How can SAP Green Ledger Improve Sustainability Reporting?
As global sustainability regulations tighten, the importance of carbon accounting has grown to match that of traditional financial accounting.
Non-compliance is costly, not just financially but also in terms of lost stakeholder trust and tarnished reputations.
SAP, a major provider of enterprise software with more than 230 million cloud users worldwide, has developed the SAP Green Ledger.
This tool is designed specifically to manage carbon accounting and integrate it seamlessly with financial data.
The company champions this solution as the most comprehensive carbon accounting system available globally.
“Enormous investments are required to abate CO₂ in order to curb global warming,” says Dominik Asam, CFO and member of the Executive Board of SAP.
“Besides smart, reliable regulation, accurate data on emissions along the supply chain is paramount to trigger the necessary investment.
“Only by moving from averages to actuals – audited at reasonable assurance – can freeriding and greenwashing be avoided, thereby protecting such valuable investment and our planet. SAP Green Ledger delivers precisely that.”
What is SAP Green Ledger?
Designed to assist businesses in navigating the complex terrain of carbon emission reduction and stringent regulatory compliance, the SAP Green Ledger is ready for the task.
- Relate carbon footprints to their financial impact
- Support financial optimisation alongside lowering emissions
- Facilitate carbon budgeting
- Benchmark specific business units, profit centres and departments from both environmental and financial perspectives
- Prepare for sustainability audits
- Improve supplier-based processes to tackle Scope 3 emissions.
It leverages the company's existing ERP and financial management solutions which are already implemented in thousands of organisations globally.
“This allows our customers to track and account for carbon footprints in relation to their financial impact,” explains Gunther Rothermel, Co-General Manager and Chief Product Officer for SAP Sustainability.
The development of SAP Green Ledger
The development of SAP Green Ledger was supported by collaborations with heavyweight consultancies including Accenture, Deloitte, EY and TCS (Tata Consulting Services).
“As organisations seek to gain visibility into both the financial and environmental performance of their businesses, SAP Green Ledger can provide the sustainability metrics and insights needed to enhance decision-making that reduces emissions, drives efficiencies and optimises performance,” says Stephanie Jamison, Global Resources Industry Practice Chair and Global Sustainability Services Lead at Accenture.
“As a strategic co-innovation partner, Accenture helped shape the development of SAP Green Ledger and can apply our understanding of the technology and its capabilities to help our clients get the most for their organisation.”
The pilot phase of this initiative includes collaboration with customers like Covestro, evaluating and testing the integration of CO₂ values during product manufacture in the supply chain with SAP Green Ledger.
“SAP Green Ledger offers new levels of precision in carbon accounting for organisations as they track, manage and report their greenhouse gas emissions, and provides leaders with a holistic view of the costs and benefits of sustainability initiatives, enabling them to make data-driven decisions that can build business resilience,” says Jennifer Steinmann, Deloitte Global Sustainability Business Leader.
“Technology solutions can help generate traceable, bottom-up emissions data,” says Veronica Poole, Deloitte Global IFRS and Corporate Reporting Leader.
“Leveraging the robust governance and controls of enterprise systems is needed to help organizations achieve the rigor that enhances corporate accountability and enables a move to reasonable assurance.”
Vikram Karakoti, TCS Enterprise Solutions Global Head, says: “With our participation in SAP's Green Ledger pilot program, TCS is embracing innovative sustainability solutions to build a better future.
“This will enable organisations to move beyond regulatory compliance and make sustainability a growth engine.
“By embedding carbon data into the enterprise planning process, organisations can unlock previously unexplored areas for growth, transformation, and environmental renewal.”
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