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Sustainability & CSR Overview

Sustainability, Health, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Highlights of sustainability and CSR at SAP

2019 was an impactful year for sustainability, CSR, and diversity at SAP. 

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Sustainability: Learning from Leading Companies

Learn how you can integrate sustainability as part of your strategy and positively contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

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Sustainability impact and sustainable operations at SAP

Sustainability Impact

How does software positively impact sustainability? When customers use SAP solutions to become more transparent, improve energy efficiency, protect workers from accidents, or address risks in their supply chain, they turn sustainability into concrete actions that benefit workers, communities, the environment, and people throughout the world.

Sustainable Operations

At SAP we believe that improving our sustainability performance gives us insight that will help our customers do the same. We focus on three key metrics: environmental, social, and economic. Each is critical as we work to create a sustainable future for SAP, our customers, and society.

Our Sustainability Policies

Learn about our sustainability policies, codes, and commitments.

Sustainability Impact

How SAP's purpose impacts the world

SAP's technology and people help our customers address the world’s biggest issues. Visit the SAP Purpose & Promise website to see how our solutions help people, businesses, and institutions achieve economic development, social progress, and environmental impact.

Sustainability through digital transformation

Our free openSAP online courses show how IT and digital technologies help create positive economic, social, and environmental impact, improving your business and transforming industries.

SAP Integrated Report

The SAP Integrated Report shows how sustainability integrates into our core business, presenting our financial and non-financial performance in one report for greater insight into our overall performance. 

Sustainable operations

Strategy and Management Environment

Responsible business

We actively work to ensure that we live up to high ethical standards throughout SAP. Our policies govern the conduct of our management, employees, suppliers, and partners, as well as critical areas of our business such as sales, vendor selection, and payroll.

Sustainable strategy

Instead of treating sustainability as a single project or department, we integrate sustainability into our core business by embedding sustainability throughout our organization. One of our goals is to show how sustainability both aligns with our business objectives and benefits our bottom line. 

Sustainable procurement

Sustainability is an integral part of our supply chain. We seek to buy products and services from suppliers who meet high environmental and social standards.

Environmental Management

We are committed to continuously improving our environmental and energy performance and management approach. Our global environmental management system reflects the ISO 14001 standard, and many of our locations have achieved the ISO 14001 certification. Selected locations such as SAP’s Headquarters also run an ISO 50001-certified energy management system. 

Waste, recycling, and water

Reducing and recycling waste and saving water contribute to both our environmental and business performance. 

Energy and emissions

In May 2017 we announced our goal to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions from our operations by 2025. Learn about how we achieve our goals and track our progress via an interactive chart in our integrated report.

€273 M

savings through carbon reduction in the past three years

100 %

renewable energy powers our cloud

0

net emissions by 2025

Our sustainability policies, codes and commitments

SAP Code of Business Conduct for Employees

The Code of Business Conduct expresses the high standard of integrity that we require from our employees in conducting the Company’s business, in terms transparent to employees and other stakeholders.

SAP Environmental Policy

We are committed to reducing our impact on the environment in our operations, throughout our value chain, and with our solutions.

The SAP Global Environmental Policy guides our efforts to minimize our ecological footprint, provide environmental performance transparency, and demonstrate leadership in sustainability through transformational strategies and offering solutions that enable customers to increase resource productivity.

SAP Global Anti-Discrimination Policy

The purpose of this Policy is to enforce SAP’s commitment to treating all employees with dignity and respect in a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. At SAP, our commitment goes beyond legal requirements; it is part of our culture and plays a vital role in our vision to help the world run better and improve people’s lives.

SAP Global Health and Safety Management Policy

We are committed to promoting health, safety, and mental and emotional well-being in order to become a role model for sustainable people management.

The SAP Global Health and Safety Management Policy supports business processes and leadership behavior by addressing, health, safety, well-being, and stress-management topics. Together with our managers and employees, we want to achieve – among others – the following objectives:

  • Promote and enable health, safety, well-being, and the ability to perform well
  • Support managers in their obligation to act responsibly in this regard
  • Engage with our suppliers, partners, and customers to promote the topic
  • Comply with and go beyond all the applicable statutory and legal regulations
  • Provide products that are safe for our customers and employees to use 
SAP Human Rights Commitment

As a signatory of the UN Global Compact since 2000, SAP believes companies have a responsibility to respect human rights throughout all business operations.

At SAP, we respect and support the values of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work by integrating human rights considerations into our standard business practices.

For this, we see three major areas of impact:

  • Our employees
  • Our ecosystem
  • Our solutions and services
SAP Partner Code of Conduct

This code is a statement of integrity that SAP expects from all its partners.

SAP regards our partner base as a critical and necessary extension of our operations and future success. SAP has created the SAP Partner Code of Conduct to help our partners understand what is expected of them. This code is a statement of integrity that SAP expects from its partners that comprise all partners, including technology, solution, service (e.g., consulting, implementation, system integration, hosting, education), channel (Value Added Reseller, distributor and other resellers) and all other partners that collaborate with SAP or are part of any partner program of SAP after having been offered a global or local partnership by SAP in any strategic business area or for any customer need in all market segments and then being nominated as Partner by SAP and all employees of the so-defined partners.

SAP has a strong commitment to integrity and sustainability. In line with this, we encourage our partners to:

  • Comply with all regional and federal laws, rules, and regulations 
  • Uphold the human rights of workers and treat them with dignity and respect 
  • Operate with sustainable business practices and mindful, responsible use of environmental resources 
  • Provide a safe and professional work environment that protects SAP's intellectual property 
  • Refrain from any action that may be considered a conflict of interest 

Partners doing business in the market as a nominated SAP Partner must be in full compliance with this SAP Partner Code of Conduct and all applicable laws, rules, regulations, and policies as non-compliance might be regarded as a violation of the partner agreement.

To learn more about the Code or to report potential violations, e-mail SAP at global-compliance-office@sap.com or call us at +1 877-587-8605 (toll-free in the U.S.) or +49 6227 7 40022 (Germany).

Please note that the SAP Global Compliance Office can answer questions with regards to the Partner Code of Conduct but cannot give legal advice.

SAP Supplier Code of Conduct

We encourage our suppliers to adopt sustainable business practices as set forth in the SAP Supplier Code of Conduct. 

We regard our supplier base as a critical and necessary extension of our operations and success. To help our suppliers, we created the SAP Supplier Code of Conduct, a statement of integrity that SAP expects from its contractors, consultants, suppliers, vendors, and all other third-party companies that comprise SAP's supply chain ("Suppliers"). All work performed for SAP must be in full compliance with this SAP Supplier Code of Conduct and all applicable laws, rules, regulations, and policies. 

We encourage our contractors, consultants, suppliers, and agents to: 

  • Comply with regional and federal laws, rules, and regulations 
  • Uphold the human rights of workers and treat them with dignity and respect 
  • Operate with sustainable business practices and mindful, responsible use of environmental resources 
  • Provide a safe and professional work environment that protects SAP's intellectual property 
  • Refrain from any action that may be considered a conflict of interest 

The following code of conduct is in place for SAP, the parent company of the SAP Group, and all its entities.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires companies listed in the United States to declare whether they have a code of ethics that, at minimum, applies to certain levels of management. The SAP Supplier Code of Conduct meets the standards set by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the regulations pursuant to the act.

To learn more about the Code or to report potential violations, e-mail SAP at global-compliance-office@sap.com or call us at +1 877-587-8605 (toll-free in the U.S.) or +49 6227 7 40022 (in Germany).

SAP’s Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence

Recognizing the significant impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on people, our customers, and society, SAP designed these guiding principles to steer the development and deployment of our AI software to help the world run better and improve people’s lives.

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