The complexity and hard science elements of environmental sustainability programs make them among the most complex and challenging compliance areas for CIOs. In May 2023, SAP announced that it was pursuing such a sustainability program, and on Friday it finally rolled out the program, in the sense that it said that it “has finished beta testing and is now generally available,” according to SAP spokesperson Hanna Heine.
“SAP Sustainability Data Exchange helps facilitate standardized carbon data exchange between partners along the supply chain, supporting organizations to move from estimates to actuals in their upstream emission data,” SAP said in a statement. “The application allows users to share emissions data to help implement their net zero strategy and take climate action by identifying products or processes with high potential for CO2 reduction, avoiding double emissions counting, and optimizing footprints with actual supplier data. It helps drive scalability, standardization, and trust in carbon data exchange across the supply chain.”
Addressing data accuracy issues
The program gathers its data in two ways: directly, via monitoring sustainability-relevant data within SAP ERP systems used by suppliers and other partners, and indirectly, via questions answered by those same companies.
