SAP missed its 2012 greenhouse gas emissions target, according to preliminary results released this week.
While its business grew – the company’s non-IFRS software and cloud subscriptions revenue increased 17 percent during 2012 – total greenhouse gas emissions stayed flat, coming in at 490 kilotons carbon dioxide emissions for the year. SAP’s target was 480 kilotons.
The company did note a decrease in emissions by two percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to 2011.
SAP missed the target because of an increase in Scope 3 emissions, primarily due to more air travel. This rise was partly compensated by higher efficiency in facilities and data centers. In 2012, SAP also grew its use of renewable energy from 47 to 67 percent globally.
SAP announced plans to invest $6.6 million in sustainability and entrepreneurship at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, earlier this month. The software corporation will join the Livelihoods Fund with a €3 million ($4 million) investment and make an initial €2 million investment to three organizations: Endeavor Global, Endeavor Brazil and India’s National Entrepreneurship Network.
In November, SAP launched two cloud-based products aimed at ensuring manufacturers that their products are safe and compliant with environmental regulations. SAP Product Stewardship Network allows manufacturers to collaborate with suppliers and collect detailed information about the substances that make up their products. The other product is EHS Regulatory Documentation OnDemand, which is a content service to manage what SAP describes as the often “painstaking and expensive” process of creating regulatory documentation.