SAP's approach to sustainability is to holistically manage social, environmental and economic risks and opportunities for enhanced profitability, reputation and compliance. The report issued today tracks SAP's footprint in areas such as facilities management, business travel, water use and waste management.
"SAP is in a unique position when it comes to sustainable development," said Léo Apotheker, co-CEO, SAP AG. "Along with ensuring that our business operates in a sound and ethical manner and leaves a minimal environmental footprint, we are also responsible for providing information technology solutions that help businesses of all sizes better manage their sustainability performance. As a result, we aspire to take a leadership position by addressing social, environmental and governance challenges on a global scale -- and ensuring that sustainability performance continues to be an intrinsic part of SAP's corporate and product strategy."
Employing Web 2.0 Tools to Encourage Collaboration on Sustainability
Based on its successful working model of collaboration and co-innovation -- and acknowledging that the topic of sustainability requires both transparency and stakeholder engagement -- SAP has issued an open call for dialogue to define the company's top corporate sustainability issues, as well as product and service solutions.
Using Web 2.0 tools, SAP is fostering an exchange with key stakeholders to challenge and guide SAP's approach to sustainability. Interested parties can log on to the SAP Collaboration Workspace to share their views on SAP's sustainability efforts, secure feedback directly from SAP and interact with other like-minded stakeholders. SAP has also arranged for an online sustainability stakeholder survey at http://www.sapvote.com/ and set up a direct email address for inquiries and feedback at sap_sustainability@sap.com.
Ongoing Dedication to Education, Transparency and Governance SAP has a long history of driving initiatives that aim to improve education, transparency and governance by working with customers, educational institutions, NGOs and government organizations around the world.
Selected 2007 highlights and activities include:
-- SAP was recognized by FTSE4Good and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, the latter ranking SAP number one in the software sector.
-- SAP was included on The Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World list that rates companies' performance on social, environmental and strategic governance issues.
-- SAP was one of 50 global companies selected for the Global Challenges Index that was launched in September 2007 by The Hanover Stock Exchange and oekom research AG, an independent rating agency for the environmental and social performance of companies.
Helping Companies Manage Their Own Sustainability Performance
For more than 35 years, SAP has defined enterprise resource planning (ERP) and has helped companies of all sizes manage resources effectively and responsibly by optimizing and transforming their business processes. SAP software solutions, such as those for governance, risk and compliance (GRC) and supply chain management (SCM), enable businesses to implement their own sustainability strategies.
"Since the rise of enterprise resource planning, enterprise software has played a vital role in enabling profitable and sustainable operations for businesses around the world," said Henning Kagermann, co-CEO, SAP AG. "SAP strives to maximize both our accountability as a technology provider and our responsibility for our own operations. The report issued today is a major step in an ongoing dialogue we will maintain with employees, customers, investors, partners and stakeholders from the public and civil society sectors to keep sustainability at the forefront of all business activities."
About the Report
The report was prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines and has been GRI-checked to achieve "C" application level certification. The SAP Sustainability Report 2007/2008 is available for download at http://www.sap.com/....