RISE with SAP — are you setting sustainability ambitions high enough?
In my previous blog post, I talked about some of the ways companies can reduce the carbon footprint of IT by moving their SAP systems to the cloud. In this post, I want to explore other ways SAP and Accenture can help clients reach their overall sustainability goals faster.
The shift to the cloud, enabled for example by RISE with SAP with SAP S/4HANA Cloud at the core, is a significant transformation for any organization. It’s a chance to rethink what people do, and how they do it, as well as the technologies they use.
It’s therefore an ideal opportunity to embed sustainability into core business operations across the whole value chain. What’s more, it’s a way for companies to achieve compressed transformation — transforming both sustainability and core business IT in parallel rather than sequentially.
Pressure is growing for a more sustainable way of doing business
There are also strong commercial reasons to act on sustainability now. Global attention can rarely have been as focused on these issues as it is today. From customers to company boards, and from investors to regulators, the vast majority of stakeholders are aligned on the need to accelerate progress against key objectives like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
For example, the recent Accenture UN Global Compact research shows that 81 percent of CEOs say they’re already developing new sustainable products and services. And 74 percent say they’ve started deploying new and circular business models.[i]
Earlier Accenture research showed that companies with consistently high ratings for ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) performance had operating margins 3.7x higher, on average, than those of lower ESG performers. These strong ESG performers also generated higher annual total returns to shareholders, outperforming lower ESG performers by 2.6x.[ii]
Added to this are the growing numbers of employees who are now choosing to work for sustainability-focused employers. For example, almost two in five millennials said they’ve previously accepted a position based on a company’s sustainability performance.[iii]
The message is clear. Improving the sustainability of all aspects of the business has become a commercial, investment and talent resourcing imperative — as well as a moral one.
Accenture and SAP — a partnership focused on solutions
To support this, Accenture and SAP share a commitment to a sustainable future and have joined forces to help companies achieve their sustainability ambitions. We believe this is a powerful combination, bringing the best of our two organizations’ capabilities to bear on the often-complex process of making a measurable impact on environmental, social and governance performance.
Consider that more than 400,000 companies run on SAP systems, 77 percent of the world’s transaction revenue touches an SAP system, and companies running SAP systems represent 80 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions. The potential to make a real impact is huge.
At the heart of our approach is a belief that technology has a central role to play in building a more sustainable economy. It’s simply not possible to deliver the level of change required if organizations persist with non-digital, manual (or even semi-manual) processes.
It’s a view shared by company leaders too. CEOs around the world believe that technology can be harnessed to help manage the effects of climate disruption, according to the Accenture-UN Global Compact 2021 CEO Study.[iv]
We help change how organizations use technology to become more sustainable
Our comprehensive collaboration with SAP on sustainability transformation — including providing insights that drive decisions across the value chain — is bearing fruit. We focus on:
· SDG ambition. We’re helping to drive forward the adoption of the UN SDGs. That includes helping companies with the practical question of translating SDGs into measurable KPIs and clear business objectives. We’ve defined an Ambition Guide and supporting implementation framework (Integration Guide, Reference Sheets) and are driving the UNGC Accelerator program (upskilling 600+ companies from 65 countries in Round 1, adding 600+ in Round 2).
· Climate action. Supporting SAP’s climate initiative, we’ve developed ways to help companies kick-start the decarbonization of their end-to-end processes and integrate carbon emissions management into their business decision-making. This means measuring and tracking, at the level of individual transactions, the impact on the carbon footprint, as well as other sustainability dimensions like water and land use.
For example, with SAP Product Footprint Management, companies can now track their carbon footprint with a level of granularity that wouldn’t be possible without the help of technology — both operationally (for each procurement, transfer, production or distribution step) and in terms of materials (raw, semi-finished, finished goods).
· Circular economy. We’ve co-developed the new SAP Responsible Design and Production solution. It’s designed to help companies shift to the circular economy by rethinking product flow all the way from initial design to end of life. The solution helps manage complex Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations around the world while reducing the use of plastic and packaging waste.
· Better ESG reporting and steering. Increasingly, companies are required to report on non-financial (ESG) matters as well as financial matters. But there are various data capture, integration and analytics challenges in achieving the necessary ESG transparency at scale. Accenture and SAP have been working on ways to streamline sustainability reporting across multiple frameworks, including the World Economic Forum, GRI, and SDG Ambition.
· Incubating new technology solutions for sustainability and building startup innovation networks. Together with SAP.iO, SAP’s external startup accelerator program, we help selected B2B startups get up and running quickly and integrate new solutions in SAP’s portfolio. Through multiple cohorts, 26 startups are participating in the program in Europe and North America, and new initiatives are launched regularly.
Sustainability — built in, not bolted on
Just as the digital revolution transformed how we live and work, so too will the drive for greater sustainability, better ESG reporting, and circular business models change both business and personal lives for the better, driving new value and growth while playing a crucial role in tackling climate change.
Our approach is to embed sustainability into everything we do, with everyone we work with, creating both business value and sustainable impact, enabled by technology and human ingenuity.
That requires a transformation — in processes and mindsets as well as technology — and it needs to happen now. For our clients running SAP solutions, the shift to the cloud and the transition to S/4HANA is the perfect moment to start.
Please get in touch if you’d like to know more — we’re here to help.
[i] UN Global Compact — Accenture CEO Study on Sustainability, Accenture, November 2021.
[ii] Business Futures 2021: Signals of Change, Accenture, 2021.
[iii] Most millennials would take a pay cut to work at a environmentally responsible company, February 14, 2019.
[iv] UN Global Compact — Accenture CEO Study on Sustainability, Accenture, November 2021.
