SAP's new product sustainability tracker helps keep your carbon footprint in check

SAP has announced a new tool designed to help businesses quantify their carbon footprint at scale.

Dubbed SAP Product Footprint Management, the solution evaluates the environmental impact of a business' products, from the design phase through disposal. Powered by SAP’s Business Technology Platform, SAP Product Footprint Management also provides actionable insights into products and value chains.

By integrating production data with master information from business applications, the Product Footprint Management tool can compute the impact of various production scenarios on the environment.

Ultimately, SAP’s sustainability solution allows firms to estimate the carbon footprint of their products before they are manufactured. Businesses are also able to create and share reports on greenhouse gas emissions with business partners, regulators, and customers.

"Customers want it, the world needs it. There is no time to waste for businesses to act more responsibly and sustainably," said Thomas Saueressig, member of the executive board of SAP SE. "Sustainability goals are increasingly as important to business success as financial goals.

"When companies embed emissions data into underlying business processes, leaders can drive real change by making conscious decisions across the entire value chain. That is what scales the transition to low emission pathways, and SAP is uniquely positioned to drive this change throughout collaborative, intelligent and sustainable business networks."

Additionally, SAP Product Footprint Management allows businesses to import emission factors derived from internal lifecycle assessments (LCA) or from an external LCA provider.

"SAP has long had a strong, dedicated focus on its own sustainability operations," said Marta Muñoz, senior research director at IDC EME, commenting on the announcement. "The launch of the SAP Product Footprint Management solution, combined with the WBCSD's Pathfinder Project, represents a unique opportunity to bring together companies to jointly drive decarbonization across value chains and industries."