SAP Releases Third Quarter Sustainability Update, Including Carbon Emissions Report

WALLDORF, Germany, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) released its quarterly sustainability update with a preliminary, unaudited CO2 emissions report for the third quarter, ending September 30, 2010. The company's worldwide CO2 emissions totaled 115 kilotonnes, which is on par with second quarter figures of 115 kilotonnes and below first quarter figures of 120 kilotonnes. In order for SAP to achieve its year-end target of 460 kilotonnes CO2, the company will need to take focused measures across the organization.

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"We recognize that driving a culture change around commitment to sustainability within an organization takes time and is only possible if you successfully engage your employee base," said Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer, SAP. "We look to empower our employees by encouraging awareness, modeling behavior and providing tools for greater transparency. Currently we are at risk for achieving our year-end limit of 460 kilotonnes of emissions. As such, we will help our employees make smarter decisions that contribute to sustainability on a personal and company level."

As SAP looks to decrease emissions, air travel continues to provide the company's biggest reduction opportunity as the main contributor to its footprint. Air travel figures continue to be higher than last year, due to economic recovery and renewed business demand for SAP products and services. While travel to support customers is a priority for the organization, SAP is working to provide its employees greater insight into the situation and is encouraging travel alternatives for internal meetings.  

In the third quarter, SAP saw a slight increase in fuel usage from its corporate car fleet in Europe due to the summer holiday season. In response, the company continues to encourage use of alternative and mass transportation means and carpool programs for commuter travel. Additionally, SAP has made the decision to provide its employees insight into their individual emission contributions, including air travel and fleet, via an internal dashboard for greater transparency and accountability in the future.

At the same time, SAP is seeing positive trending areas. For example, the company has improved quarter over quarter in 2010 with regard to decreased energy usage in buildings and lowered district heating. Additionally, SAP continues to see a quarterly drop in the use of paper for packaging use and expects significant improvement over 2009.

In 2009, SAP announced an aggressive commitment to reduce its total carbon emissions to the year-2000 emissions level of approximately 275 kilotonnes by the year 2020. This represents an overall reduction of about half compared to the company's year-2007 peak levels of 540 kilotonnes. To help reach this goal and to profitably reduce its energy consumption, SAP is using the SAP® Carbon Impact OnDemand solution to access and analyze consumption data across its entire operations and evaluate its carbon footprint reduction. The company identified several key areas for implementing more energy-efficient operations, including travel, data centers and buildings, in addition to a commitment to renewable energy.

Detailed emissions data are available to the public in the SAP sustainability report and are updated quarterly. Other topics in the quarterly update include SAP's engagement with the Sustainability Consortium as the organization's first global technology steering committee member and the creation of the SAP Supplier Code of Conduct.

Visit the sustainability solutions area on sap.com for more details. Follow SAP sustainability news on Twitter at @sustainableSAP.

Media Contact:

Evan Welsh, SAP, +1 (610) 203-9742, [email protected], EDT

SOURCE SAP AG