Make Data Transparency
The Foundation Of Climate Impact
Vivek Bapat, Senior Vice President,
Purpose & Sustainability Marketing, SAP
CLICK THE ICONS BELOW TO EXPLORE VIVEK'S 5 PRINCIPLES FOR BUSINESS LEADERS
Remember That Sustainability Is All About People
Win Institutional And Consumer Trust With
ESG Reporting
Use Sustainable
Practices To Reinvent
And Drive Growth
Activate Business Processes To Rapidly Scale Up Sustainability
Make Data Transparency The Foundation
Of Climate Impact
There’s been a history of companies just looking at averages, particularly when it comes to assessing environmental health and safety or carbon footprints. “Doing it the old way with spreadsheets” has never provided companies with a reliable picture of their climate impact, Bapat said. “Ultimately, what does not get accurately measured cannot be improved.”
Companies that use data to measure their climate impact throughout operations and across supply and delivery chains will likely see enormous benefits. With deep data-derived insights, business leaders can also confidently identify what risks may lie ahead, enabling them to future-proof their companies, or even work with regulators to ensure compliance.
“There's been an acceleration of digitization efforts—catalyzed by social, mobile, cloud and analytics—across the enterprise over the last few years,” Bapat said. “Those digital leaders that invested early in these technologies are also now primed to show up as leaders on the sustainability side.”
33%
Only one-third of business
leaders have developed a
data-informed understanding of their climate impact.
Source: Survey, Forbes Insights & SAP, March-April 2022
Together with thousands of colleagues globally, Vivek Bapat has contributed to a purpose-inspired journey at SAP—first, helping the company become a consistently recognized leader in sustainability, and second, shaping technology solutions to help customers achieve their own sustainability ambitions. To get there, the global software company first had to ground itself in its purpose: to deliver solutions to businesses that help the world run better and improve people’s lives. Integrating sustainability throughout SAP operations became an organic expression of that purpose.
“There’s a very close relationship between being a purpose-oriented company and being a sustainable company, so for us, it was a natural bridge to continue to learn and grow,” Bapat said.
Subsequent efforts clarified how SAP could help its customers use enterprise data as a foundation to reduce their carbon footprint, drive down material waste and increase social responsibility.
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While people have traditionally leaned on governments and non-governmental organizations to solve global challenges, today they are more trusting of businesses to step in and lead. SAP has found this to be the case for at least the last three years, as evidenced in the annual Edelman Trust Global Study, Bapat said.
Intertwined with this shift is significant influence from institutional investors, who are “pressing the boards and the CEOs of these companies to also say, ‘If there is material risk involved in climate-related changes, we would like to know that.’” In fact, 88% of institutional investors are asking for that level of disclosure, he said.
Granular, auditable and trusted reporting is the new holy grail of successful sustainability initiatives. Companies must use the same level of rigor in ESG reporting as they have done for decades with financials.
Source: Survey, Forbes Insights & SAP, March-April 2022
Win Institutional And Consumer Trust With ESG Reporting
A majority of business leaders said they believe environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility are closely linked.
55%
Source: Survey, Forbes Insights & SAP, March-April 2022
About half of business leaders said inconsistent reporting standards and trouble comparing company performance were the top reporting challenges.
47%
A top challenge facing companies that want to integrate sustainability into their core business is knowing how to convert insights into realistic, accurate and timely action.
Solutions developed by SAP and its partners can not only pull data from operational systems but also infuse the core business processes in
finance, procurement, supply chain and HR with sustainability-specific parameters, objectives and guardrails to become smarter, more efficient and more sustainable.
Activate Business Processes
To Rapidly Scale Up Sustainability
Source: Survey, Forbes Insights & SAP, March-April 2022
A majority of business leaders
view sustainability practices as
an opportunity for growth
and innovation.
60%
For Bapat, the link between sustainability and business growth is irrefutable.
“We see a direct correlation between profitability and sustainability and vice versa,” he said.
The key is moving from looking at sustainability as only an expense to a means of generating new business models, services and products. Bapat cited one SAP customer that has started manufacturing a line of new products from recycled materials by initiating a “recommerce” strategy based on managing customer returns, creating “a completely different business opportunity.”
Use Sustainable Practices
To Reinvent And Drive Growth
Source: Survey, Forbes Insights & SAP, March-April 2022
A majority of business leaders said measures that promote sustainable development and business growth are likely to improve diversity and inclusion.
56%
Data and processes that work well together can solve challenges with the scope, scale and urgency of change that’s required, Bapat said. “But that's not enough.”
In addition to environmental sustainability, more than 50% of business leaders who took the Forbes-SAP survey said they are making efforts to improve human rights, diversity and inclusion, employee relations, employee equity and labor rights.
“Beyond emissions,” Bapat said. “Beyond waste and pollution. It’s important to take ownership of the way we treat our workforce, extended workforce and our suppliers. … At the end of all of that are people.”
Remember That Sustainability
Is All About People