SAP Announces Third-Quarter Sustainability Achievements

Oct 25, 2012 11:30 AM ET

October 25, 2012 /3BL Media/ - Today SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) announced its sustainability update for the third quarter ending September 30, 2012. The results show the company’s progress toward helping manage opportunities and risks holistically for SAP and its customers. SAP made marked progress in achieving its sustainability goals and received industry recognition for sustainability leadership. However, business travel continues to put the company at risk of missing its annual carbon target of 480 kilotons.

“Last quarter, SAP received wide industry recognition for our sustainability efforts and successes, demonstrating that our comprehensive approach works,” said Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer, SAP. “We continue to consider sustainability multi-faceted, encompassing social, economic and environmental areas. All three must be successful and linked in order to make a significant difference and improve how the world runs.”

Recent SAP sustainability awards and accolades include:

  • Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes ranked SAP the software sector leader for the sixth consecutive year. Included in both the World and Europe Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, SAP increased its scores in all three sustainability areas: economic, environmental and social.
  • Newsweek Green Rankings 2012 put SAP at number eight among global companies, moving up from 20 in 2011. The report comprehensively assesses environmental performance of the largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. and around the world. Company rankings are based on actual environmental footprint, management of that footprint and sustainability communications.
  • The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized SAP America as one of the Top 20 Tech and Telecom green power users for its purchase of electricity generated from renewable sources. Moving up to number 11 from 17 (as of July 2012), the ranking builds on SAP’s existing participation in the EPA Green Power Partnership program. The EPA estimates that SAP America’s green power purchase of nearly 42 million kilowatt hours is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 6,000 passenger vehicles per year.
  • SAP was recognized as a leader in a Sustainability Leadership Report by BrandLogic, which measures real performance vs. perceived sustainability progress, showing the importance of sustainability communications. SAP moved into the leaders sector for excellence in both categories.

Part of SAP’s overall social goals is to foster a diverse, healthy and satisfied workforce. At the end of the third quarter of 2012, 19.3 percent of the company’s managers were women, compared to 18.6 percent at the end of September 2011. As previously stated, SAP has set a long-term target to increase the share of women in management to 25 percent by the year 2017. In the third quarter of 2012, the employee retention rate was 94 percent, up from 93 percent in the third quarter of 2011.

Greenhouse gas emissions for SAP remained steady at 130 kilotons of carbon dioxide from the second quarter of 2012. This represents a seven percent increase from the third quarter of 2011 and newly includes emissions from SuccessFactors, an SAP company. The carbon footprint of SAP’s total electricity consumption was reduced by 13 percent compared to the third quarter 2011, through the additional purchase of renewable energy in the U.S. and Canada.