SAP: Streamlining Sustainable Solutions and Supply Chains

SAP, a global enterprise software company, is using its own sustainability solutions internally to test how these tools stand up to the realities of global supply chains and ever-shifting environmental regulations.

With more than 100,000 employees and its software supporting 84% of global commerce, the business faces the same sustainability demands as its customers.

The company embeds its technology into daily operations to understand how to meet its environmental goals while dealing with the same hurdles faced across industries. These insights are then fed directly back into its product development cycle.

“Sustainability is an essential element of SAP’s purpose to help the world run better and improve people’s lives,” says Matthias Medert, Global Head of Sustainability at SAP.

Real-time testing

SAP doesn’t view itself as separate from the sustainability problems its customers must navigate—it experiences the same complexities around supply chain emissions, compliance, and fragmented data systems.

As part of its approach, SAP deploys its own digital tools internally across procurement, logistics, finance, and manufacturing. These tools are developed for customers, but SAP first runs them across its own operations.

SAP’s sustainability capabilities are woven into systems such as SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition and SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP).

“This helps ensure a solid data foundation and flexible integration of data sets from various business areas such as procurement, finance, supply chain management and product design,” Matthias explains.

Once the foundational data is captured, purpose-built tools come into play. SAP Sustainability Control Tower, SAP Sustainability Footprint Management and SAP Green Ledger are used to consolidate this data and report on it in line with regulatory frameworks.

These tools also enable decisions across the supply chain aimed at reducing environmental impact.

“By implementing SAP Sustainability Control Tower and SAP Green Ledger across our reporting ecosystem, we aim to elevate sustainability management to the same standard as financial reporting,” says Dr Christopher Sessar, Chief Accounting Officer at SAP.

“These powerful tools will not only streamline and automate our ESG regulative compliance efforts but also generate actionable insights that drive strategic decision-making, accelerating our journey toward measurable sustainability outcomes and long-term environmental value creation.”

Sustainable supply chains

One of the main challenges SAP identifies is managing data across its supply chains—particularly emissions data.

From energy use in operations to product-level carbon footprint calculations, collecting consistent and accurate data is critical. Without it, SAP notes that businesses are unable to make decisions with confidence or clarity.

“Without a firm grasp on all of the data, companies can struggle to make the right decisions when it comes to sustainability,” comments Sophia Leonora Mendelsohn, Chief Sustainability and Commercial Officer at SAP.

Sophia outlines that SAP uses its internal testing to stay ahead of regulations. For example, the European Commission’s Omnibus Directive requires companies to deliver increasingly detailed environmental, social and governance (ESG) data.

SAP uses its systems to stay compliant without stretching operational capacity.

Sophia shared on LinkedIn that the company uses its own solutions to “keep pace with regulations without losing all our bandwidth to it”.

She also says: “Sustainability data is business data. The companies that treat it that way will be able to demonstrate real results in regulated and competitive markets.”

The company also stresses the importance of structuring the data architecture for sustainability.

SAP’s internal system is built on three levels: collection of raw data from various sources, standardising and processing that data, and then using it for planning and reporting. This layered approach allows SAP to generate insight without compromising on data quality.

Matthias adds: “At the same time, by testing our IT solutions to the limit, we share the lessons learned along the way with the product development teams to continuously improve the SAP Sustainability portfolio.”

As Matthias puts it, one of the main lessons is the importance of consistency and scope: emissions data must be handled in a uniform way and the sustainability view should expand beyond carbon to include broader environmental and social metrics.