Xcelsius software that allows stakeholders to analyze and view SAP's reporting data in a way that makes sense to their needs and roles. For example, readers can analyze GHG emissions reporting data from SAP by entity or employee, worldwide or regional, by scope and by source of scope emission. This new feature brings a new level of transparency and insight into SAP's internal sustainability efforts. The report is only available online at www.SAPsustainabilityreport.com - readers who wish to view a continuous text also have the option to download the report in GRI format.
SAP Calls for Public Collaboration Guided by Sustainability Map
The SAP 2008 Sustainability Report also includes the software industry's most extensive Sustainability Map, created to take the company's ongoing stakeholder conversation about the sustainability needs of its customers to a new level. The map identifies individual, core business processes related to sustainability and maps them into seven distinct categories. It was developed with input from many thought leaders, including industry analysts, service partners, non-governmental organizations, SAP customers and others.
SAP strongly believes in collaboration, co-innovation and stakeholder engagement as a basis for developing new and extending existing solutions, and is calling for feedback about the map in SAP-sponsored online sustainability conversations.
"This new Sustainability Map from SAP offers a comprehensive view of the sustainability requirements of organizations," said Dr. Stephen Stokes, vice president of Sustainability and Green Technology at AMR Research. "Only a handful of software vendors have looked beyond the relatively simple exercise of collecting carbon-related data to define the market landscape and deliver solutions to comprehensively drive operations and strategy. The SAP map will help companies determine their sustainability priorities, enabling them to define and implement sustainably focused growth strategies."
Range of Sustainability Solutions Already Available from SAP
In addition to aggressively researching and developing sustainability solutions to meet the future needs of customers, SAP already offers a range of solutions, such as the SAP® Environment, Health, and Safety Management application, to meet many current sustainability needs. As well, the SAP Services organization helps customers leverage existing SAP sustainability applications by adding "dashboards" that further enable sustainability objectives by providing analytics, status and insight into designated objectives or KPIs.
An Ongoing Focus on Sustainability
The announcement today builds on SAP's ongoing focus on sustainability, including its March 2009 announcement of a new internal sustainability organization and aggressive carbon footprint reduction targets. Other recent SAP activities relating to sustainability include its Virtualization Week event, increased commitment to the use of renewable energy, and the dedication of a new SAP North America building designed with a host of sustainable features. More information about the company's sustainability efforts can be found at the Sustainability at SAP section of www.sap.com.
SAPPHIRE® 2009 Orlando
More than 10,000 customers, partners and technical experts are convening at SAPPHIRE® 2009 to discover how SAP and its thriving partner ecosystem are delivering IT solutions that help today's best-run businesses achieve clarity in every area of their operations. SAP's premier educational and networking event, SAPPHIRE is the one occasion where senior executives, business managers, and decision-makers can come together every year to explore how innovative business solutions foster long-term, profitable growth. SAPPHIRE 2009 is being held in Orlando, Florida, May 11-14. For more information, please visit www.sap.com/sapphire. Join the conversation via Twitter at #sapphire09.
Based on the success of last year's events, SAP and the Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG) are co-locating their premier events in Orlando, where the 2009 ASUG Annual Conference takes place May 11-14.
In addition to SAPPHIRE 2009, SAP is also hosting SAP® World Tour 2009, a series of local events in more than 70 cities through Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. For more information, visit the SAP World Tour event page on sap.com.
SAP announced that it reduced its total corporate carbon footprint by 6.7 percent in 2008 compared to 2007, a significant step toward its previously announced commitment to reduce its total carbon footprint back to its year-2000 level by 2020, representing a 49-percent reduction of its year-2007 baseline total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (see "SAP Increases Focus on Sustainable Business"). The announcements were made at SAPPHIRE® 2009, being held in Orlando, Florida, May 11-14.
"SAP has made a long-term, strategic commitment to sustainability because we believe it is a key aspect of being a best-run, clear enterprise-both for us and for our customers," said Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer and executive vice president of Sustainability Solutions, SAP AG. "With the release of our 2008 Sustainability Report, we put increased emphasis on the interaction with stakeholders. First, users can now analyze our performance using interactive SAP software, and second, the Sustainability Map allows for a more structured approach to understanding and communicating customer requirements. We think collaboration is key for IT companies to help customers improve both profitability and sustainability."
New Sustainability Report Features Unique Interface
The SAP 2008 Sustainability Report incorporates a unique interface based on Xcelsius software that allows stakeholders to analyze and view SAP's reporting data in a way that makes sense to their needs and roles. For example, readers can analyze GHG emissions reporting data from SAP by entity or employee, worldwide or regional, by scope and by source of scope emission. This new feature brings a new level of transparency and insight into SAP's internal sustainability efforts. The report is only available online at www.SAPsustainabilityreport.com - readers who wish to view a continuous text also have the option to download the report in GRI format.
SAP Calls for Public Collaboration Guided by Sustainability Map
The SAP 2008 Sustainability Report also includes the software industry's most extensive Sustainability Map, created to take the company's ongoing stakeholder conversation about the sustainability needs of its customers to a new level. The map identifies individual, core business processes related to sustainability and maps them into seven distinct categories. It was developed with input from many thought leaders, including industry analysts, service partners, non-governmental organizations, SAP customers and others.
SAP strongly believes in collaboration, co-innovation and stakeholder engagement as a basis for developing new and extending existing solutions, and is calling for feedback about the map in SAP-sponsored online sustainability conversations.
"This new Sustainability Map from SAP offers a comprehensive view of the sustainability requirements of organizations," said Dr. Stephen Stokes, vice president of Sustainability and Green Technology at AMR Research. "Only a handful of software vendors have looked beyond the relatively simple exercise of collecting carbon-related data to define the market landscape and deliver solutions to comprehensively drive operations and strategy. The SAP map will help companies determine their sustainability priorities, enabling them to define and implement sustainably focused growth strategies."
Range of Sustainability Solutions Already Available from SAP
In addition to aggressively researching and developing sustainability solutions to meet the future needs of customers, SAP already offers a range of solutions, such as the SAP® Environment, Health, and Safety Management application, to meet many current sustainability needs. As well, the SAP Services organization helps customers leverage existing SAP sustainability applications by adding "dashboards" that further enable sustainability objectives by providing analytics, status and insight into designated objectives or KPIs.
An Ongoing Focus on Sustainability
The announcement today builds on SAP's ongoing focus on sustainability, including its March 2009 announcement of a new internal sustainability organization and aggressive carbon footprint reduction targets. Other recent SAP activities relating to sustainability include its Virtualization Week event, increased commitment to the use of renewable energy, and the dedication of a new SAP North America building designed with a host of sustainable features. More information about the company's sustainability efforts can be found at the Sustainability at SAP section of www.sap.com.
SAPPHIRE® 2009 Orlando
More than 10,000 customers, partners and technical experts are convening at SAPPHIRE® 2009 to discover how SAP and its thriving partner ecosystem are delivering IT solutions that help today's best-run businesses achieve clarity in every area of their operations. SAP's premier educational and networking event, SAPPHIRE is the one occasion where senior executives, business managers, and decision-makers can come together every year to explore how innovative business solutions foster long-term, profitable growth. SAPPHIRE 2009 is being held in Orlando, Florida, May 11-14. For more information, please visit www.sap.com/sapphire. Join the conversation via Twitter at #sapphire09.
Based on the success of last year's events, SAP and the Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG) are co-locating their premier events in Orlando, where the 2009 ASUG Annual Conference takes place May 11-14.
In addition to SAPPHIRE 2009, SAP is also hosting SAP® World Tour 2009, a series of local events in more than 70 cities through Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. For more information, visit the SAP World Tour event page on sap.com.
