SAP AG now obtains 50 percent of the its global electricity requirements from renewable sources, according to the company's quarterly sustainability update for the quarter ending June 30, 2010.
The quarterly update also includes preliminary unaudited CO2 emissions, which shows that SAP's worldwide CO2 emissions decreased slightly to 115 kilotonnes from 120 kilotonnes in the previous quarter despite a surge in business travel. The company attributes the carbon footprint reduction to reducing energy consumption and increasing its purchase of renewable electricity.
In 2009, SAP announced its commitment to reduce the company's total carbon emissions to the year 2000 emissions level of approximately 275 kilotonnes by the year 2020. This represents an overall reduction of about half compared to the company's year 2007 peak levels of 540 kilotonnes. SAP says compensating for travel needs will be key to the company meeting its 2010 objective of remaining below 460 kilotonnes of CO2.
SAP is using the SAP Carbon Impact OnDemand solution to analyze emissions data across its entire operations and evaluate its carbon footprint reduction efforts. The company has identified several key areas for implementing carbon-efficient operations, including travel, data centers, buildings and commitment to renewable energy.
The quarterly report also indicates that SAP has made some significant progress in improving energy efficiencies in data centers through the use of data center design, virtualization technology and efficient hardware. In April, two of the SAP's data centers were certified as energy efficient by the German standards organization TÜV Rheinland.
Other plans to reduce SAP's carbon footprint include expanding its teleconferencing capabilities and introducing smart commuting options.
In May, SAP and Wipro entered into an agreement to provide a suite of solutions that will combine SAP's environmental, sustainability performance and energy management tools with Wipro's "green" consulting services.
SAP also settled a lawsuit with Waste Management in May.
