SAP Africa has introduced a portfolio of cloud-based sustainability reporting solutions, to help African organisations measure and deliver environmental, social and governance (ESG) sustainability, while meeting economic targets.
The announcement was made during the SAP event held on Friday in Woodmead, Johannesburg.
Outlining SAP’s strategy during the event, Tracy Bolton, SAP Africa COO, pointed out the new solutions form part of SAP’s strategy to help businesses run as intelligent, sustainable enterprises.
More companies on the continent are choosing to focus on sustainability as a key strategy – creating new products and services, and creating business revenue streams, through meeting environmental and social needs, she added.
As environmental sustainability increasingly becomes a key priority for organisations across the globe, more companies have reinforced their commitments to investing in environmentally-friendly initiatives to promote a carbon-free future and raise awareness of the fight against climate change.
The solutions were introduced as part of SAP’s Cloud for Sustainable Enterprises Portfolio, and include:
- SAP Product Footprint Management, a cloud-based application used to calculate an organisation’s product footprint periodically and at scale across the entire product lifecycle.
- SAP Responsible Design and Production, which enables organisations to achieve their extended producer responsibility reporting obligations to governments and regulatory bodies accurately and on a global scale.
- SAP Rural Sourcing Management, a solution that connects value chains from agri-businesses and consumer product companies.
- SAP Sustainability Control Tower, which enables holistic steering, reporting and performance management across all dimensions of an organisation’s sustainability.
"We are building sustainability capabilities into a broad range of our business solutions,” noted Bolton.
“SAP takes a two-pronged approach to sustainability by acting as an exemplar of sustainable best practices and an enabler. The SAP Cloud for Sustainable Enterprises Portfolio gives business leaders access to a comprehensive suite of solutions that can be leveraged for quicker progress in achieving sustainability KPIs across their organisations.”
Environmental and social consciousness has been gaining momentum over the past few years, as consumers become more selective in supporting businesses with high environmental, social and corporate governance standards.
With a growing population that is expected to triple in size by the end of the century and relatively under-developed infrastructure, Africa is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, commented Bolton.
Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose by 6% in 2021 to 36.3 billion tonnes, their highest level, as the world economy rebounded strongly from the COVID-19 crisis and relied heavily on coal to power that growth, according to an IEA analysis.
Also speaking at the event, Kwena Mabotja, global director: purpose and sustainability marketing at SAP, pointed out SAP is on track to achieve carbon-neutrality by 2023 – two years ahead of its initial goal.
"Our corporate social responsibility practices improve access to economic opportunity, education and employment, and the green economy.
“As part of our contribution to achieving net-zero waste, SAP’s local facilities team is also working to optimise water and electricity consumption at SAP offices using IOT and SAP’s Analytical Cloud. Data and insights gathered this way will be used to educate work-from-home staff to optimise water and electricity use at their own homes, further embedding sustainability across every level of our organisation.”
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