Doehler Group, long-standing SAP customer and valued partner, becomes the first company to go live with SAP Product Carbon Footprint Analytics—the freshest solution from SAP that puts the spotlight back on tackling the global challenge of finding ways to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change. The carbon accounting SAP solution was announced during the SAPPHIRE NOW Converge conference, held online June 15–19, 2020, as part of the multinational software company’s Climate 21 program that aims to support customers in pursuing their climate-related objectives.
The Doehler Group is a global producer and provider of natural ingredients, ingredients systems, and integrated solutions for the food and beverage industry. The German-based and family-owned company founded in 1838 is a renowned leader in driving sustainable business practices and has received the German Award for Excellence from the German Association for Sustainability (DQS CFS) in 2017.
The company’s exemplary and forward-looking sustainability management includes an agro-sustainability programme, a farmer-level programme which leads to long-term, locally-established and responsible value creation, and an integrated environment and health & safety system. Last month, Doehler re-emphasised its commitment to long-term sustainable business practices by finding ways to further reduce its carbon emissions by installing the SAP Product Carbon Footprint Analytics for one of its products.
In a statement, Peter Spaargaren, Head of Global Sustainability at Doehler said:
“For the past few years, we have been pursuing various sustainability projects that harmonise social, economic and ecological aspects.”
Finding Ways to Reduce Carbon Emissions
As experts, governments and activist groups repeatedly argue over the correct response to deflect the effects of global warming, the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly swooped in and has seemingly paved a distinct path in progressing the actions needed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The pandemic has demonstrated that governments can intervene decisively once the scale of an emergency is clear and public support is present. According to an article in Nature Climate Change, daily global CO2 emissions decreased by –17{8bf2b29f36318f0ac46ab1cc03d7035abce669a1cea16c9ed62389a818fa22fd} as governments worldwide enacted lockdown policies and forced closures of borders, businesses, and public transports.
Tighter CO2 regulations and legislations will likely be put in place in an effort to maintain the decrease in carbon dioxide emissions seen during the worldwide forced confinements. Businesses may even be required to provide information on the full carbon footprint of their products and services. These will significantly impact companies’ operating costs.
Furthermore, climate change has become a defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects and reputations. Consumers and investors are becoming more active in seeking out businesses that demonstrate a commitment to reducing the carbon dioxide emissions they generate.
The SAP Product Carbon Footprint Analytics which runs on SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP S/4HANA, and SAP Cloud Platform is the solution that aims to help businesses tackle these challenges head-on and become better prepared for the emerging business reality where sustainability is a strategic and economic imperative.
SAP Product Carbon Footprint Analytics
The application tracks carbon emissions from upstream supply chains to downstream logistics, including procurement, operations and manufacturing. It delivers transparency on the carbon emissions of a product across the entire value chain, including production, raw materials, energy consumed for production processes, and outbound transport.
Emission factors and other important data are collected from a company’s SAP S/4HANA Cloud or on-premise data centre and delivers these to SAP Analytics Cloud where carbon footprint calculations are made. Further, data from product databases and third-party solutions can be integrated into the application to analyse and understand the emissions breakdowns.
As a result, carbon emission insights by product, plant or cost center become the basis for further definitive actions like purchasing raw materials with lower carbon footprint, using modern energy-efficient machines, and purchasing green energy.
Making sense of implementing a carbon impact analysis of its complex operating and supply chain structures and production process is what Doehler expects to achieve with its co-innovation with SAP, according to Peter Spaargaren, Head of Group Sustainability at Doehler:
“To minimise our carbon footprint, we need to understand the impact of our production and logistics along our entire value chain. SAP will help us to improve our operations and transform our product portfolio.”
Sabine Otholt, Head of Strategic Customer Engagements & Co-Innovation at SAP also describes the co-innovation project with Doehler as a successful venture in advancing the Climate 21 program:
“With such a significant innovation, we rely on the expertise and close cooperation with our customers. Together with them and our product management we define business capabilities and integrate them into the product roadmap for our analytical and transactional applications. To run this pilot Doehler was a great experience for us. Their feedback will directly influence the development of further products in the Climate 21 context.”
